"Bomber" is a song by the English heavy metal band

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1975 by bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. Kilmister was the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band a ...

, recorded and released in 1979 (see

1979 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1979. Specific locations * 1979 in British music * 1979 in Japanese music * 1979 in Norwegian music Specific genres * 1979 in country music * 1979 in heavy metal music * 1 ...

). It is the title track to their album ''

Bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

'' and was released as a single peaking at 34 on the UK Singles Chart. The single was released in the UK by

Bronze Records Bronze Records was an independent English record label founded in 1971 by record producer Gerry Bron on Oxford Street in London, eventually relocating to Chalk Farm. History Bron had been producing Uriah Heep (band), Uriah Heep for Vertigo Reco ...

as a

7-inch In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

vinyl single with the first 20,000 copies pressed in blue vinyl and thereafter in black. The band promoted its release with an appearance on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

TV show

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

on 3 December.Burridge, Alan ''Illustrated Collector's Guide to Motörhead'' Published: 1995, Collector's Guide Publishing . On 13 April 2019, Motörhead re-released the original single of Bomber for the first time since 1979, along with the single edit of '' Overkill'' on picture disc as a celebration of the albums 40th anniversaries on Record Store Day.

Background

In an interview in 2015 with ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' Lemmy recalled the origin of the song

Other versions

The song became a staple of the band's live set, with live versions being released on the albums '' No Sleep 'til Hammersmith'', ''

Everything Louder than Everyone Else ''Everything Louder than Everyone Else'' is the sixth live album by the band Motörhead, recorded on 21 May 1998, and released on 9 March 1999, on Steamhammer; their first live album with the label, but fourth album release. Recording Vocalis ...

'', '' Live at Brixton Academy'', '' Better Motörhead than Dead: Live at Hammersmith'', '' The Wörld Is Ours - Vol. 2: Anyplace Crazy as Anywhere Else'' and '' Clean Your Clock''; and on the video releases '' The Birthday Party'', '' 25 & Alive Boneshaker'' and '' The Best of Motörhead''.

"Over The Top"

The B-side of the single was the non-album track "Over the Top", which has subsequently been included as a bonus track on the re-mastered ''Bomber'' album. The song was also performed as a joint collaboration between Motörhead and The Damned for inclusion on the proposed "Ballroom Blitz" single, but the recording session ended in drunkenness and the results were deemed unsuitable for release. The recording was, however, finally issued in 2003 on the '' Stone Deaf Forever!'' boxset. The Damned included the track on their compilation CD "Tales From The Damned" (released 1993, Cleopatra Records - CLEO71392), performed as "MotörDamned" with the following personnel: Rat Scabies, Lemmy, Fast Eddie, Captain Sensible, Philthy Animal Taylor, Dave Vanian, Algy Ward. Live versions of this song have been released as the B-side to the 1981 single " Motorhead", on the 2005 video ''

Stage Fright Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia that may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, real or imagined, whether actually or potentially (for example, when perf ...

'' and on the 2007 album ''Better Motörhead than Dead: Live at Hammersmith''.

Single track listing

#"Bomber" ( Ian Kilmister, Eddie Clarke, Phil Taylor) - 3:45 #"Over the Top" (Kilmister, Clarke, Taylor) - 3:12

Personnel

*"Fast" Eddie Clarke –

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

*Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

*Lemmy (Ian Kilmister) –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

Cover versions

Girlschool Girlschool are a British rock band that formed in the new wave of British heavy metal scene in 1978. Frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead, they are the longest-running all-female rock band, still active after more than 40 ...

covered the song on the ''

St. Valentine's Day Massacre The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre was the murder of seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang on Saint Valentine's Day 1929. The men were gathered at a Lincoln Park, Chicago garage on the morning of February 14, 1929. They were ...

'' EP, a joint release between the two bands. This cover is also on the soundtrack to the game ''

Brütal Legend ''Brütal Legend'' is an action-adventure video game with real-time strategy game elements created by Double Fine and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game was released during October 2009 in North America, ...

''. *

Mudhoney Mudhoney is an American rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, on January 1, 1988, following the demise of Green River (band), Green River. Its members are singer and rhythm guitarist Mark Arm, lead guitarist Steve Turner (guitari ...

released the cover version as a B-side to their 1992 single "

Suck You Dry "Suck You Dry" is a song by the American grunge band Mudhoney Mudhoney is an American rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, on January 1, 1988, following the demise of Green River (band), Green River. Its members are singer and ...

", and has been included as a bonus track on their '' Piece of Cake'' album. * Onslaught recorded its own version featuring

Tom Angelripper Thomas Such (born 19 February 1963), known professionally as Tom Angelripper, is a German musician. He is the lead vocalist, bassist, main songwriter and only original remaining member of the thrash metal band Sodom (band), Sodom and also a me ...

and Phil Taylor and released it on the '' Sounds of Violence'' album (2011). *

U.K. Subs U.K. Subs are an English punk rock band, among the earliest in the first wave of British punk. Formed in 1976, the mainstay of the band has been vocalist Charlie Harper (singer), Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain's Rhythm and blues ...

made their version of the song for their covers album ''Subversions'' (2018). *

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

recorded a version on their covers album '' Inspirations'' (2021).

References

{{Authority control Motörhead songs 1979 singles Songs written by Eddie Clarke (musician) Songs written by Lemmy Songs written by Phil Taylor (musician) Song recordings produced by Jimmy Miller Onslaught (band) songs