Friday 1 January 2016

R.I.P. LEMMY

R.I.P. Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister - 1945 - 2015  
Photo: Ross Halfin
 Lemmy has died. If anyone personified "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll" it was Lemmy, flipping the bird and having another Jack and coke. The lyric from "Ace Of Spades" - in many ways the definitive Motörhead song - "That's the way I like it baby, I don't wanna live forever!" is a fitting epitaph. He made it to 70 - rock'n'roll lifestyle intact, but he had switched to vodka for "health reasons", with a knowing wink of course - and as recently as two weeks ago he was still doing what he did best. Lemmy lived to get up on the stage and kick ass with his Rickenbacker bass, cowboy hat, aviators turned toward the sky with a defiant snarl on his warted face, belting out those songs that spoke of the simple things in life - women, whiskey, war, and above all rock'n'roll. Heroes die. But the power of rock'n'roll as embodied by Lemmy in those songs - "everything louder than everything else" - will reverberate like the ringing in your ears after one of their concerts, deaf forever. 

Lemmy: born to lose, lived to win!