Album: Motorizer, Motorhead (SPV)

There's a spectacular simplicity to Motörhead's method here, a directness and rejection of ornament that would be anathema to more ego-fuelled rock acts.

"Runaround Man", the opening track, exemplifies the formula: one constant riff chugging brutally away, while Lemmy barks out punchy phrases – "Chase my tail, catch me if you can, don't you mess with the runaround man", etc – with as little melodic variation as possible. Genius!

And, a style perfectly suited to Lemmy's brusque persona, as in his monotone machine-gun delivery of lines like "Don't be a heel, or an imbecile" in "Teach You How To Sing The Blues", one of several songs here dealing with the sharp end of war.

Restricted for the most part to the turbo bulldozer riffs of tracks like "Rock Out" and "Buried Alive", guitarist Phil Campbell makes the most of his few lead breaks: "Freebird" fans, take note.