Killed by Death
December 28, 2015 5:18 PM   Subscribe

RIP Lemmy Kilmister Jimi Hendrix Experience roadie, Hawkwind bass player and Motörhead frontman Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister passed away today at age 70.
posted by Cookiebastard (207 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
I refuse to believe it. And I'm gonna be in denial for a really long time.
posted by ardgedee at 5:19 PM on December 28, 2015 [27 favorites]


Thank you Lemmy for giving me one of the best rock and roll experiences of my life when you were in your frigging sixties.

.
posted by 256 at 5:20 PM on December 28, 2015 [5 favorites]


\m/
posted by SansPoint at 5:20 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


way to cap off a shit fucking year.

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posted by dogwalker at 5:20 PM on December 28, 2015 [16 favorites]


I thought he and Keith Richards would outlive us all. RIP.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:21 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


Damn. Just, damn.
posted by TedW at 5:22 PM on December 28, 2015


Holy shit. Just, wow.
posted by notsnot at 5:22 PM on December 28, 2015


Fucking heavy water buffalo. I love the line from "Airheads", Lemmy or God, "it's a trick question, Lemmy IS God". RIP

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posted by dbiedny at 5:23 PM on December 28, 2015 [7 favorites]


Now we will know the answer to that great question: Who would win in a wrestling match, Lemmy or God?

(Trick question: Lemmy IS God.)

.
posted by mephron at 5:23 PM on December 28, 2015 [5 favorites]


Awww, no. I always liked knowing that somewhere out there Lemmy was still being Lemmy. One of the many wonderful things about him is how he keeps showing up in random people's random anecdotes. My favorite comes courtesy of Neil Gaiman:
The party was I think for either PJ O Rourke or Tama Janowitz, and I think it was PJ O'Rourke -- every Pan publishing party of that vintage took place in the same room upstairs in the Groucho Club, anyway -- and when the party ended I wandered downstairs with the publicists and Roz Kaveney and a lady named Maria who was then the books editor of Time Out. We carried on talking and drinking, and when the Groucho closed we moved, shedding a few people as we did so, to another club, and then to another, and finally it was just me and Maria wandering the streets of Soho, still talking, and Maria (who in five years would lose her job, and twenty years later, her life, both mostly from booze) desperate for that last final drink.

We were in the unpromising area at the top of Wardour Street, and I blinked, and realised that I was standing next to a door I recognised. My friend Dave Dickson had taken me there, years before. A downstairs bar, semi-secret. Lemmy from Motorhead had been down there, playing the fruit machines.

I knocked on the door. A suspicious face looked out. "Can we have a drink?" I asked. "I don't know what you're talking about," said the man, impassively. "Er..." I thought about mentioning Dave Dickson, but didn't think it would work. "We're friends of Lemmy's," I said.

"You should of said," he told me. "He's downstairs waiting for you."

And we went downstairs. Lemmy was still on the fruit machines, as he had been two years before. I sidled over to him. "Er, just used your name to get in," I said. "Good on yer," said Lemmy. And Maria got her drink.

I never found it again -- never looked for it -- although I am certain that if I was ever drunk enough and in Soho late at night, it would be there waiting. And Lemmy, wherever he really was in the world or out of it, would be down there playing the fruit machines.
posted by Kattullus at 5:25 PM on December 28, 2015 [183 favorites]


I could not add "Motörhead" as a tag because of the umlaut. It's just not right to leave out the umlaut.
posted by Cookiebastard at 5:25 PM on December 28, 2015 [37 favorites]


It seems impossible that Lemmy is dead. It seems impossible that Lemmy was still alive.

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posted by The Tensor at 5:27 PM on December 28, 2015 [35 favorites]


well dammit.
posted by aspersioncast at 5:29 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


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posted by Rustic Etruscan at 5:29 PM on December 28, 2015


It was only a few months ago that he was telling The Guardian that he had switched from Jack Daniels to vodka for health reasons... RIP.
posted by sobarel at 5:30 PM on December 28, 2015 [13 favorites]


.

of all the many and varied things I did not expect today...
posted by sallybrown at 5:31 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


Rock on, rock on ...
posted by carter at 5:31 PM on December 28, 2015


Ironically titled Lemmy birthday thread just a few days back.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:31 PM on December 28, 2015 [7 favorites]


RIP Lemmy.
The Nazi memorabilia thing was pretty creepy but he sure did rock. Saw Motörhead & Alice Cooper in 1988 at London Gardens, London Ontario and he was fantastic.
posted by chococat at 5:31 PM on December 28, 2015


I could not add "Motörhead" as a tag because of the umlaut. It's just not right to leave out the umlaut.

