35 years ago Motorhead released ''Overkill''

Overkill is the second album by Motörhead, released in 1979. It was their first for Bronze Records, and peaked at #24 on the UK charts. The album had a big impact in the British punk culture of that time, paving the way for UK82. Kerrang! magazine listed the album at #46 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time".

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Bronze Records signed the band in 1978 and gave them time in Wessex Studios in London to record Richard Berry's "Louie Louie" and a new song by the band, "Tear Ya Down". The band toured to promote their single "Louie Louie" while Chiswick released the Motörhead album in white vinyl, to keep the momentum going. Sales of the single brought the band their first appearance on BBC Television's Top of the Pops, which gave Bronze the confidence to get the band back into the studio to record a second album.

The first release from those sessions was the single release of "Overkill" backed with "Too Late, Too Late" in 7" and 12" pressings. The Chiswick album Motörhead had been a hasty affair as was its production, although it had a sub-bootleg quality which may be appealing, Overkill had more spring and bounce, and a thundering title track that would become a show-stopper for years to come. Three weeks after the initial release of the album in black vinyl, the album was released in a limited edition of 15,000 in green vinyl.

In June 1979, "No Class" was lifted from the album as a follow-up single, backed with a previously unreleased song, "Like a Nightmare". With a view to increasing the sales, the single was released in three different covers, one each of Lemmy, Clarke and Taylor.

The album was reissued on Cassette, CD and vinyl by Castle Communications in 1988, coupled with Another Perfect Day, Bronze having issued a cassette of the album coupled with Bomber in 1980.