“Ace of Spades” by Motorhead

"Ace of Spades" is the opening shot and title track of Motörhead's 1980 album, released as a single that October on Bronze, and it hits like a bar fight that spills into the street. Lemmy Kilmister, Eddie Clarke and Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor wrote it together, Lemmy handled the words, and Vic Maile produced the whole ruckus without sanding off a single splinter.

Lemmy's bass rumbles like a motorcycle at full throttle, Clarke's guitar slashes over the top, and Taylor drums as if he's trying to outrun the other two. Lemmy barks the vocal like a man with nothing left to lose. It's heavy metal with a punk's lack of patience: no wasted notes, no pause for breath, done before you know what hit you.

Revolver's Eli Enis counted it among the 15 greatest album-opening songs in metal in 2021, and rock radio has kept it roaring for decades.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.