Just FYI that iOS autocorrect adds the umlaut to Motörhead. So at least there's that.
posted by dogwalker at 5:31 PM on December 28, 2015 [30 favorites]


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posted by Thorzdad at 5:32 PM on December 28, 2015


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posted by Neronomius at 5:32 PM on December 28, 2015


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Lemmy was in Hawkwind? How did I not know that.
posted by octothorpe at 5:34 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


Well, it's the End Times.


Nice knowing y'all.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:35 PM on December 28, 2015 [5 favorites]


omg. he just had his birthday.
posted by shockingbluamp at 5:36 PM on December 28, 2015


Thanks Lemmy.
posted by adamvasco at 5:36 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


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posted by Going To Maine at 5:37 PM on December 28, 2015


.

I say this with the utmost respect but whoever saws off and preserves that mole will have an artifact for the ages
posted by the bird at the bottom of the tree at 5:38 PM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


Who.. speechless, but whoa. RIP
posted by Liquidwolf at 5:40 PM on December 28, 2015


I've said this on every Facebook memorial post, but I don't accept.
posted by Ruki at 5:40 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]



posted by Halloween Jack at 5:41 PM on December 28, 2015 [54 favorites]


"We've been picked, right...to go on University Challenge...tonight!"

"TO THE STATION!"

"Music!"
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:42 PM on December 28, 2015 [27 favorites]


Whenever I think of Lemmy, I remember reading an article in Q or MOJO back in the 90s, where the interviewer turned up to Lemmy's home in LA, and Lemmy answered the door wearing only lime-green underpants. I always found that endearing.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 5:42 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


Lemmy was in Hawkwind? How did I not know that.

He was also in The Damned... Doomed for 5 minutes.
Lemmy got around.
posted by Mezentian at 5:43 PM on December 28, 2015


.
posted by Sophie1 at 5:43 PM on December 28, 2015


¨
posted by ignignokt at 5:45 PM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


Sneaking up on him like that was the only way it could take him, though.

Fuck.

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posted by droplet at 5:45 PM on December 28, 2015 [5 favorites]


Damn, damn, damn.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:47 PM on December 28, 2015


\m/

Killing it to the very end. Lemmy died the way he lived.
posted by Existential Dread at 5:47 PM on December 28, 2015


\m/.
posted by grubby at 5:47 PM on December 28, 2015


I quote Lemmy on a regular basis, and have done ever since I read a charming interview with him in one of the (IIRC) Toronto papers (in which the journalist was pretty smitten by him even as an older, crusty fellow). In the interview he said this piece of sheer Zen brilliance: "There's only two kinds of music, the kind you like, and the kind you don't".

Rock on Lemmy, it won't be the same here without you.

(70 is old in Lemmy years)
posted by biscotti at 5:47 PM on December 28, 2015 [10 favorites]


I'm pretty sure he just discovered there was no booze he haven't tried left in this world, so onto the next on his Silver Machine.

.
posted by lmfsilva at 5:48 PM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


Geez, he only discovered he had cancer a couple of days ago: "There is no easy way to say this...our mighty, noble friend Lemmy passed away today after a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer. He had learnt of the disease on December 26th..."
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 5:48 PM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck this day.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 5:48 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]




The statement from the band says that he was just diagnosed with the aggressive cancer on Saturday. I'm sure there's more to the story, but goddamn: even his cancer was hardcore!
posted by Ian A.T. at 5:49 PM on December 28, 2015 [9 favorites]


Well, no shit it was an extremely aggressive cancer. He would have told any other kind to fuck off, and it would have.
posted by Etrigan at 5:51 PM on December 28, 2015 [50 favorites]


🤘
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 5:52 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm on youtube now listening to Ace of Spades, and appreciated this exchange in the comments:

"Does this guy gargle with Drano or battery acid to get that voice?"

"His vocal cords are made from shredded rattlesnakes and splintered rusty metal"

.
posted by naju at 5:56 PM on December 28, 2015 [14 favorites]


Sneaking up on him like that was the only way it could take him, though.

Yup, so he made it to his 70th birthday and died from something he didn't even know he had until the day after? Couldn't have planned it much better.
posted by atoxyl at 6:00 PM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


Man, a Lemmy/Tom Waits growl - off would be epic.
posted by Existential Dread at 6:00 PM on December 28, 2015


Pff, Lemmy would've won.

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posted by limeonaire at 6:04 PM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


🌰
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:05 PM on December 28, 2015


Damn.

I saw Motörhead just once, at Rock am Ring in 200?, and what struck me was what an absolute PETAL he was, came over like any Northern grandad you'd hear on the bus, cracking terrible dad jokes about "I do like to be beside the B-side" etc.

\m/
posted by runincircles at 6:05 PM on December 28, 2015 [6 favorites]


received a text earlier that just said LEMMY and I knew exactly what it meant.

