Christopher Owens πŸ”–“Only way to feel the noise is when it's good and loud. So good I can't believe it, screaming with the crowd.”


So sang Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister in 1979. The track in question (‘Overkill’) would not only be the most astonishing collision of metal and punk up to that point, but it would be the beginning of Motorhead’s ascent into legend.

Since his death from cancer in December 2015 (two days after turning 70), the myth and legend of Lemmy has grown substantially. Regarded as a true rock n roller who drunk Jack Daniels every day while reading vicariously and playing loud music for a career, he lived life on his terms and never apologised for who he was.

So you would expect this autobiography, published in 2002, to be packed with rip roaring tales of debauchery, humour and music. And while these elements are all present and correct, it’s important to read it with the mindset that Lemmy’s bending your ear in the pub after having his tenth can of Carlsberg Special Brew.

Of course, it’s impossible to expect pinpoint accuracy and honesty when it comes to autobiographies of this nature (I seriously doubt that Lem’s mother saw newborn babies with rudimentary feathers and scales while working in a TB ward) so if you treat it as a pub yarn, then the stories about the 60’s, Hawkwind and Motorhead are utterly entertaining. Running throughout is his sense of humour, very much informed by The Goon Show and Monty Python. Take this example of how the band and crew dealt with a Norwegian promoter who kept giving them the wrong distances between gigs, meaning they were late on stage every night on that particular tour:

Finally in Trondheim we got totally fed up with him and covered him with squirty cheese. It was the fifth time we’d had to take a speedboat and we were two hours late for the show and we were really pissed off. Kids always think it’s the band’s fault when the gig starts late. So there we were on stage at last, and this cunt of a promoter was leaning against the PA like he was some Big Deal because it was in his hometown. And our roadies came up behind him and grabbed him, handcuffed him, dragged him out on stage and pulled his trousers down. Then they squirted him with the squeezy cheese and mayonnaise and anything else they could get their hands on. Our tour manager at the time, Graham Mitchell, walked up to the mic and said to the audience, ‘See this asshole? That’s why we’re late tonight!’ And, per-doom!, we pushed him off the stage. The guy wound up going to the police station – like that! Covered in slop, and in a taxi! After the gig, in the dressing room, we got the inevitable loud thump-thumpthump on the door, and it was this giant fucking cop – the Norwegians are real tall – who looked like the super-Gestapo.

‘I sink you haff done somezing very awful to this person,’ he informed us.

‘Yeah? Well, he told us all the wrong fucking directions,’ and all: we told him the story.

‘Yes, yes, yes!’ he said. ‘But zis is no reason to cover a man viz cheese!’”

Cultural differences, don’t you love them?

However, the reason I was a tad disappointed is that it felt like Lemmy was living up to his image a little too much at times. And yet the moments where he discusses his views on racism, Nazi memorabilia and history show that he was a proper self-educated working-class lad. A bit more insight along those lines would have been cool.

Then again, if it’s how he wanted to be portrayed, then he did so on his own terms.

Lemmy Kilmister,‎ Janiss Garza, 2002, White Line Fever: An AutobiographySimon & Schuster ISBN-13: 978-1471157653


⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist.







White Line Fever

Christopher Owens πŸ”–“Only way to feel the noise is when it's good and loud. So good I can't believe it, screaming with the crowd.”


So sang Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister in 1979. The track in question (‘Overkill’) would not only be the most astonishing collision of metal and punk up to that point, but it would be the beginning of Motorhead’s ascent into legend.

Since his death from cancer in December 2015 (two days after turning 70), the myth and legend of Lemmy has grown substantially. Regarded as a true rock n roller who drunk Jack Daniels every day while reading vicariously and playing loud music for a career, he lived life on his terms and never apologised for who he was.

So you would expect this autobiography, published in 2002, to be packed with rip roaring tales of debauchery, humour and music. And while these elements are all present and correct, it’s important to read it with the mindset that Lemmy’s bending your ear in the pub after having his tenth can of Carlsberg Special Brew.

