Motörhead - Bomber
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Motörhead’s Bomber turns 30 today. Incredibly, the band also put out Overkill in 1979 (see here). Bands these days take longer to write worse records. I prefer the music on Overkill, but Bomber is no slouch. The Overkill/Bomber/Ace of Spades trilogy is as fundamental to heavy music as Black Sabbath’s first six records, Metallica’s first four, and AC/DC’s with Bon Scott. So I won’t discuss the music. Either you know it and love it, or you don’t and are poorer for it.
What I’ll discuss is the album cover. It’s one of my all-time favorites. After using Joe Petagno for their self-titled debut and Overkill, Motörhead hired Adrian Chesterman for this sleeve. Chesterman put Petagno’s Snaggletooth mascot onto a WWII plane that’s both retro and futuristic. From far away, it looks like it could be in Star Trek. I’ve stared at this cover many times for long times. The bomb in the lower right is as sensual as a tube of lipstick. The engine at left has ribbed details for menace, like Giger’s Alien. Sodom’s Agent Orange is similar in terms of theme and gleam. Bomber‘s cover is almost too shiny for the music. But it’s stood the test of time. The bomber lives on, not in only on this cover, but also on that of No Sleep ’til Hammersmith. Coolest lighting rig ever!