.
posted by ghostbikes at 6:06 PM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


Oh, Fuck.

You walked among us as a man. One of the last of the original rockers is gone.

RIP.

Gonna crank some motorhead now....
posted by jonmc at 6:08 PM on December 28, 2015


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posted by Fizz at 6:14 PM on December 28, 2015



posted by Smart Dalek at 6:15 PM on December 28, 2015



posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:16 PM on December 28, 2015



posted by PussKillian at 6:18 PM on December 28, 2015


BORN TO LOSE

LIVE TO WIN
posted by RakDaddy at 6:19 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


Ironically titled Lemmy birthday thread just a few days back.

That thread inspired me to throw on Motorhead at illegal volume. So thanks for posting. I'm glad we rocked out one more time Lemmy.

My first exposure to Lemmy was on The Young Ones. I was just a kid, but had older brothers who had always decided what to watch. Probably should have been watching Sesame Street or something.

I loved it immediately. The mirror glasses and the handlebar mustache and are those warts? So so awesome.

Thanks for everything Lemmy.
posted by adept256 at 6:25 PM on December 28, 2015 [5 favorites]


If it's any consolation, I heard from the man himself that this is the way he likes it, baby.

A good friend of mine has worked in the music industry for thirty years, and has seen just about every band that there is to see live. He made no secret that Motörhead was the loudest band he'd ever heard by a very wide margin.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 6:25 PM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


You know, I liked Lemmy for an interview he did and the subject of female musicians came up. In Lemmy style he said that the women could outplay the men and that the men should stop whining. Here is an excerpt from another interview:
I like women in rock ’n’ roll. I was brought up by two women—my mother and my grandmother...so I understand women a lot better than a lot of guys do from going out hunting with Dad. Mostly I like women more than guys.
Another quote about the Beatles and Stones:
The Beatles were from Liverpool. It’s a hard town. The Stones weren’t the hard men. They just dressed up. The Beatles were the hard men. Fucking Liverpool, man. The Stones are from the suburbs of London. Ringo was from the fucking Dingle, which is the worst area, next to Glasgow, that I’ve ever seen in my life. What they did in both those places—they couldn’t reform it, so they just knocked it down. They moved everybody out and razed it and built new housing projects. No way to make it civilized, you know what I mean? It was fucking lawless. The police wouldn’t go in there.
Finally, Lemmy was a quote machine. Here is just one on the his philosophy of life:
As you go through life's rich tapestry, you realize that most people you meet aren't fit to shine your shoes. It's a sad fact, but it's true. A good friend is someone who'd hide you if you were on the run for murder. How many of them do you know? . . .This is me. What you see is what you get. If people don't like me or what I have to say, then fuck 'em. And that's my final word.
posted by jadepearl at 6:26 PM on December 28, 2015 [55 favorites]


.
It's a sad end to a shit year.
posted by my-username at 6:29 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


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posted by lester at 6:41 PM on December 28, 2015




This blog post captures a Motörhead show (one I was at!) from the pit pretty damn well:
Had positioned myself into a good spot in the center when the shit hit the fan. Fucking MAYHEM all around me. Quickly had to duck and cover, had to spring into action and take evasive maneuvers. Fists and feet everywhere... bodies flying through the air... about a minute or two later a pit was established as some of us veterans were establishing the perimeter. My new motto: "I AM the perimeter." ... Basically, anybody moshing behind me get's tossed in front of me, anybody in front of me not moshing gets pulled back behind me (usually welcomed with thanks and praise)... and from then on, it's a matter of pushing people back into the pit as they try to expand their area. Had to tell myself, "OK, this is MOTORHEAD... take this seriously." Took off the watch and eyeglasses. Next thing several full beers come flying overhead from far behind in the auditorium, and I got a half full beer down my back. For two seconds I was pissed, and then I just had to remind myself again... "It's MOTORHEAD... and you're in the fucking midst of it." Crazy insane moshing goes on for the next I don't know how long... people hitting the floor HARD and people scoop them up as soon as possible. One dude would fall back down two seconds later, then we'd scoop him back up and then he'd drop again... he did this like six times so I was convinced he was fucking with us... I got in his face and yelled in his ear, "Stay on your feet asshole!" He was back on the ground two seconds later. Next time he got up, I took him by the scruff of his neck and his belt and gave him the bum's rush across to the other side... epic wipe out and major pileup over there. This sweaty skinhead was panting and weezing and said "I'm too old for this shit... I'm 31." I'm like "Dude, I'm forty-fucking-three !!!" Fucking lightweight !!!
Fucking Lemmy lived hard, rocked harder and never slowed or softened. The crock of shit R&R Hall of Fame couldn’t handle him, but he has a more worthy resting place: Valhalla.
posted by stargell at 6:43 PM on December 28, 2015 [21 favorites]



posted by motty at 6:48 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]




One of those deaths where you only need to say a single name and someone says "aw shit".
posted by threetwentytwo at 6:50 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


From the Guardian obit;

He had learnt of the disease on 26 December, and was at home, sitting in front of his favorite video game from The Rainbow which had recently made it’s way down the street, with his family.