Of course, it’s impossible to expect pinpoint accuracy and honesty when it comes to autobiographies of this nature (I seriously doubt that Lem’s mother saw newborn babies with rudimentary feathers and scales while working in a TB ward) so if you treat it as a pub yarn, then the stories about the 60’s, Hawkwind and Motorhead are utterly entertaining. Running throughout is his sense of humour, very much informed by The Goon Show and Monty Python. Take this example of how the band and crew dealt with a Norwegian promoter who kept giving them the wrong distances between gigs, meaning they were late on stage every night on that particular tour:

Finally in Trondheim we got totally fed up with him and covered him with squirty cheese. It was the fifth time we’d had to take a speedboat and we were two hours late for the show and we were really pissed off. Kids always think it’s the band’s fault when the gig starts late. So there we were on stage at last, and this cunt of a promoter was leaning against the PA like he was some Big Deal because it was in his hometown. And our roadies came up behind him and grabbed him, handcuffed him, dragged him out on stage and pulled his trousers down. Then they squirted him with the squeezy cheese and mayonnaise and anything else they could get their hands on. Our tour manager at the time, Graham Mitchell, walked up to the mic and said to the audience, ‘See this asshole? That’s why we’re late tonight!’ And, per-doom!, we pushed him off the stage. The guy wound up going to the police station – like that! Covered in slop, and in a taxi! After the gig, in the dressing room, we got the inevitable loud thump-thumpthump on the door, and it was this giant fucking cop – the Norwegians are real tall – who looked like the super-Gestapo.

‘I sink you haff done somezing very awful to this person,’ he informed us.

‘Yeah? Well, he told us all the wrong fucking directions,’ and all: we told him the story.

‘Yes, yes, yes!’ he said. ‘But zis is no reason to cover a man viz cheese!’”

Cultural differences, don’t you love them?

However, the reason I was a tad disappointed is that it felt like Lemmy was living up to his image a little too much at times. And yet the moments where he discusses his views on racism, Nazi memorabilia and history show that he was a proper self-educated working-class lad. A bit more insight along those lines would have been cool.

Then again, if it’s how he wanted to be portrayed, then he did so on his own terms.

Lemmy Kilmister,‎ Janiss Garza, 2002, White Line Fever: An AutobiographySimon & Schuster ISBN-13: 978-1471157653


⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist.







10 comments:

  1. Lemmy was a rockabilly at heart....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good review - undecided if I want to read the book.

    I only really know Silver Machine, but Lemmy is an intriguing guy.

    Was Stacia discussed much in the book?

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    Replies
    1. Brandon,

      you don't know Ace of Spades?

      She is discussed but not in great detail besides her stage persona for Hawkwind and one or two amusing anecdotes.

      It's the sort of book that you could get through in a day so go for it.

      Delete
  3. Ace of Spades, of course, Motorhead passed me by when thinking about Lemmy.

    He has a son who's an accountant or something.

    I've never seen a man rock a pair of white shoes like this before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDfAdxgYIec

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brandon........

      I've never seen a man rock a pair of white shoes like this before:

      I have. Elvis Presley rocked in white buck-skinned shoes when he sang Hound Dog on October 28, 1956 on the Ed Sullivan Show. And a few months before Elvis rocked in his hometown of Tupelo wearing white buck-skinned shoes. The Rock'n'Roll Trio rocked wearing white buck-skinned shoes performing the rockabilly classic Lonesome Train in 1956...The Killer--Jerry lee Lewis rocked wearing white shoes on The Steve Allen Show in 1957...Again Elvis rocked singing the classic Tony Joe White song Polk Salad Annie and his footwear wasn't black but his music was...other notables who rocked wearing white shoes before Lemmy were.... Johnny Carrol,..... The Sparkletones and of course Little Richard...................

      Delete
  4. Christopher,

    I know the 'Ace of Spades'.............What version do you want to hear...?

    The Neo-Rockabilly version by The Rev. Horton Heat or there is the - Union Avenue version in the style of Johnny Cash....there is also a Jazz version by Robyn Adele Anderson, I think Carre-court does a fantastic version...I'll leave you with a rockabilly guitar version....

    Why did I say Lemmy was a rockabilly at heart because that's exactly what Lemmy's very good friend Slim Jim Phantom from the Strays Cats said in the interview when he explained how the rockabilly band Headcat came to be.

    What happened was Slim Jim and Danny B. Harvey were asked to make an Elvis Presley Tribute Album---(full album). And the first person they got in touch with and who they didn't need to ask twice was Lemmy who in turn phones Johnny Ramone to get him out of retirement and play on the album. Ramone played on Good Rockin' Tonight and recorded an excellent instrumental version of Viva Las Vegas. Those two songs became known as the 'Johnny Ramone final sessions.'

    As Danny B. Harvey who plays bass on Swing Cats remembers

    The day Johnny Ramone came into the studio to record the backing tracks for these two Elvis songs, he showed up in the studio with a prototype of a Japanese "Johnny Ramone signature guitar." He told me he no longer owned any guitars, or amps, because he had sold them all when he retired. The only reason he had this one was because the guitar company had sent it over for his approval prior to production. I asked him why he didn't own any musical equipment and didn't he still play and practise around the house? His reply was: "Do baseball players go to battling practise when they retire? Of course not, so why I do need to practise.

