Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email Reddit WhatsApp Copy Link Today is the 45th anniversary (November 8th, 1980) of Motörhead’s landmark classic, Ace Of Spades, and we revisit a tale that could only be woven by a ghost rider! On a Streaming For Vengeance chat from 2020, promoting their Live At Rockpalast 1981 film, Freddie Salem, legendary guitarist for The Outlaws, says that the entire Southern Rock scene was a big hit with the rising hard rock and heavy metal movement, influencing the likes of AC/DC, Thin Lizzy (who actually opened the Rockpalast show), UFO and Motörhead. “That was a special show for us,” Salem reminisces, “because our dear friends that were touring with us and supported us in the States, Thin Lizzy were on the show. And we got along famously with them. The British bands and all the European bands that toured with us in the States – from UFO, Michael Schenker Group, Thin Lizzy and on and on – were just enamoured by the Southern Rock deal. We were once visited backstage at (New Jersey’s) Giants Stadium on a festival date by (AC/DC’s) Bon Scott. He sat with me and we had a bottle of Crown Royal between the two of us, and it didn’t last too long. He told me that he wanted to do a Southern Rock album. During our whole set, he stood on the side of the stage. Another big fan of ours was Lemmy from Motörhead, and we were on a show with Ozzy and Motörhead – and The Outlaws were sandwiched in the middle of those two. Then out comes the Ace Of Spades album and on the cover there were bandoleros, outlaws, if you recall. They were dressed in leather and chaps and spurs; it was the greatest album cover. BraveWords: That cover is iconic and it looks like they shot it from some kind of spaghetti western, meanwhile they were in Barnet, England (outside of London). “Yeah, we were a major influence on that cover, Lemmy told me,” Salem, who sadly passed in 2024, continues. Also keep in mind, on Iron Fist, the follow-up to Ace Of Spades, Motörhead even used this famous lyric on the title track: “Moon eclipse and you know why; Ghost rider in the sky” “They loved guns and they just loved the whole genre,” he adds. “They especially loved the name The Outlaws. The whole package, the dual guitars and so forth. Whenever I would run into him in Los Angeles here, at the Rainbow or whenever, we always had a cordial time. Hughie Thomasson, the wonder kid of The Outlaws, and I first saw that cover at a radio station in Long Island where we were doing an interview. We looked at it and we freaked out! We said, ‘What a great, great cover that is!’” Happy 45th anniversary Motörhead’s Ace Of Spades! (Photo credit: Bill O’Leary) Related Posts Source: https://bravewords.com/news/freddie-salem-says-motorheads-ace-of-spades-cover-was-influenced-by-the-outlaws-they-loved-guns-and-the-whole-genre-of-southern-rock/