WHAT GAME?
posted by adept256 at 6:56 PM on December 28, 2015 [7 favorites]


RIP Phil Taylor.
RIP Lemmy.
Overkill.
posted by gwint at 7:00 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


Man, Lemmy and Philthy Animal Taylor in one year.

Lemmy did sound like he was struggling a bit in his recent interview with Marc Maron, though. I'm comforted by the knowledge that it seems unlikely they'll ever be able to get rid of Motörhead, though.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:01 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


> WHAT GAME?

I'm watching the 2010 documentary now: a bar-style trivia game.
posted by the bird at the bottom of the tree at 7:07 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


You know you can't be hurt,
You gotta believe in your star,
They'll always treat you like dirt,
They can only push you so far,


DUH NUH NUH NUH NUH..NUH NUH NUH !!!!

They can't take it away
If you've got something to say,
They might try and fence you in,
But you've only gotta live to win

posted by Skygazer at 7:10 PM on December 28, 2015


It's hard to imagine the death of Lemmy not involving flying blades, a lot of fire, a lot of screaming and an explosion taking out at least a city block.

And that's just from the FANS.

.
posted by delfin at 7:13 PM on December 28, 2015 [7 favorites]


Man, Lemmy and Philthy Animal Taylor in one year.

Yeah, Fast Eddie has got to be feeling a bit nervous right now. To Eddie, Philthy's death was a surprise because he knew that God didn't want anything to do with him, but neither did Satan; the dude was just that bad. And now Lemmy's death? Ol' Eddie was convinced that Lemmy and Keef were going to be the last humans standing on this planet. What's Eddie to think now? "If those two guys could die, surely I can't be far behind?"
posted by NoMich at 7:13 PM on December 28, 2015


Well, shit.
♫.♪
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 7:19 PM on December 28, 2015


I say this with the utmost respect but whoever saws off and preserves that mole will have an artifact for the ages.

Lemmy's mole! Suddenly I understand the concept of Ferengi Vacumn Desicated Remains.
posted by juiceCake at 7:19 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


I knew this was right around the corner after seeing him during Dave Grohl's birthday party/concert and I was thinking that I should have something comedic and compassionate to say when this came around. And here it is and I got bupkes. This

.

just comes up really, really short. As it so often does. But for me, in regards to Lemmy, this doesn't even hit the dock, it never left the pier. Bye Lemmy.
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 7:22 PM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


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posted by drezdn at 7:22 PM on December 28, 2015


Was just rereading this Rolling Stone article about him. His mom was a librarian. He traveled with books. I was one of the people who learned about Motörhead via The Young Ones. I knew I liked that guy.
posted by jessamyn at 7:24 PM on December 28, 2015 [19 favorites]



posted by TheCoug at 7:26 PM on December 28, 2015


He traveled with books.

Yep. He was a big Wodehouse fan.
posted by NoMich at 7:26 PM on December 28, 2015 [10 favorites]


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posted by Sys Rq at 7:28 PM on December 28, 2015


Another one here who first heard Motorhead on The Young Ones.

I've been playing Ace of Spades VERY LOUD tonight.


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posted by doctornemo at 7:32 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


From that Rolling Stone article: Lemmy's biggest hit in this country turned out to be a song he wrote for Ozzy, the 1991 ballad "Mama, I'm Coming Home."

What
posted by ignignokt at 7:34 PM on December 28, 2015 [19 favorites]


.
posted by The Vice Admiral of the Narrow Seas at 7:35 PM on December 28, 2015


\m/
posted by The Michael The at 7:36 PM on December 28, 2015


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posted by eclectist at 7:38 PM on December 28, 2015


🂡
posted by alex_skazat at 7:40 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


And all across the world, collectors of Nazi memorabilia are salivating...
posted by Scram at 7:40 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'm banking on "spending a year dead for tax purposes".
posted by ckape at 7:40 PM on December 28, 2015 [20 favorites]


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posted by bitter-girl.com at 7:41 PM on December 28, 2015


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posted by acb at 7:41 PM on December 28, 2015


Well, damn. Only saw him once, 30 years ago this month at the Rainbow Music Hall in Denver. A force of nature hes was. I'm sure it was the loudest show I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of loud shows. I started wearing earplugs after that, as my ears weren't ringing, but made this weird crunchy noise for about a week after. Strange to think that Lemmy indirectly encouraged my youthful self to make some wiser choices. Godspeed, Mr. Kilmister.
posted by talking leaf at 7:45 PM on December 28, 2015 [5 favorites]


Just. Just. God fucking damnit. I've had enough of childhood... I dunno what, heroes? Nah he wasn't a hero. He was just... Fuck. Lemmy is dead. Just fuck this.


