I dislike post-1980 metal, but Motorhead was one of those bands that transcends its genre. I saw them once as a teenager on their Ace of Spades tour, and made the effort to catch them live in September thinking it might be the last chance to see them again, and unfortunately it was.
Lemmy looked pretty good 4 months ago, his cancer must have struck him hard and fast. RIP.
Overkill may perhaps be the greatest 5 minutes of pure noise ever committed to vinyl. It is glorious. I watched the documentary about him a few years ago and he was exactly as you would expect him to be- gruff, funny, honest and very open and gregarious.
He was absolutely genuine, a one off and a true rock god. He'll be knocking back the jack and coke in Valhalla right now.
Motörhead were never a metal band. Their likeable racket stood them head and shoulders* above all that NWOBHM stuff that was happening at the time of their commercial peak.
(* A product not widely used among that scene's followers. [/stereotyping])
Not, it has to be said, a great surprise as he had been looking frail for a while and, I think, the death of Philthy Animal somewhat blew the wind out of the sails of the shock of this a bit. A brilliantly intelligent, funny, curmudgeonly and creative man who, quite simply, formed the best band ever. Early classic Motorhead quite simply surpassed heavy metal or, indeed, the rock and roll that they liked to insist that they played. To take someone who grew up on rock and roll, lived through Hendrix and Hawkwind and loved the likes of MC5 and add a ex-skinhead drummer who loved reggae and learnt to play from jazz and Tamla Motown records and a guitarist who played with a great variety of bands including Curtis Knight and you do not end up with a straightforward heavy metal band. I am not disappointed that I didn't see them recently. I would have seen them the next time they were playing nearby as I thought they wouldn't be touring again but, while still good value, they weren't what they were and I have seen them more than any other band.
Another sign that Lemmy was something else is that The Today programme this morning has already done two different reports on him. I would be surprised if they do that for, say, Bruce Dickinson or Brian Johnson let alone Biff Byford. Lemmy has become a cultural icon that transcends what he actually did and people who loved what he did. He is irreplaceable because he wasn't just a bassist/vocalist or the leader of Motorhead, he was Lemmy.
My favourite, a truly transcendent song and performance.
(Despite this being one of my favourite non-Bowie records of the 70s, I famously forgot (on radio) that he'd even been in Hawkwind; but I'm sure he did too, from time to time.)
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