When Fast Eddie left, the official reason was that he was upset was that playing a song with Wendy O Williams would make people think that they had turned punk. I think that was not the case though. They had already done a song with Girlschool that was almost rockabilly.
When I saw the Toronto 1982 show, it looked like they were mad at each other. Perhaps Eddie didn't like the fact that Lemmy was dating Wendy?
Was there ever a good explanation regarding why Eddie left in any of the books? I'm certain the punk excuse was just made up as Motorhead had many fans back then that were into punk.
I'd love to hear what really happened.

i heard a radio interview with eddie a couple
of months ago in which he did say he was upset
with the record with WOW but didnt want to leave
but lem & phil were pissed off with his stance
on it and was pretty much forced to leave after
asking to stay and get on with it!

Because of how upset Lemmy was during the show, I can see that happening. Although I like all the other guitarists Lemmy had over the years, It would have been great if they allowed him to stay (at least for a while).

In an interview where Lemmy was asked if he would like Eddie back, Lemmy stated that his current band members have been in the band longer. He also said that perhaps Eddie wouldn't like to play with him.

Lemmy said that Eddie was threatening to leave every other week around that time and him and Phil just had enough and said well bugger off then.
Maybe if he had stayed they wouldn't still be about today-who knows.

I heard that Eddie left because he and Lemmy had an argunment about whether the first Motorhead album was 'Motorhead' or 'On parole'. :-)

...a bit of stirring there...

Yep - but intended (and hopefully recieved) in a good natured/humorous way rather than divisive. Just a bit of fun.

well i laughed mate !!

well i laughed mate !! [/quote]

Oh yeah, always a good laugh.

Jeez.....that's quite sinister!!

well i laughed mate !! [/quote]

Oh yeah, always a good laugh. [/quote]

Phew.......I think I'm (just about) getting away with it :-)

Time for a bit of deep ,heavy philosophy :-
That which does not change stagnates!
It was time for that change!

no, you're on our list now.
Next time Bieber is close, we'll put you in a sack and chain you on the stage.

Line ups change and refresh the dynamic, a lot of bands dont survive change. Only the best can and Lemmy takes it all in a stride.
Bieber, Oh No death by bordom!

Ha ha.... good clip that!
(the hand clapping solemn guy I mean)

That hand clapping solemn guy would be Charles Foster Kane from Citizen Kane. Brilliant film. I highly recommend it.

Cool. Uncanny resemblance to a stroppy Lars Ulrich.

is there any other type of Lars Ulrich?

Eddie's leaving is also linked to his production work on "Iron fist" if memory serves me correctly.

Recording an album, producing it then touring could be exhastion or over critical of his own work.Classic album and one of my all time favourites!

Eddie did alright for himself for a few years after leaving Motorhead.

Not sure what hes doing at the moment, probably reading this and laughing at us!

It broke my heart to be honest I was only a kid and they were my gods ;(

I might be in a minority but I think that all the guitarists since Eddie have been an improvement. I don't think he was particularly good.

Eddy was actually quite fast and fluid with his fingers. He's not Slash or Eddie Van Halen but neither were the other guitarists.

I would consider some of the other guitarists a bit average as well. They did fit greatly with the Motorhead sound.

I like Phil Campbell but his guitar solo was very mediocre. He was trying to play some slow stuff that didn't showcase his talent.

Fast Eddie is my favorite. I don't recall his solo(s) at the Toronto 82 show though. There may have been more than one solo. because Lemmy had problems with his massaged his arm and had to have his arm masshed backstage

'Better' is very relative. One will be no better only because he invests more length of his music in solos and melody. Eddie might not have soloed like Slash or Eddie but his creativity for rhythm is superior. In this sense, the creative player whose final output is an impressive result is the 'best' player, of whatever instrument. Eg.: Lemmy plays the bass wrongly but the result is excellent music. In this sense, Phill and Eddie played music which people naver had enough, Motorhead fans will always listen to all stuff always, just like Chuck Berry fans. And these do not invest in long solos (like hair metal bands do). Not forgetting that the best bands in R&R never included long solos or length to their music (rolling stones, motorhead, berry, quo, who, led zep, ramones, fairies, lizzy, beatles, searchers, costello, diddley, suzy q, joplin, checker and so on...).

I agree. I was mainly commenting on the comment that all the other guitarists were better than Fast Eddie. While Fast Eddie isn't the best guitarist in the world, I think he is quite good. I never really noticed Fast Eddie's playing that much back in the 80's. I knew he was good but he wasn't really showing off as many other guitarists in that era used to do. I really wish I had a copy of the full Toronto show because there may have been more than 1 longish solo and there may have also been a bit of jamming with Eddie and Philthy to kill time. If you removed all the crazy stuff between songs and solos there was only about 60 minutes of songs approximately. I think Krokus (opening) played a longer set than they did. There were likely many other songs they had planned to play that were never played like 'Ace of Spades' Motorhead used to play more songs than usual for concerts that were to be recorded, So I can only guess what other songs were planned.

Well I think that Robertson, Campbell and Burston each have created more memorable guitar parts within Motorhead songs. Eddie contributed to some great sings but the quality of songwriting did not decrease when he left so I am calling it a draw on that count.

Wurzel is my favourite of the bunch. Such a genius in creating crazy sounds. He did unpredictable stuff with the instrument. MAde an amazing racket.

The Orgasmatron to 1916 years are my favourite in terms of guitar playing. Great double attack from Phil and Wurzel. Bastards is an amazing album, song wise, but I think it lacks memorable solos.

Bastards is right up there though as a near perfect album. Somgs are more important than solos.

All the guitarists are quite good. It's not easy playing that fast

Eddie had a great sound and fitted perfectly into that incarnation of motorhead, his success and that of the band during his time as guitarist speaks for itself, each guitarist during motorheads career has brought something different and unique to the band.

I agree. Thats why Motorhead is so good and so interesting. My favorite is Larry and "worst" is Wurzel. However, I cant imagine Motorhead with only one line up, it would be much worse band. Line up changes I see like something wonderful (in motorhead case) and not something bad. Motorhead music is so rich when we talk about quality because of this changes. Compare this albums: On parole, Another perfect day and Sacrifice. I say, my god isnt this just beautiful?

I'm pretty sure that I said earlier in this thread " that which does not change stagnates" Eddie is my favourite Motorheadguitarist, but change needs to happen. New members =new dynamic its the change that has helped propell Motorhead forward!

I'm really happy that I got to see the band with Fast Eddie. At the time I was in pain due to the loudness of the show and disappointed that the show ended up being somewhat short with many songs being skipped, but it ended up being one of the most memorable shows that I've been to (partially due to all the craziness.) It was apparent at the show that Lemmy and Eddie weren't really getting along, so even if Eddie stayed in the band, he may not have lasted for too long.