Former BLACK FLAG vocalist and punk rock legend Henry Rollins has paid tribute to iconic MOTÖRHEAD frontman Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, who died on Monday (December 28) at the age of 70 after a brief struggle with cancer.
Writing in his weekly column for LA Weekly, Rollins said: “I became a Lemmy fan when I heard MOTÖRHEAD’s album ‘Ace Of Spades’. In the small punk-rock scene I was in, they were a true crossover band. It wasn’t uncommon then or now to see a punk rocker in a MOTÖRHEAD T-shirt.
“I would like to think that this was due to at least two reasons. First, the music was badass and uncompromising. It packed as much or more wallop than anything your punk heroes could ever come up with. Second, and more importantly, you knew that Lemmy was the 100 percent genuine article. I think this was the biggest selling point of the band. The man was so straight-shooting, you could either handle it, or you couldn’t.
“MOTÖRHEAD were well known in the rock world not only for playing hard as hell but for being loud to the point of giving their audiences brain damage. Even from the side of the stage, from where I last witnessed them, it was a battering experience. Lemmy’s lyrics, often witty, packed with sarcasm and scorn, told a lot of unflinching truth. With Lem, it wasn’t always what he saw but how he saw it that made the lyrics bite.”
Read Rollins’s entire Lemmy tribute at LAWeekly.com.
Source: Blabbermouth