.


Fuck.
posted by chasles at 7:50 PM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


Absolutely defined a particular experience of growing up angry in nowhere towns.

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posted by running order squabble fest at 7:53 PM on December 28, 2015 [6 favorites]


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posted by fatbaq at 7:56 PM on December 28, 2015


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posted by condour75 at 8:03 PM on December 28, 2015


♫.♪ \m/ ♫.♪

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posted by Samizdata at 8:07 PM on December 28, 2015



posted by Token Meme at 8:07 PM on December 28, 2015


(Weird. Meadowlark Lemon and Lemmy. Two side of the same coin. And both so close together in name and date of passage. I hope the angels are laughing and rocking tonight.)
posted by Samizdata at 8:08 PM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


It's kinda like hearing that the moon's gone. Surreal, unexpected and very very sad.
posted by not the fingers, not the fingers at 8:09 PM on December 28, 2015 [6 favorites]


I don't know how I can live in a world without Lemmy. He was the authentic, decacadent, sleazy heart of rock & roll.

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posted by KingEdRa at 8:14 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


Fucking pancreatic cancer. Horns up.
posted by oh posey at 8:29 PM on December 28, 2015



posted by pt68 at 8:29 PM on December 28, 2015


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posted by From Bklyn at 8:31 PM on December 28, 2015


Forever known by wrestling fans as the singer of HHH's theme song, The Game

Live version from Wrestlemania 17
posted by The Gooch at 8:38 PM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


Two days?! Hell, that's harsh. RIP Lemmy.
posted by comealongpole at 8:38 PM on December 28, 2015


Aw, fucking hell.

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posted by valkane at 8:40 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


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posted by Mister Moofoo at 8:47 PM on December 28, 2015




.

\m/
posted by mephisjo at 8:47 PM on December 28, 2015


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posted by gingerbeer at 8:51 PM on December 28, 2015


goddamit

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posted by hap_hazard at 8:53 PM on December 28, 2015


My childhood BFF texted me: The only metal bone in my body is gone. I think that's true for a lot of weirdo kids who veered goth when they could have zagged metal: Lemmy was a bridge.

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posted by padraigin at 8:55 PM on December 28, 2015 [8 favorites]


The fact that he went out so quick is good news, this was a good death. Imagining Lemmy progressively more feeble and incapable does not fit well with his FUCK OFF ROCK MEGA HERO story. Rock on Lemmy, excellent job!!!
posted by Meatbomb at 9:00 PM on December 28, 2015 [12 favorites]


I have a feeling that really amazing, intense people like him probably already destroyed any previous cancer in their system by being hardcore. Damn. Rest in power
posted by yueliang at 9:01 PM on December 28, 2015


70 is a good run

YOU WIN SOME LOSE SOME
IT'S ALL THE SAME TO ME
posted by radiosilents at 9:12 PM on December 28, 2015 [5 favorites]


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posted by tonycpsu at 9:12 PM on December 28, 2015


Lemmy defined Rock and Roll and distilled it down to it’s purest essence. It didn’t need a modifier, wasn’t sort of anything, it wasn’t Rock/ anything, it was Rock and Roll. What’s more Rock? Nothing, nothing is more Rock.

And somehow he managed to be an interesting, if flawed, person and lived to 70, not by playing it safe.

One of a kind.

I first heard of him from the dedication in a Michael Moorcock book (An Alien Heat?) "to Lemmy from Hawkwind". Who? Didn’t figure out who it was until I read it again years later. What? Lemmy? Gave me a different view of Michael Moorcock and Lemmy.

I bought the "St. Valentines Day Massacre" split single with Girlschool off the "new" shelf at an indie record store without knowing either band. My mind was blown and my perception changed. (Girlschool’s Kelly Johnson died of cancer a few years ago. Denise Dufort played drums on all the songs on that 7" and she’s a monster.) Produced by the late great Vic Maile, it’s still one of the greatest rock records I’ve ever heard (I still prefers each bands cover of the others songs to the originals).
posted by bongo_x at 9:18 PM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


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posted by asra at 9:21 PM on December 28, 2015


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posted by drnick at 9:24 PM on December 28, 2015


WAAARGH!

