Lemmy
Lemmy performing in 2006
Background information
Birth name	Ian Fraiser Kilmister
Also known as	Lemmy Kilmister Ian Fraiser Willis Lemmy the Lurch Lemmy von Motörhead Lemmy
Born	December 24, 1945 (1945-12-24) (age 61)
Origin	Stoke-on-Trent, England
Genre(s)	Heavy metal Speed metal Space rock
Instrument(s)	Vocals Bass guitar Guitar Harmonica
Associated acts	Motörhead Hawkwind The Damned The Rainmakers The Rockin' Vickers Opal Butterfly The Head Cat Girlschool
Website	imotorhead.com
Notable instrument(s)
Rickenbacker bass guitar Minarik Inferno Bass

Lemmy (born Ian Fraiser Kilmister on December 24, 1945, also known as Ian Willis, Lemmy Kilmister, and Lemmy von Motörhead), is an English singer and bass guitarist, most famous for being the founding member of the heavy metal band Motörhead. His appearance, facial moles, mutton chops (sideburn-moustache combination), and gravelly voice, have made him an instantly recognizable cult figure, known beyond the world of rock music. Lemmy is considered as one of the great heavy metal musicians.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Childhood 1.2 Early career 1.3 Motörhead 2 Personal life 2.1 Sexuality 2.2 Drugs 2.3 Collector 3 Equipment 4 Discography 5 Videography 5.1 VHS 5.2 DVD 6 Books 7 Trivia 8 References 9 External links

Biography

Childhood

Lemmy was born in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England and raised in Anglesey, North Wales. His father, a clergyman, left the family when Lemmy was three months old. His meaningless nickname was acquired from his Welsh friends as a child.

Early career

Kilmister spent the 1960s as a guitarist in a number of obscure bands (such as Rainmakers, Motown Sect, Opal Butterfly, Sam Gopal, and The Rockin' Vickers) as well as working as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix in 1967, and also as a roadie for The Nice, where he gave Keith Emerson his trademark knife.

In 1971, Kilmister joined the space rock band, Hawkwind, who were based in Ladbroke Grove, London. He had little experience as a bass guitarist, but quickly developed a distinctive style that was strongly shaped by his early experience as a rhythm guitarist, often using double stops and chords rather than the single notes preferred by most bassists. Kilmister's bass work was a fundamental part of the Hawkwind sound during his tenure, perhaps best documented on Space Ritual. He also provided lead vocals on a number of songs, including the band's biggest UK chart single, "Silver Machine", which reached No.3 in 1972.

Motörhead

In 1975 Kilmister was fired from Hawkwind after he was arrested at Canadian customs on possession charges; he spent five days in prison. Kilmister went on to form a new band with guitarist Larry Wallis (former member of the Pink Fairies, Steve Took's Shagrat and UFO) and drummer Lucas Fox. Lemmy's connection with Took (formerly of T Rex) was not limited to Wallis, as they were personal friends and Took was the step-father to Lemmy's son, Paul. This new band was originally called Bastard. When his manager informed him that a band by that name will never get a slot on "Top of the Pops", Kilmister changed the band's name to Motörhead - the title of the last song Lemmy wrote for Hawkwind.

Soon after, both Wallis and Fox were replaced with guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke and drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, and with this line-up the band began to achieve success. The band's sound appealed to both Lemmy's original heavy metal fans, as well as to fans of the nascent punk rock scene. In fact, Lemmy asserts that he generally feels more kinship with punks than with heavy metal; he even played with the The Damned for a handful of gigs when they had no regular bassist — and Lemmy's guttural vocals were unique in the world of rock at that time. The band's success peaked between 1980 and 1981 with a number of UK chart hits, including the classic single Ace of Spades (still a crowd favourite today) and the #1 live album No Sleep 'til Hammersmith. Motörhead have since gone on to become one of the most influential bands in the heavy metal music genre, and although Lemmy is the only constant member, are still performing and releasing records to this day. Despite Motörhead's many member changes over their 30 year history, the current lineup of Lemmy, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee has remained constant since 1995.

Lemmy has also worked with a number of other musicians over his career, and occasionally guests with Hawkwind. He was brought in as a songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's 1991 No More Tears album, providing lyrics for the tracks "Hellraiser", (which Motörhead later released on their "Hellraiser" single) "Desire", "I Don't Want To Change The World", and the massive hit "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. In 2005 Motörhead won their first Grammy, beating out such modern contemporaries like Slipknot, Killswitch Engage, Hatebreed, and Cradle of Filth, in the Best Metal Performance category with their cover of Metallica's "Whiplash".

