Deathblog:

‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke

(1950 – 2018)

As you might well have anticipated, I was sad this weekend to hear about the passing of ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke.

I’ve been listening to Motörhead a lot over the past few years, and Clarke is not only the best guitarist they ever had, but perhaps even my choice for the definitive guitarist of the whole 70s/80s hard-rock-into-heavy-metal trajectory.

His combo of slurred, thug brutality and sudden technical flash was *perfect* for that band, and I think he had as much to do with defining their trademark sound as Lemmy did, to be honest.

Obviously I don’t need to remind you that it was he who laid down probably the ultimate, all time #1 school playground air guitar moment (….and don’t forget the joker..), but fuck it – that one’s overplayed. Instead listen to him go on ‘No Class’, ‘Bomber’, ‘Metropolis’, ‘Stone Dead Forever’, ‘Stay Clean’… dozens of others. I *love* that unnamed instrumental cut that turns up as a bonus on their self-titled album too.

It’s difficult to come to terms with the fact that Motörhead’s classic line-up are now all gone.

Just like The Ramones are all gone, The Stooges are all gone [with the exception of Iggy, who always seemed to want to differentiate himself from the rest of ‘em anyway, so fuck him, with all due respect], Dead Moon two thirds gone. Life has not been kind to definitively brilliant, leather jacket-uniformed rock bands, has it?

What a fuckin’ world.