The Chase Is Better Than the Catch: Motorhead’s Come-On
The Chase Is Better Than the Catch is Motorhead’s ode to the thrill of pursuit.
Lemmy Kilmister wrote it for the 1980 album Ace of Spades, and it remains one of the band’s rawest statements on desire.
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📋 Table of Contents [+]
⚡ Key Takeaways
- The Chase Is Better Than the Catch is track 11 on Motorhead’s 1980 album Ace of Spades, running four minutes and 48 seconds.
- Lemmy Kilmister wrote the lyrics, with all three members of the classic lineup, Lemmy, Eddie Clarke, and Phil Taylor, credited on the music.
- The song is about the thrill of pursuit outweighing the satisfaction of the catch itself, a theme Lemmy returned to often in his lyrics.
- Bronze Records released it as a UK 7 inch picture disc single in 1981, though no chart placement for the single is documented in reliable sources.
- Fast Eddie Clarke made a guest cameo playing the song alongside Phil Campbell at Motorhead’s 25th anniversary concert at Brixton Academy on October 22, 2000.
What Is The Chase Is Better Than the Catch About?
The song is about the thrill of pursuit in a romantic conquest.
Lemmy frames the chase itself as more exciting than actually winning someone over.
The narrator admits to a bad reputation and takes it in stride rather than apologizing for it.
He still warns the object of his attention that the chase will be more fun than what follows.
Beneath the surface, the song reads as a wider statement about desire and anticipation.
Wanting something can feel stronger than finally having it, a theme Lemmy circled back to across his songwriting career.
The lyric never apologizes for that outlook, and it never pretends to be anything other than what it is.
That bluntness is part of why the song still reads as honest rather than dated, even decades after it was written.
Who Wrote The Chase Is Better Than the Catch?
Lemmy Kilmister wrote the lyrics for the song.
All three members of the classic lineup share the music credit.
Eddie Clarke and Phil Taylor built the arrangement around Lemmy’s words during rehearsals for Ace of Spades.
The song became track 11 on the album, closing out a tracklist packed with the band’s fastest material.
At four minutes and 48 seconds, it runs longer than most of the other cuts on the record.
Eddie Clarke helped shape this track’s arrangement during the Ace of Spades sessions.
Image Credit: Photo by Andrew King, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Where Was It Recorded?
Motorhead recorded the track at Jackson’s Studios in Rickmansworth, England, during the summer of 1980.
Producer Vic Maile ran the sessions for the entire Ace of Spades album.
The album arrived through Bronze Records on 8 November 1980, following the title track by three weeks.
The record reached number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and went Gold in Britain by March 1981.
Was The Chase Is Better Than the Catch a Single?
Bronze Records released it as a UK 7 inch picture disc single in 1981.
No chart placement for that single release is documented in reliable sources.
It never matched the visibility of Ace of Spades itself, which became the era’s defining single.
The song still found an afterlife of its own, largely through reissues and box sets rather than radio play.
Bronze Records pressed the single specifically as a picture disc rather than a standard black vinyl 7 inch.
How Has the Song Lived On?
The title became the name of a 2001 Motorhead singles compilation, The Chase Is Better Than the Catch: The Singles A’s and B’s.
That anthology gathers Motorhead’s early Bronze and Big Beat era singles.
Using the song as the anthology’s title kept a deep cut in circulation for a new generation of fans.
(We Are) The Road Crew, another Ace of Spades deep cut, shares the same closing side of the album.
Overkill and Bomber built the sound that made Ace of Spades possible, and this track shows the same lineup at its sharpest.
What Happened at the 25th Anniversary Show?
Fast Eddie Clarke returned to the stage for a one off performance of the song.
The date was October 22, 2000, at Brixton Academy in London.
Clarke shared guitar duties with Phil Campbell, the band’s guitarist since 1984.
The cameo marked one of the few times original and later era Motorhead guitarists shared a stage on this song.
As of 2026, read the complete lineup history of the members of Motorhead across four decades of the band.
People Also Ask
What is The Chase Is Better Than the Catch about?
The song is about the thrill of pursuit in a romantic conquest outweighing the satisfaction of actually winning someone over.
Lemmy Kilmister wrote the lyrics from the point of view of a narrator who embraces his reputation and warns that the chase itself is the real reward.
Who wrote The Chase Is Better Than the Catch?
Lemmy Kilmister wrote the lyrics, with all three members of Motorhead’s classic lineup credited on the music.
Eddie Clarke and Phil Taylor built the arrangement during rehearsals for the Ace of Spades album in 1980.
What album is The Chase Is Better Than the Catch on?
The song is track 11 on Motorhead’s fourth studio album, Ace of Spades, released through Bronze Records on 8 November 1980.
The album reached number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and went Gold in Britain by March 1981.
Was The Chase Is Better Than the Catch released as a single?
Yes, Bronze Records released it as a UK 7 inch picture disc single in 1981.
No chart placement for that single is documented in reliable sources, unlike the Ace of Spades title track.
Watch the Official The Chase Is Better Than the Catch Video
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Ace of Spades
1980, 50th Anniversary 2 CD Edition
The album that closes with this track.
Expanded with bonus tracks and remastered sound.
No Sleep ’til Hammersmith
1981, 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
The live album produced by the same team behind Ace of Spades.
Hit number 1 on the UK Albums Chart in 1981.
Overkill
1979
The album that laid the groundwork for the Ace of Spades era.
Twin bass drums and pure speed from the classic lineup.
Bomber
1979, 50th Anniversary Edition
The bridge between Overkill and Ace of Spades.
Faster, tighter, and a direct warm up for the classic era.
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This deep cut never needed a chart run to earn its reputation.
As of 2026, it still stands as one of Ace of Spades’ sharpest, wittiest tracks.
Forty-five years on, The Chase Is Better Than the Catch still sounds like Lemmy’s rawest confession set to music.
Last updated: July 12, 2026