He has made a number of appearances in film and television, including the 1990 science fiction film Hardware and the 1987 comedy Eat the Rich, for which Motörhead also recorded the soundtracks. In the 1994 comedy Airheads (in which he is credited as "Lemmy von Motörhead"), he shouts (truthfully) about being the editor of his high school newspaper. He has also appeared in several movies from the Troma studio. Having a predilection for self-deprecating parody, he once appeared in an advertisement for Kit Kat chocolate bars, miming a piece of chamber music on the violin, in an upper-class tea-room. Lemmy published his autobiography, White Line Fever in November 2002. Motörhead performed the entrance theme song "The Game" for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s Triple H (who at one point wore his mustache and sideburns like Lemmy as a tribute), as well as "Line in the Sand" for Triple H's now defunct wrestling stable, Evolution. In 2006, they once again provided theme music for the WWE as they recorded the song "King of Kings" for Triple H on the Wreckless Intent CD.

Personal life

Sexuality

In 2006 an article for BraveWords.com stated that Lemmy supposedly claimed to have engaged in bisexual behaviour. This was proven to be a hoax. Lemmy said he called up the journalist who claimed he was bisexual, and informed him that "it would be difficult for him to kneel down and get his floppy disk with a screwdriver through both knees." The article was entirely removed from the website shortly after its appearance. Online music news site Blabbermouth.net credit themselves with being the informants of the article's inauthenticity.

Appearing in a Channel 4 documentary called "Motörhead: Live Fast, Die Old" broadcast on August 22, 2005, it was claimed that Lemmy "had bedded" in excess of 2,000 women. In the documentary Lemmy also explained that while in school he noticed a pupil who had brought a guitar to school and had been "surrounded by chicks", Lemmy's mother had a guitar, which he then took to school, even though he could not play, and was himself surrounded by girls, "in those days just having a guitar was enough" and from then on "that was it".

Drugs

During Lemmy's time with Hawkwind, he developed an appetite for speed and acid and was to become renowned for his use of speed. Before joining Hawkwind, Lemmy recalled Dik Mik, a former Hawkwind sound technician, visiting his squat in the middle of the night and taking speed with him. They became interested in how long "you could make the human body 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.

I first got into speed because it was a utilitarian drug and kept you awake when you needed to be awake, when otherwise you'd just be flat out on your back. If you drive to Glasgow for nine hours in the back of a sweaty truck you don't really feel like going onstage feeling all bright and breezy... It's the only drug I've found that I can get on with, and I've tried them all — except smack and morphine: I've never fixed anything.—Lemmy

In November 2005, Lemmy 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 legalisation of heroin. Lemmy does however consume massive amounts of alcohol and amphetamines. He was also a part of the psychedelic acid scene.

"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. It 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 legalize it."

He stated that legalization would eradicate the drug dealer from society.

Collector

Lemmy collects Nazi memorabilia, and has an Iron Cross encrusted on his bass, which has led to accusations of right-wing extremist tendencies; however, Lemmy considers himself an anarchist, saying that "government causes more problems than it solves" and that he is "anti-communism, fascism, any extreme." According to Keith Emerson as written in his autobiography, two of Lemmy's Hitlerjugend knives were gifted to Keith Emerson himself during Lemmy's time spent as a roadie for The Nice. Emerson used these knives many times as "keyholders" during his famous wrestling sessions with the Hammond Organ during the shows with The Nice and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

Equipment

Lemmy positions his microphone in an uncommonly high position, angled so that he appears to be looking up at the sky rather than at the audience. He said that it was for "personal comfort, that's all. It's also one way of avoiding seeing the audience. In the days when we only had ten people and a dog, it was a way of avoiding seeing that we only had ten people and a dog".

Lemmy has used Rickenbacker 4001 and 4003 bass guitars almost exclusively since the Hawkwind days, though some of these instruments were modified with the installation of Gibson Thunderbird pickups in the neck position. Rickenbacker produced a 50-bass run of Lemmy Kilmister signature basses, the 4004LK, which is fitted with three pickups, gold hardware, and elaborate wood carving in the shape of oak leaves. Lemmy himself has been using a customised 4004.

