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Motörhead is the self-titled debut album by one of heavy metal's pioneering bands. Released in 1977, it is the first foray of a band of misfits that would go on to release dozens more albums and influence countless musicians over the next 40 years.

Like a lot of debuts, Motörhead captures a band still trying to figure out what and who they were. There are a couple of staples of the band's live shows, including the eponymous "Motörhead" and "Iron Horse/Born to Lose", that would show up in set lists for the next four decades. The former, one of three Hawkwind covers on the album, and written by Lemmy prior to being fired from said band, is the prototypical Motörhead song; fast, upbeat, melodic yet grungy, and with Lemmy's gravelly vocals and "Fast" Eddie Clarke's Wild guitars (Phil Taylor's drumming was uncharacteristically restrained on most of this album). "Iron Horse/Born to Lose" is a slower, darker song that presaged a style of songwriting that would pop up occasionally on later releases (think "Metropolis," "Orgasmatron," etc.) with varying levels of success. Beyond these songs, it is hard to get a grip on where Motörhead was going. "Vibrator" is a silly, poppy rock song, "Lost Johnny" and "The Watcher," the other Hawkwind covers, don't sound not a lot different from the originals and are solid but unremarkable. "White Line Fever" and "Keep Us on the Road," written for this release, are OK but that's about all. The album finishes with a cover of "Train Kept a-Rollin'" a fast-paced bluesy number covered hundreds of times before and since. If you like this song, Motörhead does a decent job with it. Personally, I can live without it, but that's me.

I can sort of understand why Motörhead's original label, United Artists Records, refused to release this record when they turned it over in 1976. On its best day, it is uneven, and it would take a label with a lot of faith and foresight to see what the future would hold for the band based on this material. Chiswick was that label, who gave Motörhead the chance to re-record the songs, make a few changes to the track listing (the original album, later released under the name On Parole by United Artists to cash in on Motörhead's success, contained the songs "Leaving Here" and "Fools," which were left off Motörhead, and replaced by "White Line Fever" and "Keep Us on the Road") and let the chips fall where they may.

Fans of heavy metal, and Motörhead in particular, should hear this album, even though it doesn't represent what the band would become (sort of like Judas Priest's Rocka Rolla) for the perspective on how things started. Owning it probably isn't mandatory.