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posted by Artw at 9:30 PM on December 28, 2015


Lemmy, I hope your strings are tight, your jack is full, and you scare the shit out of the angels demanding they HARP FUCKING HARDER.
posted by LuckyMonkey21 at 9:34 PM on December 28, 2015 [9 favorites]


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posted by krautland at 10:02 PM on December 28, 2015


|..|
posted by spinifex23 at 10:18 PM on December 28, 2015


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posted by oneironaut at 10:20 PM on December 28, 2015


He didn't get kicked out of Hawkwind for taking drugs. He got kicked out of Hawkwind because he took the wrong drugs. They were all smoking weed and taking acid and peace, man.

(That ain't verbatim but it's close and I always thought it's hilarious. Motorhead is slang for speed freak.)
posted by bukvich at 10:24 PM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


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posted by analoghotdog at 10:24 PM on December 28, 2015


See I am a Deadhead and I admit I never liked the music. Too friggin loud. But, I always loved and respected the man.

RIP Lemmy.
posted by AugustWest at 10:25 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]



posted by MrBadExample at 10:38 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


Rockin' Vicars

Sam Gopal

Lemmy contained multitudes. I hope he's surrounded by Motown 'girl groups' in Valhalla.
posted by rock swoon has no past at 10:38 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


He passed away before getting to play a game of Secret Hitler. Doesn't seem right, somehow. RIP.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 10:48 PM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


I really liked knowing that he liked Wodehouse.
posted by palomar at 10:50 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]



posted by eriko at 10:52 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


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posted by mikelieman at 11:02 PM on December 28, 2015


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eat the rich -- the best movie ever

with Lemmy in it
posted by philip-random at 11:14 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]




I've said this in other Motörhead threads. But I'll say it again here. That Young Ones with Motörhead totally blew my shallow suburban mind back in the mid 80s. I'll never forget that experience.
posted by persona au gratin at 11:27 PM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


RIP dammit.

(Yesterday as so often I sung my toddler to sleep with a slow version of We Are The Road Crew)

That's Rock In Perpetuity I guess.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 11:29 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


Fuuuuck. "Keys to the Kingdom" came up on my iPod shuffle about two hours ago. And I was thinking, "Damn, fuckin' Lemmy's aged well, I'm so glad he's still around." And then I read this. Fuuuuuuuuuuck!

One of my first concerts was in 1987, seeing Motorhead opening for Alice Cooper at the Mosque in Pittsburgh. I was 17. My friend Boris and I got ripped off by a scalper, but we decided fuck it, we had to get in, so we found a more scrupulous scalper.

After their set (which I tried to tape with a little cassette tape recorder), everything sounded kinda muffled for a couple of hours. The damage to my hearing that night was probably permanent.

But it was SO FUCKIN' WORTH IT. Thank you, Lemmy. So glad you were around for so long.

No moment of silence for him -- only the high pitch of tinnitus in the background.
posted by not_on_display at 11:32 PM on December 28, 2015 [8 favorites]


"We're the kind of band that when we move in next do to you, your lawn dies." -Lemmy (possibly apocryphal)

This is the quote that got me listening to these guys however many years ago.
posted by deadbilly at 12:18 AM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]


Lemmy would have been amazing had he quit after Hawkwind, but then he went on to define what rock/metal was meant to be and he did that for decades. I'd say rest in peace, but that's so not Lemmy. Born to lose, live to win.
posted by ersatz at 12:40 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


I too first experienced Lemmy in that The Young Ones episode (watched on VHS over at a friend's house, as that sort of TV wasn't allowed at home), then through the Lemmy-worship of my teenage metal-crazed friends, and then again in various Michael Moorcock novels as I worked my way through them a few years later.

Some musicians get described as legendary but I think this was literally true for Lemmy - so much folklore, anecdotes and fiction surrounding him, and the belief that he would somehow always survive.

And as he's a friend of Jerry Cornelius I wouldn't be surprised if he turns up again somewhere, eventually.
posted by BinaryApe at 12:41 AM on December 29, 2015 [3 favorites]



posted by sukeban at 12:51 AM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]


Upon hearing of his death, the quietest, most genteel librarian friend I have (and I have many who match that description) posted her memory of meeting him in London in 2000 and having an hour-long conversation with him.

And Neil Finn posted about meeting him in a hotel reception back when the Enz were touring North America. Lemmy was making out with the receptionist, apparently.

Just two more anecdotes to add to the legend of Lemmy. I think we'll hear many, many, many more.

