1916 is the ninth studio album by the British band Motörhead. It was released on February 26, 1991 on WTG Records.
This was their first album recorded for WTG after the legal battle with GWR Records was resolved. In the album's liner notes, the band says "...to the people we left behind - we didn't want to leave ya, but we really had to go! This album is the better for it. Stale and on a treadmill in our career, a change was needed."
The title track is a reflection on World War I killings, it is an uncharacteristically slow ballad in which Lemmy's singing is only lightly accompanied. "Love Me Forever", a ballad which was later covered by Doro Pesch. "R.A.M.O.N.E.S.", a tribute to punk band the Ramones, was later recorded by the Ramones, which can be found as one of the two studio tracks on Greatest Hits Live. The Ramones also performed it at their final show with Lemmy, with that show being released on video and CD as We're Outta Here.
In the studio the band recorded four songs with the producer, Ed Stasium, before deciding he had to go. When Lemmy listened to one of the mixes of "Going to Brazil", he asked for him to turn up four tracks, and on doing so heard claves and tambourines Stasium had added. Stasium was fired and Pete Solley was hired as producer. The story, according to Stasium, was Lemmy's drug and alcohol intake had far exceeded the limitations of Stasium's patience so he quit.
Year 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar.
Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.
An album may be understood as a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution, however the concept is found in printed music dating into the early nineteenth century in works by composers such as Schumann and Mendelssohn. The word derives from the Latin word for list.
Today, with the vinyl record no longer being used as the primary form of distribution, the term "album" can still be applied to any sound recording collection, such as those on compact disc, MiniDisc, Compact audio cassette, and digital or MP3 albums.Cover art is also considered an integral part of the album. Many albums also come with liner notes and inserts giving background information or analysis of the recording, reprinted lyrics, images of the performers, or additional artwork and text. These are now often found in the form of CD booklets.
Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album. If a pop or rock album contained tracks released separately as commercial singles, these were often traditionally placed in particular positions on the album. A common configuration was to have the album led off by the second and third singles, followed by a ballad. The first single would lead off side 2. In the past many singles (such as the Beatles' "Hey Jude" and Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th Street") did not appear on albums, but others (such as the Beatles' "Come Together" and Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone") were part of an album released concurrently. Today, many commercial albums of music tracks feature one or more singles, which are released separately to radio, TV or the Internet as a way of promoting the album. Albums have also been issued that are compilations of older tracks not originally released together, such as singles not originally found on albums, b-sides of singles, or unfinished "demo" recordings.