Cover Art

The band's name is usually printed in a lowercase form of blackletter. The umlaut character ö is possibly derived from the similar "Heavy metal umlaut" in the name of their 1975 acquaintances Blue Öyster Cult. However, this umlaut does not alter the pronunciation of the band's name. When asked if Germans pronounced the band "Motuuuurhead", Lemmy answered "No, they don't. I only put it in there to look mean".Snaggletooth is the fanged face that serves as the symbol of Motörhead. Artist Joe Petagno drew it in 1977 for the cover of the band's debut album (with designer Phil Smee who turned it into a negative and then designed the logo), having met Lemmy while doing some work with Hawkwind. Petagno stated: The inspiration came from just being a naturally pissed off bastard! And Lemmy's the same way! So it was bound to be an alchemal wedding of a more "primordial nature". I did a lot of research on skull types and found a x-breed gorilla-wolf-dog combination would work nicely with some oversized boars horns. Lemmy added Helmet, chains, spit, spikes and grit.

Eddie Clarke was less sure about the imagery to begin with: I shuddered when I saw it the first time. I thought, "Blimey, this ain't gonna go down that well", because it was just way over the top, then. But I grew to love it... At first it was not scary or horrifying, it would've been, in those days, deemed bad taste.

It has remained a symbol of Motörhead throughout the years, with Petagno creating many variations of War-Pig for the covers of ensuing albums. To date, only two of the original covers for Motörhead's 19 studio albums do not feature any variation of War-Pig on the cover: On Parole and Overnight Sensation, of which On Parole was re-released with a black War-Pig on a white background. Phil is wearing a War-Pig badge on the cover of Ace of Spades. The cover of 'Iron Fist' depicts a metal gauntlet wearing four skull-shaped rings, one of which is War-Pig, while the rear of the album-sleeve shows a fully detailed 3-D metal sculpture of the symbol. Originally the War-Pig design included a swastika on one of the helmet's spikes. This was painted out on later re-releases of the albums on CD.

On 21 September 2007 Petagno announced that "there will be no more "HEADS" from my hand", citing irreconcilable differences between himself and the band's current Management, Singerman Entertainment. Petagno stated: It has been a long, exciting and industrious journey, full of art and intuition, difference in repetition, and creative innovation. I feel I accomplished something unique in Metal history over the last 31 years by breathing life again and again into a figment of my own imagination, an image or better an entity which has taken on a life of its own, which I actually believe goes beyond the music it was created to represent. I'm damn proud of that!

In reply, Lemmy stated: As many of you know, we have been working with Joe Petagno for 31 years. We always treated Joe fairly, and I would like to stress that at no time did my manager demand what Joe thinks he demanded - it is all a colossal misunderstanding. We have always loved his artwork, obviously, and if he now decides to stop working with us, we have no choice but to use someone else. However... if he will not discuss this personally and try to work things out, I think it's a great tragedy. If Joe continues with us, no one would be more delighted than me. If it's goodbye, Joe, I wish you well, but I hope, even at this stage, to be reconciled and continue our association.