Rock on \m/
posted by kariebookish at 2:26 AM on December 29, 2015 [5 favorites]


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posted by Joey Michaels at 3:22 AM on December 29, 2015



posted by Pendragon at 3:33 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


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posted by El Brendano at 4:01 AM on December 29, 2015


Took my Physics exam wearing a Motorhead t-shirt. Got an A. Thanks Lem. RIP

Still the greatest thing on the internet
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:17 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


¨
posted by radwolf76 at 4:21 AM on December 29, 2015


tough year for Rickenbacker players

~~~
posted by thelonius at 4:29 AM on December 29, 2015 [4 favorites]


.

Only ever saw him play live once at a Hawkwind anniversary gig (their 20th maybe?) at the Brixton Academy. Owned the place.
posted by KirkpatrickMac at 4:48 AM on December 29, 2015


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posted by davelog at 4:51 AM on December 29, 2015


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posted by Grinder at 4:56 AM on December 29, 2015


What do you give the man who has everything for his 70th?
Pancreatic cancer.

\m/
posted by flabdablet at 5:09 AM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]


Everytime Lemmy's name would pop up (mostly here) I'd remark to myself that it was insane that I had never heard this guy's work. But I definitely live on the poppier side of the musical spectrum.

Except, I did hear him. Almost every week. In addition to what The Gooch said above, Motörhead also did Triple H's current theme song, King of Kings.

Here's the WWE's tribute.
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posted by kimberussell at 5:20 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


Of course Lemmy is the inspiration for Derek Smalls, but just in his Hawkwind days.

Ah, bloody Lemmy. Look at this face.
posted by h00py at 5:27 AM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]



posted by Gelatin at 5:45 AM on December 29, 2015


\m/ \m/

Because we're talking too much rock for just one hand...
posted by Gronk at 5:59 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


.

In 'Ace of Spades' the climactic V chord is only heard once, in the bridge, over which he appropriately sings 'And don't forget the joker.' Musical wit from a clever guy I think.
posted by colie at 6:04 AM on December 29, 2015 [6 favorites]


I saw Motörhead on that '87 tour with Alice Cooper (and Faster Pussycat) at Compton Terrace outside Phoenix so wasted I was seeing triple. I misremember it like it was yesterday.

Rest in whatever manner you like Lemmy.


posted by djeo at 6:07 AM on December 29, 2015 [5 favorites]


\m/
posted by mirthe at 6:19 AM on December 29, 2015


Hawkwind - Motorhead

\m/ \m/
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:36 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


He will also be remembered as one of the tiny class of people for whom members of the Koopa family were named in Super Mario Bros. 3 and subsequent games. They are:

Larry Mullen, Jr. (1961 - )
Morton Downey, Jr. (1932 - 2001)
Wendy O. Williams (1949 - 1998)
Iggy Pop (1947 - )
Roy Orbison (1936 - 1988)
Lemmy Kilmister (1945 - 2015)
Ludwig von Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

Random trivia for our stupid, Lemmy-less morning.

.
posted by Navelgazer at 7:14 AM on December 29, 2015 [12 favorites]


Nipping out to buy some whisky* so I can have drink to Lemmy tonight (the whole bottle, obviously)

*Planning to anyway as out of booze... sad co-incidence
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:23 AM on December 29, 2015


"You're gonna know where I've been
Do you wanna ride see yourself going by.
The other side of the sky

I mean a silver machine.

I've got a silver machine"

.
posted by marienbad at 8:10 AM on December 29, 2015


He truly was Everything Louder than Everyone Else.
RIP Lemmy, he went to eleven.
\m/
posted by murphy slaw at 8:16 AM on December 29, 2015


On wings, Mr. K. You were always aces in my book.


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posted by evilDoug at 8:26 AM on December 29, 2015


Every year on the day after Thanksgiving I load up my Christmas songs and kick it off with Lemmy's version of Run Rudolph Run with Dave Grohl and Billy Gibbons.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 8:28 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


For such a crusty dude, he sure had a gorgeous signature bass.

4004LK Rickenbacker, walnut body with handcarved oak leaves, white-checked binding, and gold hardware. Oddly, it has three pickups, but I think that Lemmy only ever used the bridge pickup.
posted by Existential Dread at 8:34 AM on December 29, 2015 [5 favorites]


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posted by mrgroweler at 8:57 AM on December 29, 2015


this is one of those things that i knew was going to happen someday but still kinda somehow thought it wouldn't actually ever happen...

anyway i read some wodehouse and drank a bunch of beers to his memory last night. ave atque vale, lemmy
posted by burgerrr at 9:17 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


I've never lived in a world without Lemmy. I'm not quite sure what to do now.
posted by rocket88 at 9:38 AM on December 29, 2015 [5 favorites]


I've never lived in a world without Lemmy.

No one has. They existed in one, but they didn't live.
posted by Etrigan at 9:39 AM on December 29, 2015 [9 favorites]


And now John Bradbury, drummer from The Specials and Guru Josh... fine time heaven tonight
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:16 AM on December 29, 2015


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posted by Francis7 at 10:23 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


