Ace of Spades (song)
"Ace of Spades" is a song by the English band Motörhead, released in 1980 as a single and the title track to the album Ace of Spades. The song spent 12 weeks in the United Kingdom Singles Chart, peaking at #15.
Overview
Initially issued as a 7" vinyl single on 27 October 1980 as a preview to the album Ace of Spades and autumn tour, Bronze Records also released a 12" vinyl pressing in special Christmas picture sleeves, limited to 50,000 copies. The picture of the band in Santa outfits used on the cover was taken at the Aylesbury Fair, while the band were on tour.[1]
Bronze also issued German and Spanish 7" vinyl versions which had a different sleeves, as well as a Japanese release, with a colour picture insert with song lyrics in English and Japanese. One sided test pressings (not mis-presses, but used in the trade) escaped the pressing plant and are on the market.[2]
The song opens with an overdriven bass solo played by Lemmy. For the lyrics, he said he "used gambling metaphors, mostly cards and dice – when it comes to that sort of thing, I'm more into the one-arm bandits actually, but you can't really sing about spinning fruit, and the wheels coming down".[3]
On 6 September 1980 Lemmy was interviewed by Graham Neale on BBC Radio 1's Rock On Saturday show, "Bomber", "Ace of Spades" and "Love Me Like a Reptile" were played. The following month, on 6 and 20 October, the band played the song on BBC TV show Top of the Pops.[4]
Critical reception
The song is considered to be the definitive Motörhead anthem,[5] and "put a choke on the English music charts and proved to all that a band could succeed without sacrificing its blunt power and speed".[6]
In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at No. 27 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks, stating "This song has an intro which wouldn't be out of place ushering in the end of the world". In 2009 it was named the 10th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.[7]
Track listing
- "Ace of Spades" (Ian Kilmister, Eddie Clarke, Phil Taylor) – 2:49
- "Dirty Love" (Kilmister, Clarke, Taylor) – 2:57
Personnel
Live version
"Ace of Spades (live)" is a 1988 7-inch vinyl release of the song by Motörhead. The single has no picture sleeve; it was issued (and withdrawn) in a plain white paper cover.
All three songs on the single appeared on the band's No Sleep at All live album, which was recorded at the Giants of Rock Festival in Hämeenlinna, Finland on 2 July 1988.
The band had wanted "Traitor" as the A-side, but "Ace of Spades" was chosen instead, when the band noticed the change, they refused to allow the single to be distributed to the shops. So despite the popularity the song had achieved, this single was not as successful as the original version, which reached No. 15 in the UK Singles Chart in 1980, as it became only available at gigs and through the Motörheadbangers fan club.[8] The song became a staple of the band's live set, with Lemmy acknowledging that despite becoming "sick" of performing it, they "can't ditch Ace of Spades, it wouldn't be right. If I go to see Little Richard, I expect to hear Good Golly Miss Molly, or I'd be pissed off".[9] Live versions have appeared on the albums No Sleep 'til Hammersmith (1981), Nö Sleep at All (1988), Everything Louder than Everyone Else (1999), Live at Brixton Academy (2003) and Better Motörhead than Dead: Live at Hammersmith (2007).
It was the first song that Phil Campbell and Wurzel played with the band – on the Bambi episode of The Young Ones. The lineup is particularly rare until 1987: Lemmy, Campbell, Wurzel and Taylor. Taylor had already left the band by the time the filming started, but kept to his promise of making the performance.[4]
In September 1993 WGAF Records re-released the original 1980s track on CD-single, cassette single, 12" vinyl picture sleeve and picture disc versions, the song was coupled with "Louie Louie", "Dirty Love", and "Ace of Spades (The CCN Remix)", and although the band were not too pleased with the CCN Remix version, this single peaked at No. 23 in the UK charts.[4]
Single track listing
- "Ace of Spades" (Lemmy, Eddie Clarke, Phil Taylor)
- "Dogs" (Lemmy, Würzel, Phil Campbell, Taylor)
- "Traitor" (Lemmy, Würzel, Campbell, Taylor)
Cover versions
- The song was played live by the Scottish pop-rock band Del Amitri and a live recording featured on the Bonus Live Disc in the two disc CD set of Hatful of Rain
- The American hardcore punk band Blood for Blood covered the song as a hidden track on their album Livin' in Exile, and has been featured on several Motörhead tribute albums.