For amplification he uses Marshall amplifiers, specifically hot-rodded Marshall JMP Superbass IIs from the later 1960s/early 1970s. Each amp, with a nominal output of 100 watts, is used with a 4x12 speaker cab and a custom-made 4x15 cab. Lemmy uses two such stacks, one on each side of the drum riser. For many years the amps were nicknamed "No Remorse", "Killer" (left side amp) or "Murder One" (right side amp) with appropriate nameplates. "No Remorse" was subsequently replaced by a new amp nicknamed "Marsha" when, as Lemmy observed in an October 2004 interview, it "blew up". "Killer" and "Murder One" were destroyed in Argentina when all the other equipment was stolen. They were not seen for many years, but in 2006 "Murder One" got on stage again.

The phrase "everything louder than everyone else" sums up Lemmy's sonic approach, as he plays at the loudest possible levels. He uses the neck pickup exclusively (giving his bass sound more definition) and turns all the tone and volume knobs on the bass up full. On the amplifiers, he turns the bass and treble off, and the midrange up all the way, with the volume and presence up to the 3:00 position. The result is a biting midrange sound which is somewhat distorted but not "fuzzed out" or "blurry", a formula well-suited to Lemmy's use of open-string drones and power chords, all of which is played at hell-bent-for-leather tempos.

Lemmy has occasionally played electric or acoustic guitar, notably on the acoustic song "Ain't No Nice Guy" from Motörhead's March Ör Die album, the title track on 1996's Overnight Sensation, and "Whorehouse Blues" from the Inferno album.

In September 2006, Lemmy's Rickenbaker bass was featured in the Bang Your Head exhibition at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

Discography

For releases with Motörhead see the Motörhead discography

• 1965 The Rockin' Vickers - Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart/ Stella (7")
• 1965 The Rockin' Vickers - It's Alright / Stay By Me(7")
• 1966 The Rockin' Vickers - Dandy/ I Don't Need Your Kind (7")
• 1969 Sam Gopal - Escalator
• 1970 Opal Butterfly - Groupie Girl (7")
• 1972 Hawkwind - Silver Machine/ Seven By Seven (7")
• 1972 Various artists: Revelation triple album (one side of Hawkwind)
• 1972 Various artists: Greasy Trucker's Party (one side of Hawkwind)
• 1972 Hawkwind - Doremi Fasol Latido
• 1973 Hawkwind - Lord Of Light (7")
• 1973 Hawkwind - Urban Guerilla (7")
• 1973 Hawkwind - Space Ritual
• 1974 Hawkwind - Hall Of The Mountain Grill
• 1974 Hawkwind - Psychedelic Warlords (7")
• 1974 Robert Calvert Ejection/ Catch A Falling Starfighter (7")
• 1974 Robert Calvert - Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters
• 1975 Hawkwind - Kings Of Speed (7")
• 1975 Hawkwind - Warrior on the Edge of Time
• 1977 Hawkwind - Masters of the Universe (compilation)
• 1979 The Damned - I Just Can't Be Happy Today/ Ballroom Blitz (with Lemmy on bass) / Turkey Song(7")
• 1979 The Damned - Machine Gun Etiquette
• 1980 The Young & Moody Band - Don't Do That (7" & 12")
• 1981 Headgirl (Motörhead & Girlschool) - The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
• 1982 Lemmy & Wendy O. Williams - Stand By Your Man
• 1984 Hawkwind - Earth Ritual Preview (12" EP)
• 1984 Robert Calvert - Freq
• 1984 Various artists - Hear'n'Aid
• 1985 Hawkwind - Space Ritual Vol. 2 (compilation live)
• 1985 Hawkwind - In the Beginning (live)
• 1986 Hawkwind - Approved History Of Hawkwind 1967-1982
• 1988 Albert Jarvinen Band - Countdown
• 1989 Nina Hagen - Nina Hagen
• 1990 Lemmy & The Upsetters - Blue Suede Shoes
• 1990 Various artists - The Last Temptation Of Elvis: Blue Suede Shoes
• 1990 Hardware - Original Soundtrack
• 1992 Various Artists - Hellraiser III:Hell on Earth (Original Soundtrack)
• 1993 The Damned - Tales From The Damned
• 1994 Fast Eddie Clarke - It Ain't over Till It's Over
• 1994 Shonen Knife - Tomato Head (promo single)
• 1994 Shonen Knife - Rock Animals
• 1996 Skew Siskin - Electric Chair Music
• 1996 Ugly Kid Joe - Motel California
• 1996 Myth Dreams of World - Stories of the Greek & Roman Gods & Goddesses
• 1996 Skew Siskin - Voices From The War
• 1997 Various artists - Dragon Attack: A Tribute To Queen
• 1997 The Ramones - We're Outta Here!
• 1998 Various artists - Thunderbolt: A Tribute To AC/DC
• 1998 Various artists - ECW: Extreme Music
• 1999 Jetboy - Lost & Found
• 1999 Skew Siskin - What The Hell
• 1999 Hawkwind - Epoch Eclipse: 30 Year Anthology (compilation box)
• 1999 A.N.I.M.A.L. - Usa Toda Tu Fuerza
• 2000 Lemmy - Slim Jim & Danny B - Lemmy - Slim Jim & Danny B
• 2000 Swing Cats - A Special Tribute To Elvis
• 2000 The Rockin' Vicars - The Complete - It's Alright
• 2000 Various artists - Bat Head Soup - Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne
• 2000 Doro - Calling The Wild
• 2001 The Pirates - Rock Bottom
• 2001 Various artists - Metallic Assault - A Tribute To Metallica
• 2001 Hair of the Dog - Ignite
• 2001 Various artists - Twisted Forever
• 2001 Various artists - Frezno Smooth (Original Soundtrack)
• 2001 Various artists - WWE: The Music, Vol. 5
• 2002 Various artists - Guitar Greats
• 2002 Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Mike Batt and guests - Philharmania
• 2002 Various artists - Metal Brigade
• 2002 Various artists - Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three
• 2003 Various artists - Ash Wednesday (Original Soundtrack)
• 2003 Ace Sounds - Still Hungry
• 2003 Skew Siskin - Album Of The Year
• 2004 Probot - Probot
• 2004 Various Artists - The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Soundtrack (with Motörhead, contributed "You'd Better Swim")
• 2004 Various Artists - Metallica: The Ultimate Tribute Album (This has Motörhead doing Whiplash for which they won the grammy)
• 2004/5 Various - Numbers From The Beast: An All Star Salute To Iron Maiden - Trooper
• 2005 Hawkwind - Take Me to Your Leader
• 2005 Throw Rag - 13 Ft. and Rising - Tonight the Bottle let me Down
• 2005 Skew Siskin - Devil's Disciple (Compilation)
• 2006 Lemmy - Damage Case (Compilation)
• 2006 The Head Cat - Fool's Paradise
• 2006 Various artists - WWE Wreckless Intent

