Motorhead's Lemmy: My Life in 15 Snarls
Hard-living hard-rocker looks back on four decades of umlaut-capped classics
For 40 years now,
Motörhead have been one of rock & roll's most authentic bands. While ringmaster Lemmy Kilmister's peers have settled down, gotten sober and, by and large, bid adieu to their Dionysian vices, the gravelly voiced singer and bassist — who will turn 70 in December — still drinks, gambles and tortures fans' eardrums with dangerously high decibels in concert.
Although he's written an autobiography and been the subject of a documentary, Kilmister's life story is ingrained in his songs. It begins with "Motörhead," a tune he wrote while still playing with space-rock pioneers Hawkwind about his love of doing speed — a proclivity that got him arrested in Canada and booted from the band. Unflappable, he painted his psychedelic-colored bass amp black, formed a group named after that song and carried along his merry way.
On one typically lightning-paced Motörhead rager after another, Kilmister sings about all the things he loves. He drowns himself in sound on the thunderous "Overkill." He loses everything while gambling on the death-rattling "Ace of Spades." He explores his enthusiasm for war on "Bomber," "March ör Die" and about a thousand songs in between. And he extends his reptilian-inspired sex metaphors as far as possible on "Love Me Like a Reptile," "Snake Bite Love" and even "Killed by Death" ("If you squeeze my lizard, I'll put my snake on you").
When he reflects on his own music and poetry in conversation, though, he's beyond blunt. Why would he write "The Chase Is Better Than the Catch"? "But it
is, isn't it?" he tells
Rolling Stone in his sandpapery speaking voice. And how does he craft abstract lyrics like those in his anti-TV news screed "On Your Feet or on Your Knees"? "I have a good vocabulary," he deadpans. "I'm English, you know."
By his own account, he's most influenced by straight-up rock & roll — he cites Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly," which he has
performed solo, as a prime inspiration — but he's also dabbled in rockabilly in a group with Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom called the Head Cat and punk while playing with the Damned, Ramones and Wendy O. Williams. And Motörhead's influence on hard rock and metal remains undeniable. Kilmister co-wrote "I Don't Want to Change the World" and "Mama, I'm Coming Home" with Ozzy Osbourne, won a Grammy for covering Metallica's "Whiplash" after they paid tribute to him several times (Lars Ulrich once even declared himself president of the band's fan club) and jammed on Dave Grohl's Probot record.
Now Motörhead are putting out
Bad Magic, their 22nd album and fifth in a decade, this week, and it's packed with 12 original songs, including "The Devil," which features a guest shot by Queen guitarist Brian May and a
reverent cover of the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil." The group, which has gone through many lineups since its inception but for the past 20-plus years has been rounded out by guitarist Phil Campbell and drummer Mikkey Dee, is also in the midst of
a heavy touring cycle, even as the singer has been fitted with a pacemaker in 2013 and suffered a hematoma last year. "I'm all right, you know," he says. "I'm not dying yet." Truly, he is unstoppable.
Prior to the trio's current tour, Kilmister told
Rolling Stone about 15 tunes that have defined the band over the decades, exhibiting the sort of dry wit that made the songs classics and Motörhead great in the first place.
"Motörhead"
Hawkwind's "Kings of Speed" B-Side (1975) / Motörhead's Motörhead (1977)
I wrote that when I was in Hawkwind. We were in the studio doing the last album that I was on, Warrior on the Edge of Time. We started playing and it caught on and we put it on the B side of "Kings of Speed." The song was about speed and it was an issue to Hawkwind, and that's why I got fired. I never asked them what they thought of Motörhead after that. I didn't care what they thought of it. I don't think of "Motörhead" as a defining song, though. That song's long gone for me now.
"White Line Fever"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RUEKIWfEg8#action=share
That was the first one I wrote for Motörhead. I only did it because we didn't have enough for the album. I was quite impressed with myself. We put it on the B side to "Leaving Here." In those days, you didn't put tracks you wanted on the album on the B side — it had to be special to make people more interested — but we put it on the
Motörhead album anyway. It's not about cocaine specifically; it's about boy-girl relationships: a boy jumps in the shit. It's about being wrecked, trashed, fucked up. I've never written music any other way.
“Overkill"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gITPWnRyq0
Phil [Taylor] came up with the drum riff, the double-time thing, and then we just fell into it with the bass. We've always done a lot of that kind of thing. We played it on
Top of the Pops. It was nice to be getting it across to the public, but the thing is, that show was always tacky. I think the audience on the show liked it, but when they're told to boogie, they boogie, so I don't know if it's true they liked it. They've stopped making that show, and I don't miss it much. I know that a lot of metal bands have covered "Overkill," but I don't think a lot about our influence. We're just older [
laughs]. It's nice to get a tribute, but it's not the end of the world for me. We're busy writing new stuff.
"Stay Clean"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvScReIRZOA
I'm just saying, "Stay clean and listen to your parents." I wasn't really thinking about anyone in particular when I wrote it. It's not about drugs or alcohol; it's just "stay clean." I was trying to copy Mel Tormé, like "I'm Comin' Home Baby," but the song didn't turn out like that [
laughs]. It's been in our set lists ever since I wrote it.
I don't remember much about the period surrounding
Overkill. But I do remember that working with Phil and Eddie [Clarke, guitar] was easy back then, and Eddie did a good solo at the end of that one. The producer Jimmy [Miller] recorded him tuning up his guitar, and he said, "I'm ready." I said, "Right, we got it." But he was not mad. Jimmy did a very good job.
"Bomber"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2S9rwyQkJE
I was reading Len Deighton's book Bomber at the time I wrote it. It's about a bombing raid on Germany when the British hit the wrong town, and it's what goes on the floor in the air from both sides. It's a really good book. You should read it. "Bomber" was the first song I wrote about war. We made a big bomber lighting rig for the tour and we've still got it. It's big; it's about 40 feet down, 25 or 30 feet across and it's got lit-up propellers on it. It gets a truck all by itself. We're taking it out on this anniversary tour. Promoters have to pay extra if they want us to bring it.
Motörhead released their 22nd studio LP Bad Magic in August, and on Wednesday, Lemmy Kilmister and crew unleashed their video for "When the Sky Comes Looking for You" featuring a cold-blooded biker who calmly kills with a sneer and a snap. The video opens with a hitchhiking teenager felled for the crime of naivety by the supernatural biker. He then travels to a grimy bar where he easily dispatches the operators of a rigged poker game, all while Motörhead's menacing track plays.
