The rock 'n' roll world mourns as Lemmy passes away in Los Angeles

“We are Motörhead and we play Rock and Roll!”
That, for the past 20 years or so, had been Lemmy’s impassioned on-stage battle cry.
On the road pretty much non-stop since 1962 when he joined Stockport band The Rainmakers, Ian Fraser Kilmister was one of the true rock ‘n’ roll originals who influenced everybody from Rage Against The Machine and Metallica to Dave Grohl and Guns N’ Roses.
Beloved of metallers, punks, skins, bikers and people who just got off on the power and passion of his band’s music, Lemmy passed away yesterday in his Los Angeles home. He’d been diagnosed with cancer on Saturday, just two days after celebrating his 70th birthday.
“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,” reads an official band communiqué. “He had learnt of the disease on December 26th, and was at home, sitting in front of his favorite video game from the Rainbow which had recently made its way down the street, with his family. We cannot begin to express our shock and sadness, there aren’t words. We will say more in the coming days, but for now, please… play Motörhead loud, play Hawkwind loud, play Lemmy’s music loud. Have a drink or few. Share stories. Celebrate the life this lovely, wonderful man celebrated so vibrantly himself. He would want exactly that. Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister 1945-2015. Born to lose, lived to win.”
It’s been an awful couple of months for Motörheadbangers with classic 1975-1984 era drummer Phil Taylor also passing away in November.
The tributes have been pouring in with Metallica noting that, “Lemmy, you are one of the primary reasons this band exists. We're forever grateful for all of your inspiration”; Ozzy Osbourne ruing: "Lost one of my best friends, Lemmy, today. He will be sadly missed. He was a warrior and a legend. I will see you on the other side”, and Kiss’ Gene Simmons, another close buddy, saying: "Lemmy: Rest In Peace. Shake the heavens, my friend."
I fell in love with the guy the moment I saw him on Top Of The Pops in 1972 belting out ‘Silver Machine’ with Hawkwind. Sounding like nothing else on the planet at the time, its numerous fans included a young, long-haired, drug dealing John Lydon who readily accepts the influence Lemmy had on him and the Sex Pistols.
Mates with both the Pistols and The Damned, Lemmy’s forming a few years later of Motörhead signaled the start of one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most remarkable, romantic and enduring stories, with the band gigging virtually uninterrupted for 40 glorious years.
“When everyone was putting their bands together we’d congregate down the pubs in Portabello Road,” Captain Sensible of The Damned told yours truly a few years back. “Lemmy would often be found playing the fruit-machines in these less than salubrious establishments. He lived round the corner and would let you doss on his floor if you couldn’t get back down to Croydon. We just knew him because he was part of that Portabello/Ladbroke Grove scene, which had started a few years beforehand with Hawkwind who to all intents and purposes were a punk band themselves, only with long hair and flares.
“Lemmy’s very funny; has an answer for everything and loves to hold court in his dressing-room with a constant procession of people coming in and out. He gives them a bit of his rapier wit and they go off happy. He’s a certain age these days but he still indulges, drinking slowly through the day and having a little bit of what he fancies before and after the show. It’s quite a lifestyle, really.”
There were number one albums (No Sleep Til’ Hammersmith); best-selling autobiographies (White Line Fever); tribute films (Lemmy The Movie); legendary TV performances (The Young Ones and Tiswas); top 10-infliltrating collaborations (Headgirl’s ‘Please Don’t Touch’); unlikely musical hook-ups (The Nolans) and thousands upon thousands of gigs, including regular visits to Northern Ireland during The Troubles when most other people stayed away.
Motörhead destroying the Hammersmith Odeon on the Overkill Tour is neck and neck with The Clash and The Slits in the Lyceum as my all-time favourite gig.
I was lucky enough to meet Lemmy on several occasions. He was everything you wanted him to be – gruff, passionate, funny, loyal, tender, fascinating and unlike anybody else I’ve ever encountered. I shook his hand, thanked him for my changing my life and meant every word of it.
Lemmy lived for music, friends, family, fans, video games, war memorabilia, and the numerous ladies he bedded. He was one of my heroes and I adored him.
Here are some fond memories of the great man from our back pages:
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