- The Southern American punk metal band The Cooters covered "Ace of Spades" on their 2005 album "Chaos or Bust."
- The song is covered by the American band, "Crowbar"
- This song has been covered by The Reverend Horton Heat during live performances.
- A Dutch version of "Ace of Spades" (Called "Schoppen Aas") is covered by the Dutch Hard Rock band Peter Pan Speedrock. Dikke Dennis performs the vocals on this version.
- Southern Metal band He Is Legend has covered the song live.
- The song has been covered by the band Ween at live concerts.
- The Swedish Viking metal band Bathory covered it with a much slower pace than the original.
- German thrash/black metal band Sodom did a cover on their 2003 live album One Night in Bangkok, with the same bass/vocal, guitar, drums setup as Motörhead.
- Swedish metal band Drain STH released a 5:02 cover version as a bonus track on the 1998 reissue of the album Horror Wrestling.
- Hayseed Dixie, a satirical bluegrass band has covered the song.
- The German metal band J.B.O. covered the Song in an unplugged Version called "Ace of Spades umgepflügt" (Ace of Spades plowed up)
- The Shop Assistants recorded a version for a John Peel session in 1986.[10]
- British rock band Stereophonics often briefly incorporate the chorus of the song into live performances of their single The Bartender and the Thief.
- British House music duo Basement Jaxx often mashup Ace of Spades with Lil Louis Chicago house track Blackout as part of their live performances.
- Anglo-French band The Barking Dogs made a folk/ska-punk version which became their traditional concert finale. It is featured on The Barking Dogs Live on Woof Trade Records and several versions can be seen on YouTube.
- The song was covered by Tokyo Yankees with hide and Pata at Extasy Summit 1991.
- The Northern Irish punk rock band, Stiff Little Fingers, have been known to cover it live. Stating before hand that "it's one of those songs that you either love or hate, and we f**king love it". Lead singer, Jake Burns, usually finishes playing it by promising to "learn the one day"
- The band Radio Cult released a cover of the song on their album "Grooves from the Grave" in 2008.
- The Canadian motorgrass band Jughead covered their song on "Uncorked" in 1994. They claim[11] that Lemmy said that theirs is the only cover version that he ever liked.
- The song has been covered by the frank on their album "Blackfalds Revisited" in 2005.
- An Acid Techo cover was produced in the summer of 1998 by the "DDR & The Geezer" (Dave Lalouche & Guy McAffer) for the AA side of the 2nd release from C.O.S.H.H.
- It has been covered by Macedonian ska-funk band Superhiks on live performances.
- The song has been covered by Polish Thrash band Acid Drinkers on their 1994 album Fishdick.
- The song was covered by Welsh Glam Metal band Tigertailz on their live 2011 album Berzerk Live Burnin' Fuel from dates in Cardiff, Newcastle and Stockholm in 2010.
- The song was covered by Ukrainian kozak-rock band Haydamaky on several live performances. The song will be released as one of the tracks in the next Haydamaky's album, presumably in the 2nd half of 2011.
In popular culture
Video games
Television
- In an episode of the Men Behaving Badly television sitcom, Gary and Tony play air guitar to the track.
- In the Black Books episode Party (the last of series 3) the three main characters have a very drunken dancing competition to a portion of this song, with no clear winner (everyone just gets tired out and sits down, nursing their drinks).
- The song was chosen to appear in the documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey.
- In comedy Give My Head Peace episode Canada, the beginning scene the alarm clock shows 5:59 then it turns to 6:00 and Ace of Spades starts playing full blast, from Uncle Andy's radio station, thus waking everybody in the house.
- The song was used in the majority of the Creamy Muck Muck scenes of the CBBC children's programme, Dick and Dom in da Bungalow.
- The song was used in Episode 1 of the fourth series of BBC's motoring show, Top Gear, that featured the Lotus Exige attempting to avoid missile lock from an Apache helicopter.
- The song is often played in the background in previews of Sports Tonight, an Australian news programme on Network Ten, Australia.
- The Hayseed Dixie cover version was used as a background tune in the British antiques daytime gameshow Bargain Hunt.
- The song was used at the beginning and end of the series 3 Skins episode, "Cook" (302), and Cook's younger brother is seen playing the song on Rock Band 2 towards the beginning of the series 4 Skins episode, "Cook" (403).
