Riding on the new wave of British heavy metal, Motörhead added speed and ferocity to the scene, and in doing so left an indelible mark on the world of music. Known for their raw energy, thunderous sound, and the charismatic presence of their late, great, frontman Lemmy, Motörhead has not only influenced the music industry but has also made a lasting impact on popular culture. 

Games

The band’s first appearance in a video game was back in 1992, with the 16-bit video game Motörhead released for the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST. Based on the Golden Axe game engine, it featured a 16-bit Lemmy wandering around beating up enemies from other musical genres such as country and rap. 
More recently (and less obscurely) Motörhead has featured in the Guitar Hero franchise, with the first game in the series featuring the Ace of Spades. The same song is also featured in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. 

Given that their signature song draws heavily on gambling imagery, it isn’t a surprise that Motörhead has a presence in the world of online casinos. Various online slots are dedicated to them, but the lyrics reference card games, so it might be more appropriate to play blackjack online games available in the same casinos as the slots. The satisfaction of twisting on nineteen and hitting the ace of spades is just as satisfying online as it is in person, and deserves its own iconic song. 

Movies and TV 

While Motörhead's music has been featured in many films and TV shows. Italian horror auteur Dario Argento’s 1985 movie Phenomena (starring a young Jennifer Connelly) uses the track Locomotive in a gory and pivotal scene. Grosse Pointe Blank, Smokin' Aces, and Superbad (among others) all use The Ace of Spades, and all in much the same way — a sudden adrenaline-charged action scene. The 1994 movie Airheads — made with a lot of love for hard rock in general — opens with Born To Raise Hell, one of the few non-horror films to feature the band. 

Lemmy also appears in a cameo role, one of the few films he’s been in as an actor. He plays a water taxi driver in 1990’s Hardware, a movie that also features another rock deity, Iggy Pop, in a slightly more prominent role. He played ‘General’ in the posthumously released Gutterdämmerung in 2016, alongside a cast of luminaries from rock ’n roll, such as Grace Jones, Henry Rollins, Lemmy, Nina Hagen, Tom Araya, Slash, Jesse Hughes, and Josh Homme and Justice. Iggy Pop stars in this one too, as a punk rock angel named Vicious sent to set fire to the world. 

Wrestling

Many people — this writer included — view professional wrestling with a healthy amount of skepticism. But sometimes an event comes along that shows us naysayers what all the fuss is about, and one such moment was during WWE Wrestlemania X-7 when Triple H was announced for his ring walk to face The Undertaker. It suddenly became apparent that Motörhead were in the Astrodome in Houston, blasting their classic The Game for almost 70,000 rabid fans — more than a million on pay-per-view. 

Triple H duly appeared, and the band extended the heavy, rolling groove for several minutes as he postured his way to the ring. Cited by ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin — who happened to be headlining that night— as the greatest ring walk of all time, it shows the power of Motörhead’s music in the right setting. Triple H lost the match, but no one remembers that, just Lemmy and the lads hammering it out. 

Motörhead is one of the most beloved British heavy metal bands, and their reach was evidenced by the outpouring of tributes from all over the cultural milieu when Lemmy passed on in 2015. It goes to show how music can transcend itself, and leave a mark on wider pop culture.