Videography

VHS

• 1982 Live In Toronto - Castle Hendering
• 1984 Another Perfect Day EP
• 1985 Birthday Party
• 1986 Deaf Not Blind
• 1988 EP
• 1988 The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years
• 1990 Hardware
• 1991 Everything louder Than Everything Else
• 1994 John Wayne Bobbitt Uncut

DVD

• 1987 Eat the Rich
• 1997 Tromeo and Juliet - Troma pictures
• 2000 Cannibal! The Musical - Troma pictures
• 2001 25 & Alive Boneshaker - Steamhammer - SPV
• 2002 Motörhead EP
• 2002 The Best of Motörhead
• 2003 The Special Edition EP
• 2004 Everything Louder Than Everything Else
• 2005 Stage Fright
• 2005 Ringers: Lord of the Fans
• 2006 The Head Cat Live: Rockin' the Cat Club

Books

• 1981 Motörhead - Author: Alan Burridge, published by Babylon Books, ISBN 0-86001-935-7
• 1994 The Illustrated Collector's Guide To Motörhead - Authors: Alan Burridge and Mick Stevenson, published by Collector's Guide Publishing, ISBN 0-9695736-2-6
• 2002 White Line Fever - Authors: Lemmy Kilmister and Janiss Garza, published by Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-684-85868-1
• 2002 Lemmy: In His Own Words - Author: Harry Shaw, published by Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-9109-X
• 2002 Motorheadbangers Diary Of The Fans Volume 1 - Author: Alan Burridge, published by e-booksonline(uk)ltd, ISBN 1-903949-14-9

