Overnight Sensation (1996)

Overnight Sensation (1996)

After leaving Epic, Motörhead signed with CMC International, a label that spent the 1990s providing a safe haven for past-their-prime hair metal and hard rock acts. And if that was an unpromising sign, the cover art cast doubts, too. Overnight Sensation was the first Motörhead album since Ace Of Spades to feature a photo of the band on the cover. And for some reason, Lemmy decided to shave off his iconic sideburns-into-mustache facial hair during this period. So despite the absence of their usual demonic warthog mascot, this may be the single ugliest cover in their discography. But ultimately, none of that mattered. Lemmy, Phil and Mikkey delivered where it counted: From a purely musical standpoint, Overnight Sensation is the band’s best album of the 1990s, and one of their best overall.

It kicks off with the raging “Civil War,” and ends with the sensitive, acoustic-guitar-adorned ballad “Listen to Your Heart.” In between, the title track and “Love Can’t Buy You Money” are some of the band’s catchiest (and wittiest) songs in years; “Eat The Gun” is a black-humored, speed-crazed rant; and “Broken” and “Crazy Like A Fox” are built around fist-pumping choruses. But “I Don’t Believe A Word” is the album’s crowning glory. A slow, sludgy burner driven by a bass line that sounds like the Melvins covering Flipper, its lyrics are some of Lemmy’s darkest and most existential.