Surely one of the best-known metal songs --- inside and outside the genre --- and indeed best-loved is Motorhead’s “Ace of spades”? Ask any man or woman in the street --- well, man anyway --- to name one Motorhead, or even one metal song, chances are they’ll name this. It’s been used for everything from car chase scenes to video games to … well, just about anything that needs a powerful, forceful and exciting theme. Someone once said it was or should be the theme to the end of the world, and I would certainly agree.
I went on at some length during last year’s special Metal Month about how the track has become the proverbial albatross around the band’s neck --- not that they care --- and it’s true, but it’s also inspired surely more cover versions than any other song in the whole of metaldom, with over twenty known versions in existence, with everyone from bluegrass to punk to techno taking a stab at it. It’s one of those songs that really transcends genres: even if you hate metal you’re surely going to know it and have heard it, and maybe some secret part of you wants to headbang to it. Not bad for a song that only got to number fifteen and spent a mere two weeks in the charts!
So why is this a “Special Edition”? Well, with all those versions running around it just wouldn’t be right to do what I usually do, which is feature just one. So I’m going to be looking at some of the least expected and more outlandish covers here, and examining just how many boundaries this humble two minutes and forty-nine seconds of heavy metal thunder crosses.
First up is Batmobile, a psychobilly band from Holland
A folk/ska version? See the Barking Dogs…
There’s a Glam Metal version too, courtesy of Tigertailz
Not to mention Hayseed Dixie, who put a bluegrass twist on it…
An unnecessarily long live version from Tricky
Even our own Stiff Little Fingers take a shot at it on stage
And of course we couldn’t forget Bathory!
Want a Russian metalcore version? You got it!
There’s even a techno (techno-techno-techno!) version!
But apparently this is the only version Lemmy himself likes!
Yeah, even robots dig this song and try to play it!
This one is amateur, but I had to include it because I’ve always wanted to hear it on piano
Jesus! Even Slipknot’s Corey Taylor had a stab at it! Not bad, either…
Are these kids the future of heavy metal? Um, no. But they are all aged 10-15 so you gotta admit they have balls. Or will have. Stop that! Just listen!
A ska version from French band Skarface
There’s also a Ukranian version and an acapella one, but YouTube won’t give it up to me so I can’t feature those.But of course, where would we end but with Lemmy covering his own song in an acoustic version? Rock on!