Orgasmatron (song)

"Orgasmatron" is the title song of the British metal band Motörhead's 1986 album, Orgasmatron. One of Motörhead's heaviest songs, "Orgasmatron" consists of three verses (with no separate chorus), attacking respectively religion, politics (or more precisely politicians) and war. The language is dark and apocalyptic, and the musical structure simple, repetitive and highly effective in expressing the relentless power of the song's targets. Between verses two and three there is an instrumental break which varies somewhat the melodic structure of the verse, with a simple guitar solo and an unusual dischord and rhythmical "hiccup" in the bass line. This instrumental sequence is repeated at the end of the song.

Motörhead re-recorded the song in 2000 and made it available as an Internet download, where it was referred to as "Orgasmatron 2000". It later appeared in 2003 on the Stone Deaf Forever! box set. This version has some differences from the original track. A spoken word version of the song also appears on the 2005 Motörhead compilation, BBC Live & In-Session.

Cover versions

Many bands have covered the song. Sepultura's version is perhaps the most notable; it was released on their 1991 album Arise. Satyricon, Transmetal, Yat-Kha and Hellsongs have also covered it, each band adapting the song to its own style and, in some case, restructuring the piece and revising the lyrics.