Lemmy Kilmister: Our Words
12/30/2015 7:23:34 PM by Frank Hill






"Lemmy? God? Trick question, dick. Lemmy is God!"

He was God because he walked the talk. There were no skeletons in his closet. Hell, he had no closet, he just wore everything on his back until it walked off his skin on its own. He was what he was, what you saw was what you got. He didn’t give a shit.

He was God because he paid his dues. Before he took the stage, he was behind it, lugging and sweating and driving, working one of the hardest and most demanding jobs on the planet. Like all roadies, the work made him supernatural, killing his sense of smell and discretion. He got his hands dirty and he never washed it off.

He was never unkind. If you treated the man with respect, he gave you all the time in the world, whatever you needed, if he could spare it. If you asked him a good question, you got a great answer. Of course if you were stupid, he’d let you know that, too.

He was a real performer, a real talent. He could play his instrument. He could write a song that can stain your brain forever. He played hard, he played well, and he played unlike anyone else in the business. You knew his voice. You knew his riffs. He was the bridge between the planes; If you know Rock, you know Motorhead. If you know Motorhead, you know Metal.

He understood his life. He did what he wanted and embraced the consequences, instead of whining about them. He paid for his mistakes and reveled in his success. He laughed and sang and fucked and drugged and drank his way through 70 years, losing his teeth, submerged in Rock-n-Roll and everything it was meant to stand for. When he slowed down, he owned it. When he sped up, he owned it. He lived his truth. He was fearless.

Lemmy was the embodiment of the ultimate rocker. Lemmy was the embodiment of the ultimate human being. He was the last of the true everyday warriors, who was such a natural at going against everything that society dictated that everyone just stepped aside.

He was Metal before it was Metal. Motorhead is the bedrock where Metal stands upon. Lemmy was everything every man wanted to be. Lemmy was everything a woman wanted to have. Lemmy was very real and unreal. He was funny, hardcore, sexy, ugly, brilliant, talented, and very very loud. He was a saintly sinner, a wicked angel, a warrior that didn’t have to fight, a most beautiful bastard.

He was a part of all of us. He was family to all of us. We called him a god because that’s what he was, because we thought he would be immortal.

We really thought…

--T. Ray Verteramo


From Our Archives:
· Lemmy Interview by Kim Thore: [link]

· Concert Report: Motorhead, Saxon, Crobot: [link]

· "Lemmy" Movie Review [link]

· "The World is Yours" Review: [link]

· Black Magic Review: [link]

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