When I heard Lem had passed, I was a bit stunned, but I sort of knew he had a rough year (if the pictures are anything to go on) and just maybe he wasnt long for this world...
What can I say about the legend called Lemmy that wont show me up to be a quivering super fan...He was a genius, He was indestructible, he played a mean fkn bass...His gone, Its fair to say that he got me through all sort of shit (that I dont care to think about)...Bottom line, The World is now a lesser place without him in it.....I've had the pleasure of seeing Motorhead in London in '87, and '91 in Melbourne i was deaf for two days afterwards both times BUT they had me hooked well and truly...I have since proceeded to get a goodly percentage of Motorhead releases...must say my favourite line-up was the one with Wurzel, Phil Campbell, Lem and Philthy Animal Taylor on drums...mind you the current lineup is a roaring success .....SO ...to the man himself
Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister born on 24 December 1945 in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England...you know, where Slash was born....,
He is best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, principal songwriter and the founding and sole constant member of the rock band Motörhead....he said in an interview that after he travelled to Liverpool and saw the Beatles at the Cavern, he was hooked....
.in 1965 he joined The Rockin' Vickers who signed a deal with CBS, released three singles and toured Europe, reportedly being the first British band to visit Yugoslavia....after the Vicars became a cabaret act who couldnt get arrested south of Birmingham, Lem joined the space rock band, Hawkwind, in 1971 who were based in Ladbroke Grove, London, as a bassist and vocalist.
Although he is well known for banging away at Rickenbackers initially in the early Hawkwind days he had no previous experience as a bass guitarist, but quickly developed a distinctive style that was strongly shaped by his early experience as a rhythm guitarist in the Vicars,
often using double stops and chords rather than the single note lines preferred by most bassists. His bass work was a fundamental part of the Hawkwind sound during his tenure, perhaps best documented on Space Ritual. He also provided the lead vocals on a number of songs, including the band's biggest UK chart single, "Silver Machine", which reached No.3 in 1972.....
then they sacked him due to, as Lem puts it, drug snobbery...they were on pot and mushrooms while Lemmy was a speedfreak...so anyway, Lem went back to London, shagged three of Hawkwinds members wives, and got on about creating a band that the likes of which the world had never seen....MOTORHEAD
Lemmy has also worked with a number of other musicians over his career and occasionally guests with Hawkwind. He wrote the song "R.A.M.O.N.E.S" for the Ramones, which he still plays in his live sets as a tribute to the band. He was brought in as a songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's 1991 No More Tears album, providing lyrics for the tracks "Hellraiser", (which Motörhead would later record themselves and release a single), "Desire", "I Don't Want to Change the World" and the single "Mama I'm Coming Home". Lemmy has noted in several magazine and television interviews that he made more money from the royalties of that one song than he had in his entire time with Motörhead.
After being diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes in 2000, which led to a brief hospitalisation, Lemmy again appeared with Motörhead at WrestleMania 17. Lemmy published his autobiography, White Line Fever in November 2002.
Lemmy is well known for his lifelong large intake of alcohol. In the ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC documentary Live Fast Die Old, it was revealed that he drinks a bottle of Jack Daniel's every day and has done so since he was 30 years old.
During Lemmy's time with Hawkwind, he developed an appetite for amphetamines and LSD and was to become renowned for his use of amphetamines. Before joining Hawkwind, he recalled Dik Mik, a former Hawkwind sound technician, visiting his squat in the middle of the night and taking speed with him.
He'd jump about without stopping", which they did for a few months, until Mik ran out of money and wanted to return to Hawkwind, taking Lemmy with him.....Lem says his tried a vast variety of drugs— except smack and morphine: I've never shot up anything he says
In November 2005, he was invited to the Welsh Assembly as a guest speaker by Tory Welsh assembly member William Graham. He was asked to express his views on the detrimental effects of drugs.
However he shocked the Assembly members and Welsh public when he called for the legalization of heroin: "I have never had heroin but since I moved to London from North Wales in '67 I have mixed with junkies on a casual and almost daily basis," he said. "I also lived with a young woman who tried heroin just to see what it was like.
t killed her three years later. I hate the idea even as I say it, but I do believe the only way to treat heroin is to legalise it." He stated that legalization would eradicate the drug dealer from society
Recently some film making genius's made the highly successful doco LEMMY 49 % Muthaf**ker- 51 % Son of a bitch....I got the dvd AND the fkn t-shirt....go get yourself a copy, its the best thing made about him EVER
A PRETTY FAIR LIST LEMMY'S NON-MOTORHEAD RELEASES:
As a member of The Rockin' Vickers
1965 – "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" / "Stella" (7" single)
1965 – "It's Alright" / "Stay By Me" (7" single)
1966 – "Dandy" / "I Don't Need Your Kind" (7" single)
2000 – The Complete: It's Alright (compilation)
As a member of Hawkwind
1972 – "Silver Machine" / "Seven by Seven" (7" single)
1972 – Glastonbury Fayre – contains "Silver Machine" and "Welcome to the Future"
1972 – Greasy Truckers Party – contains "Born to Go" and "Master of the Universe" (
1972 – Doremi Fasol Latido
1973 – "Lord of Light" / "Born to Go" (7" single)
1973 – "Urban Guerrilla" / "Brainbox Pollution" (7" single)
1973 – Space Ritual
1974 – Hall of the Mountain Grill
1974 – "Psychedelic Warlords" / "It's So Easy" (7" single)
1975 – "Kings of Speed" / "Motorhead" (7" single)
1975 – Warrior on the Edge of Time
1983 – The Weird Tapes (live and out-takes, 1967–1982)
1984 – The Earth Ritual Preview EP
1985 – Bring Me the Head of Yuri Gagarin (live 1973)
1985 – Space Ritual#Volume 2 (live 1972)
1986 – Hawkwind Anthology (live and out-takes, 1967–1982)
1991 – BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert (live 1972)
1992 – The Friday Rock Show Sessions (live 1986)
1997 – The 1999 Party (live 1974)
Side projects and career spanning
1990 – Lemmy & The Upsetters – Blue Suede Shoes
2000 – Lemmy, Slim Jim & Danny B (aka The Head Cat) – Lemmy, Slim Jim & Danny B
2006 – The Head Cat – Fool's Paradise
2006 – The Head Cat – Rockin' the Cat Club: Live from the Sunset Strip
2006 – Lemmy – Damage Case (Compilation)
2007 – Keli Raven & Lemmy Kilmister "Bad Boyz 4 Life" (single).
2011 – The Head Cat – Walk The Walk... Talk The Talk