Trivia

• About his band, Lemmy is quoted as saying "We want to be the band that if we moved in next door to you, your lawn would die."
• Lemmy has made cameo appearances as a villain in the Boys Don't Cry music video I Wanna Be a Cowboy, in The Ramones' video for "Substitute", in The Comic Strip Presents... More Bad News, The Young Ones, and in John Wayne Bobbitt Uncut.
• Lemmy intros and outros the Troma film, Tromeo and Juliet as The Narrator.
• In one scene of the movie Airheads starring Brendan Fraser, Adam Sandler, and Steve Buscemi, Brendan Fraser's character, "Chazz" Chester Darvey, is talking to an undercover cop who is pretending to be a record executive. Chazz asks him, "Who'd win in a wrestling match, Lemmy or God?", the cop replies, "Lemmy", to which Rex, played by Steve Buscemi, imitates a game show buzzer and the cop stutters and asks, "... God?". Chazz replies saying, "Wrong, dickhead, trick question. Lemmy is God". Lemmy makes an appearance in the film and shouts out (truthfully) that he edited his school newspaper as other people in the crowd admit geeky pastimes in their youth.
• Lemmy played a water taxi driver in the movie Hardware; playing Motörhead for his passengers.
• Lemmy also appeared on an intro scene on The Drew Carey Show in which Motörhead plays outside Drew's home, startling him awake.
• Lemmy is one of very few musicians to have been mentioned on Beavis and Butt-Head who was not made fun of. Upon seeing him appear in a video for a group that was not Motörhead, Butthead exclaimed, "He's Lemmy. He can be in any damn video he wants to!"
• Lemmy was originally a guitarist. He didn't play bass until he joined Hawkwind.
• Sid Vicious is said to have asked Lemmy to teach him how to play bass with the words, "I can't play bass." Lemmy's reply was (according to himself) "I know." In another interview Lemmy stated "Yeah. It was all uphill. And he still couldn't play bass when he died, I mean, fucking hell. Well, and everybody knows that, just listen to the Sex Pistols record that he was on, you know, you can tell it's Steve standing in for him. In fact I'm not sure if Sid was ever on the record, I think it was Steve who played bass."
• Lemmy plays the voice of the weapons dealer in the game Scarface: The World Is Yours.
• In the webcomic Achewood Lemmy is referred to as "The Mayor of Drinkin' Island".
• The video game character Lemmy Koopa, from Super Mario Bros. 3, is named after Lemmy.

References

External links

• Motörhead official website
• Lemmy at the Internet Movie Database
• The Rockin' Vickers
• Myspace profile for Lemmy's new band The Head Cat
• Lemmy interview with BIZARRE magazine

v • d • e Motörhead
Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister - Phil Campbell - Mikkey Dee
Larry Wallis - "Fast" Eddie Clarke - Brian "Robbo" Robertson - Michael "Würzel" Burston - Lucas Fox - Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor - Pete Gill - Tommy Aldridge
Discography
Studio albums: On Parole - Motörhead - Overkill - Bomber - Ace of Spades - Iron Fist - Another Perfect Day - Orgasmatron - Rock 'n' Roll - 1916 - March ör Die - Bastards - Sacrifice - Overnight Sensation - Snake Bite Love - We Are Motörhead - Hammered - Inferno - Kiss of Death
EPs: The Golden Years - Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers - St. Valentine's Day Massacre EP - Stand by Your Man - '92 Tour EP
Live albums: No Sleep 'til Hammersmith - Nö Sleep at All - Everything Louder Than Everyone Else - Live at Brixton Academy - BBC Live & In-Session - Better Motörhead than Dead: Live at Hammersmith
Compilations: No Remorse - The Best Of - Stone Deaf Forever! - Deaf Forever: The Best of Motörhead
Singles: "Leaving Here" - "Motorhead" - "Louie Louie" - "Overkill" - "No Class" - "Bomber" - "Ace of Spades" - "Motorhead (live)" - "Iron Fist" - "I Got Mine" - "Shine" - "Killed by Death" - "Deaf Forever" - "Eat the Rich" - "Ace of Spades (live)" - "The One to Sing the Blues" - "Hellraiser" - "Don't Let Daddy Kiss Me" - "Born to Raise Hell" - "God Save the Queen"
Videography
VHS: Live in Toronto - Another Perfect Day EP - The Birthday Party - Deaf Not Blind - EP - 1916 Live...Everything Louder than Everything Else
DVDs: 25 & Alive Boneshaker - Motörhead EP - The Best of Motörhead - The Special Edition EP - Classic Albums: Motörhead - Ace of Spades - Stage Fright
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