- The band performed the song on episode 7 of The Young Ones.
- In the final episode of Nathan Barley the song is used when Pingu is the subject of firework prank
- In Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe, he used the music as a replacement for the theme tune of Question Time in a sketch.
- In Breakout Kings in the episode Paid in Full when a hitman targets a victim in a tattoo shop.
Film
- The song was used in the movie Grosse Pointe Blank, during a gunfight in a convenience store between hitman Martin Blank (John Cusack) and another hitman sent after him, a teenager is playing an arcade game to the sound of Ace of Spades at maximum volume in his headphones and escapes unharmed, completely oblivious to the destruction unfolding around him.
- The song is featured in the opening credits of Zombie Nightmare which was featured in the movie-mocking television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1994.
- The song is used in the introductory scene for the "Tremor Brothers" in the movie Smokin' Aces, as well as in the original teaser trailer.
- The song appears in the 2007 Judd Apatow comedy Superbad starring Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill.
- The song appears in the 2007 film Shoot 'Em Up during the shootout in Mr. Smith's hideout. It appears on the film's soundtrack as well.
Adverts
- The song is used in the 1998 Golden Wonder Pot Noodle, the 2000 IKEA furniture, the 2003 Clark's Marathon Boy, and the 2005 Walkers Crisps television advertisements.
- The song was used in commercials for 2K Sports' video game, The Bigs.
- In a recent AT&T Wireless commercial, "The Ace of Spades" is sung by a guy in bar who has no signal for his cellphone – the premise is that his friend has tried to call him over 30 times because he has managed to get Motörhead tickets for the show later that night.
- In October 2010 Motörhead slowed the song down to half its normal speed and was used for an advert for Kronenbourg 1664 'Slow' campaign.[12]
- The song was used in the commercial of the Formula One GP from Brazil of 2011
Other
- Between 8 pm and 2 am on 9 November 2005 at The Boat nightclub in Toronto, the song was played 128 times consecutively.[13]
- After a 15 year career with the network, DJ Simon Mayo played the song to end his final show on BBC Radio 1 in 2001. The comedian, Noel Fielding, described the song as the sound of his childhood, as his parents would play it constantly.
- In the play "The Lieutenant of Inishmore", the character Davey sings the song to drown out his sister Mairead's Irish rebellion song.
- In the Achewood strip for 4 February 2009, Lyle Gabriel parodies the song with the phrase, "ACE OF GRADES!".[14]
See also
References
- ^ Burridge, Alan (April 1991). "Motörhead". Record Collector (140): 18–19.
- ^ Burridge, Alan; Mick Stevenson (July 1993). "Motörhead". Record Collector (167): 72.
- ^ Kilmister, Lemmy & Garza, Janiss White Line Fever Published: 2002, Simon & Schuster (Trade Division) ISBN 0-684-85868-1
- ^ a b c Burridge, Alan Illustrated Collector's Guide to Motörhead Published: 1995, Collector's Guide Publishing ISBN 0-9695736-2-6
- ^ Konow, David (2002). Bang Your Head. Three Rivers Press, c2002. p. 226 has "Motorhead's signature song, Ace of Spades". ISBN 0-609-80732-3.
- ^ Christe, Ian (2004). Sound of the Beast. Allison & Busby. ISBN 0-7490-8351-4.
- ^ "spreadit.org music". http://music.spreadit.org/vh1-top-100-hard-rock-songs/. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
- ^ Burridge, Alan; Mick Stevenson (July 1993). "Motörhead". Record Collector (167): 72–73.
- ^ Shaw, Harry (2002). Lemmy... In his own words. Omnibus Press (c) 2002. p. 39. ISBN 0-7119-9109-X.
- ^ BBC – Radio 1 – Keeping It Peel – 11 November 1986 The Shop Assistants
- ^ "Jughead Official Website". http://jughead.ca/BIO.html. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
- ^ MOTÖRHEAD: New Version Of 'Ace Of Spades' Available For Free Download
- ^ "Motörhead madness-athon". globeandmail.com article. Archived from the original on 9 February 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070209171329/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051104/CARL04/TPEntertainment/Music. Retrieved 11 April 2007.
- ^ "Professor Gabriel". http://achewood.com/index.php?date=02042009. Retrieved 2 April 2009.
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