    After recordings were finished Slim Jim and Danny B. Harvey stayed at the studio and Lemmy picked up an acoustic guitar and started playing some of his old favorite songs by Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, and Eddie Cochran. The rest of the guys knew them all and joined in. At the end of the day, Head Cat was formed and had enough material to release an album originally titled' Lemmy, Slim Jim & Danny B' that contained mostly Buddy Holly covers. The album was later retitled in 2006 as Fools Paradise . They then went on the road and released a live DVD album called Rockin' The Cat Club (Full concert). Only because they all had commitments with other groups it took Head Cat a few years to release their 2nd album titled Walk The Walk..Talk The Talk again covers of 50's rockabilly--rock'n'roll hidden gems.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Christopher/Quillers...

    I deleted the above comment because 'Part 1' was lost in the matrix--I'll repost 'part 2' after so the comment makes sense....

    Christoper....

    I know the 'Ace of Spades'.............What version do you want to hear...?

    The Neo-Rockabilly version by The Rev. Horton Heat or there is the - Union Avenue version in the style of Johnny Cash....there is also a Jazz version by Robyn Adele Anderson, I think Carre-court does a fantastic version...I'll leave you with a rockabilly guitar version....

    Why did I say Lemmy was a rockabilly at heart because that's exactly what Lemmy's very good friend Slim Jim Phantom from the Strays Cats said in the interview when he explained how the rockabilly band Headcat came to be.

    What happened was Slim Jim and Danny B. Harvey were asked to make an Elvis Presley Tribute Album---(full album). And the first person they got in touch with and who they didn't need to ask twice was Lemmy who phones Johnny Ramone to get him out of retirement and play on the album. Johnny on a Swing Cats album Johnny Ramone played Good Rockin' Tonight and Viva Las Vegas. Which became known as the 'Johnny Ramone final sessions.'

    As Danny B remembers....

    The day Johnny Ramone came into the studio to record the backing tracks for these two Elvis songs, he showed up in the studio with a prototype of a Japanese "Johnny Ramone signature guitar." He told me he no longer owned any guitars, or amps, because he had sold them all when he retired. The only reason he had this one was because the guitar company had sent it over for his approval prior to production. I asked him why he didn't own any musical equipment and didn't he still play and practise around the house? His reply was: "Do baseball players go to battling practise when they retire? Of course not, so why I do need to practise, has told Danny B. Harvey.

    From Music Radar Lemmy talks rockabilly and picks his 10 essential songs playlist

    "This is the first music that meant something to me," says Motorhead singer/bassist Lemmy Kilminster on the subject of rockabilly. "I never liked jazz or anything else. Early rock 'n' roll - that was music to me. Everything else was boring"

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  7. Christopher----part 2

    And Lemmy's top 10 favorite rockabilly tracks are.......

    1. Carl Perkins - Right String Baby But The Wrong Yo-Yo (1957)

    2. Carl Perkins - Movie Magg (1955)

    3. Elvis Presley - I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone (1955)

    4. Elvis Presley - I Forgot To Remember To Forget (1955)---Elvis Presley's 1st number 1

    5. Buddy Holly - That'll Be The Day (1957)

    6. Gene Vincent - Race With The Devil (1956)

    7. Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues (1958)

    8. Jerry Lee Lewis - Crazy Arms (1956)

    9. Johnny Cash - Big River (1958)

    10. Johnny Burnette And The Rock And Roll Trio - Train Kept A-Rollin' (1956)

    (Only a die hard rockabilly could make a list like that)

    When Lemmy passed away, Slim Jim and Danny B. didn't want Head Cat to die with Lemmy (he wouldn't have wanted that) ....LoudWire

    "Here's a surprise! For those who were unaware, Lemmy Kilmister played in the power trio The Head Cat (now Headcat), a bluesy, rockabilly group rounded out by Slim Jim Phantom (The Stray Cats) and Danny B. Harvey (Lonesome Spurs, The Rockats). The group has now named Lemmy's replacement, tapping former Morbid Angel frontman David Vincent to handle both bass and vocal duties."

    There is a saying Rockabilly is where Goths, Punks, and Metal Heads go to retire (Ask Brian Young---former frontman for Rudi, he could have formed another Punk band but today plays in possibly the 2nd best rockabilly group in Belfast--The Culprits are heads and shoulders above the rest.....

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  8. Frankie out of curiosity how much vinyl do you own?

    ReplyDelete