Lemmy Kilmister, best known for his role as bassist/vocalist in the band Motorhead, passed away on December 28th, 2015 at the age of 70. Earlier in 2015, Lemmy released a new album with Motorhead, which would wind up being their final full-length album. It was entitled Bad Magic. Born Ian Fraser Kilmister in 1945 in the UK, Lemmy first began as a guitar player. After seeing The Beatles perform at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, England he learned guitar at the age of 16 playing along to the album Please Please Me. He had been involved in many bands prior to the formation of Motorhead, most of which were of the garage and psychedelic variety. Lemmy first joined The Rockin’ Vickers in 1965 and played guitar on the 1966 single Dandy/I Don’t Need Your Kind. The A-side of this single was a cover of The Kinks song of the same name, but it is the single’s B-side “I Don’t Need Your Kind” which features heavy guitar distortion, especially for 1966. Following a stint as a roadie for The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Lemmy joined the psychedelic rock band Sam Gopal and recorded an album with them titled Escalator in 1968. For this release, Lemmy is featured on both vocals and rhythm guitar on all tracks.
From 1971-1975, Lemmy Kilmister played bass in the space rock band Hawkwind. Drawing heavily on a psychedelic music and lifestyle, Lemmy joined this band as their bassist with no previous bass playing experience. As a result, he came up with his own style inadvertently due to his guitar background. Lemmy did sing vocals on several songs most notably the song “Sliver Machine”. This song was a single released in 1972 and reached number three on UK Singles Charts. In 1975, Lemmy was arrested at the Windsor, Ontario/Detroit, Michigan border for drug possession. He reportedly spent five days in jail and as a result, he was fired from Hawkwind. Although Lemmy has stated that he never would have left Hawkwind if he wasn’t fired from the group, it was his firing that led him to the formation of Motorhead.
Inspired by the final song that he wrote for Hawkwind, Motorhead blended elements of what some would call heavy metal with the energy and attitude of punk rock. The band would be known for changing it’s line-up (minus Lemmy), but from 1975-1982 the “classic” line-up of Motorhead featured “Fast” Eddie Clarke on guitar, Lemmy on bass/vocals and Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor on drums. With this line-up Motorhead would rise to success with albums such as Overkill, Bomber, Ace Of Spades and Iron Fist. Motorhead would continue off and on consistently releasing music and touring until Lemmy’s passing in December 2015. Lemmy’s goal was to create simple, loud, fast, raucous “speedfreak” rock n’ roll. The influence left by his music and band is vast ranging from fans of metal, rock, punk and beyond.
Saturday Night Playlist:
1. Metz - Eraser
2. Ty Segall Band - The Bag I'm In
3. TV Freaks - Thirteen
4. Stone Temple Pilots - Art School Girl
5. Sunwolf - Let It Out
6. Juice Box - Champagne Problem
7. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - Babakganoosh
8. The Rockin’ Vickers - I Don’t Need Your Kind
9. Sam Gopal - It’s Only Love
10. Hawkwind - Silver Machine
11. Motorhead - Pay Your Price (I Won’t)
12. Motorhead - Love Me Like A Reptile
13. Papa Ghostface - Situations
14. Super Visas - The Sun
15. Leonard Coen - Lady Midnight
16. The Saints - No Time
17. Spirits - Almost There
18. The Avantis - Gypsy Surfer
19. The Mighty Swells - Mr. Infiltrator
20. The Wayouts - Wild At The Beach
21. Yachts - Suffice To Say
22. Swell Maps - Let's Build A Car
23. The Dead Boys - Ain’t Nothin’ To Do
24. The Count Bishops - Teenage Letter
25. Jack Scott - Burning Bridges
26. Eddie & The Hot Rods - 96 Tears (Live)
27. The Sonics - Boss Hoss
28. The Rezillos - (My Baby Does) Good Sculptures
29. 999 - Me And My Desire
30. Generation X - From The Heart
31. Private School - Rock & Roll Radio
32. The Replacements - Waitress In The Sky (Alternate Version)
To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for January 9. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.
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