I saw Motörhead on that '87 tour with Alice Cooper (and Faster Pussycat) at Compton Terrace outside Phoenix so wasted I was seeing triple. I misremember it like it was yesterday.

Now I remember that I was there too, I’m pretty sure. I don’t remember yesterday all that well, so...
posted by bongo_x at 11:54 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


Trick question, Lemmy is god.

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posted by cmfletcher at 12:03 PM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]




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posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 1:21 PM on December 29, 2015


I say this with the utmost respect but whoever saws off and preserves that mole will have an artifact for the ages

I hope somebody will follow up on my suggestion from the Twilight of the Headbangers thread two months ago:

"I assume in this scenario that Lemmy's moles will be preserved in ornate reliquaries and venerated as objects of unknowable power."
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:39 PM on December 29, 2015


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posted by lumpenprole at 1:40 PM on December 29, 2015


.

That Young Ones episode has never stopped giving me goosebumps.
posted by quartzcity at 2:54 PM on December 29, 2015


”Motörhead is over, of course. Lemmy was Motörhead”.

respectable position.
posted by Artw at 2:57 PM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


...too soon?
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 3:11 PM on December 29, 2015


In case you haven't seen it, check out Decline and Fall of Western Civilization, Part II: The Metal Years for Lemmy's interview over the LA skyline as the sun comes up.

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posted by petebest at 3:12 PM on December 29, 2015


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posted by getawaysticks at 4:10 PM on December 29, 2015



posted by flippant at 5:05 PM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


.

If you've not seen it, Lemmy teaming up with (most of) The Young Ones crowd again, in Comic Strip Presents' More Bad News.
posted by NailsTheCat at 8:35 PM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]




Day two of this dark hell known as "The World Without Lemmy."
posted by eriko at 7:40 AM on December 30, 2015 [5 favorites]




A slight derail, but this…
“One cool thing happened in the Seventies when a chick just climbed up [onstage] and blew me," Lemmy told Inked. "I was singing — well, I couldn't stop, could I?”
is interesting given the whole blow-up around Danny Brown’s onstage BJ back in 2013.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:02 AM on December 30, 2015


I was first introduced to Motorhead in 1983, by The Guy With The Loudest Stereo on our dorm floor. It came at the same time as my introduction to DOA and the whole Vancouver punk scene I'd known nothing about growing up in my isolated northern BC village. My brain like to exploded, along with my already-developing enthusiasm for booze and drugs and all things fast and loud and dangerous.

It's an odd feeling these days, at 50, with my self-destructive tendencies mostly in check, but all of the love for rock and roll intact, with the towering figures of the music and literature and everything else that shaped my mind all those decades ago dying off, one by one. They are and were, most of them, only 10 or 20 or maybe 30 years older than me, and back in the day, that seemed like a huge age gap. So much time between us, so much time for me to make my own mark.

And now, when Lemmy dies at 70 or, Hunter, say, dies at 68, it feels like they're almost part of my own age cohort, even though the gap between us has remained the same.

It's a bit of a commonplace, I know, but it strikes me every time we lose one of them.

Thanks, Lemmy. You were a reeking beast of a man, in the best possible way, and there's a thread in the weave of my own rock and roll soul that's 100% inspired by you.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:42 PM on December 30, 2015 [9 favorites]


I saw Motörhead play live in about 2003. They came on stage, rocked everyone's faces off, and then told us that we should all buy or steal their new album, however we could get it, we should listen to it. Then they went back to rocking harder than it should be possible for human beings to rock. Fantastic, inspiring, brilliant stuff.

Here's the best posthumous photoshop: Lemmy with Ben and Yoda.
posted by bile and syntax at 2:57 PM on December 30, 2015 [6 favorites]






Motorhead fans pay tribute to fallen Lemmy with petition for 'Lemmium' on periodic table

"We believe that it is fitting that the international Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry recommend that one of the four new discovered Heavy Metals in the Periodic table is named Lemmium."

Seriously, you cannot fault that logic.
posted by Mezentian at 3:27 AM on January 7, 2016 [3 favorites]


OK, signed that.

So about the two attributed miracles: surely the moles have to count.
posted by flabdablet at 4:23 AM on January 7, 2016


There's a joke in there about his moles and heavy metals, but it requires a sharper mind than mine
posted by Going To Maine at 8:08 AM on January 7, 2016 [1 favorite]




In early December, shortly before his death, Motörhead visited Finland and Lemmy starred in an advertisement for milk for the Finnish dairy company Valio. (It's a remake of this Finnish milk ad from the 90s, presenting a warning example of someone who never drinks milk.)

Lemmy was asked to do it because someone at the advertisement agency thought the original guy looked like him, and he was said to have found the idea hilarious. After Lemmy's unexpected death, Valio says they wanted to turn the ad into a "tribute".
posted by sively at 12:27 AM on January 8, 2016 [7 favorites]




Lemmy's full memorial service.
posted by h00py at 4:41 AM on January 15, 2016




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