B major · Camelot 1B · 117 BPM
Overkill
by Motörhead
- 117
- BPM
- B major
- Key
- 1B
- Camelot
- 27
- Danceability
- 1
- Acousticness
Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor drove "Overkill" with two bass drums, a double-kick approach that made the track one of Motörhead's most distinctive recordings. The English rock band released the song as a single in 1979, in both 7" and 12" vinyl pressings, with "Too Late Too Late" on the B-side. Early copies came with an "Overkill" badge, and the single reached number 39 on the UK Singles Chart. On 9 March 1979, the band performed it on the BBC TV show Top of the Pops to support the release.
The sleeve artwork was created by Joe Petagno, based on his design for the album's cover. "Overkill" became a live favourite and was frequently featured at Motörhead concerts, often in an extended version. In 2019, the band marked the album's 40th anniversary on Record Store Day by re-releasing the original single edit alongside "Bomber" on picture disc, and the single edit was made available digitally on 8 March that year.
The song closed out the band's final tour, making it the last song Motörhead ever played live. Formed in London in 1975 by bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox, the band released 24 studio albums across a 40-year career, with Taylor and guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke featuring on most of their best-selling records.
Overkill runs at 117 BPM, the tempo of pop, funk and disco-leaning dance. In classical terms it sits in moderato territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.05 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 513 ms. It is in B major, Camelot 1B, which shares its notes with Ab minor and mixes cleanly with E major and F# major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.