One of the last songs Motörhead ever recorded together as a band was their cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes,” which they performed in their Bad Magic sessions with Cameron Webb in 2015. Their version was originally released on September 2015 as part of Under Cöver, a collection of some of Motörhead’s best covers through the years. Two months later, the band’s beloved frontman and only constant member, Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, passed away.
This year, Motörhead has announced that they will release the same cover again, this time as a seven-inch picture disc. The special picture disc will be available starting on April 21, just in time for “Record Store Day”, the annual celebration of independent record stores. The accompanying artwork is a modern take on the original Motörhead classic war-pig.
The flip side will feature “Heroes (The Wacken Family Choir Mix)”. Blabbermouth reports that the track includes the unheard audio of the crowd at the 2017 Wacken Open Air Festival singing along to the cover. The previously unheard audio is full of emotion, as it was recorded while the song was being played for the first time as a tribute to the fallen Lemmy.
Long-time Motörhead guitarist Phil “Wizzo” Campbell and drummer Mikkey Dee admitted to Blabber Mouth that Lemmy loved the band’s version of Bowie’s “Heroes,” which is likely the reason why the band has chosen to release it, along with the previously mentioned emotional live track, via a special picture disc.
“He was very, very proud of it,” said Dee on how Lemmy received the cover.
He pointed out that the deceased frontman loved the song so much because they had so much fun recording it.
“It’s such a great Bowie song, one of his best,” Campbell added, “and I could only see great things coming out of it from us, and so it proved to be.”
Motörhead may have released a handful of covers, including their take on Bowie’s “Heroes,” but they were, in their prime, prolific song-makers with an impressive catalogue of hits. Their songs covered a diverse range of themes and topics, ranging from war, promiscuity, abuse of power, good versus evil, and even card games, as in the case of “Ace of Spades” which has been described by PartyPoker as a heavy metal classic that will have your “competitive juices flowing fast”. Classic, though, might be a bit of an understatement, “Ace of Spades” is considered by many fans and music pundits as one of heavy metal’s definitive tracks. VH1 put the song at number 10 in their Top 100 Hard Rock Songs.
Motörhead were formed in June 1975 by bassist, singer, and songwriter Lemmy, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. They soon became one of the faces of heavy metal releasing such hits as “Louie, Louie, “Overkill,” “No Class, “Bomber,” and of course, “Ace of Spades.” Over the span of four decades, the band has had 10 members, and released 22 studio albums, 10 live recordings, 12 compilation albums, and 5 EPs.