"BLUE" JIMMY: MOTORHEADBANGER
BLIND DOG OZZY: NEUROTIC CHIHUAHUA
"BLUE" JIMMY: I was on my way to the liquor store when a friend called me and told me that Lemmy had died. Needless to say, I grabbed a little more adult refreshments than I had planned. Not because I was so sad, but because I wanted to celebrate the life of a man who had given me so many blown stereo speakers, so much irreparable hearing damage and so much joy in my life.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Thanks, Lemmy!
"BLUE" JIMMY: I don't need to write any kind of long biography here. The life of Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister has been well documented in books, film and the truckload of recordings he left behind. He played in a few groups in his early days but it was as the voice and bassist of the band Motorhead that he and his bandmates took Hard Rock/Heavy Metal to another level in the late 70's and early 80's. Sounding like Blue Cheer jamming with Iggy and The Stooges in the MC 5's garage, they scared the s**t out of a lot of people who thought Loverboy and The Cars were exceedingly hard rock. They later opened the gates for New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon, Venom, Raven, Angelwitch and any others who dared to be heavy at a time when musical tastes were leaning toward more commercial sounds.
BLIND DOG OZZY: When I heard the song, "Overkill" I thought the record player was stuck on the wrong speed!
"BLUE" JIMMY: But Lemmy was a one-of-a-kind rocker even in an era of colorful personalities. His voice was more Neanderthal Man than pretty boy pop idol and he was unique in that he played a Rickenbacker bass through a distorting Marshall amp and often played "lead" bass that often overpowered his guitar playing band members.
BLIND DOG OZZY: And you couldn't hear s**t except ringing in your ears for hours after the show!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Some memorable Lemmy moments I remember: Watching the original Motorhead open for Ozzy with Randy Rhodes on his first tour of America and blowing the first few rows off the face of the earth; Lemmy playing with a ripped speaker cone at the Santa Monica Civic and stopping the show and threatening to punch misbehaving skinheads and punkers at The House Of Blues. He was older, wiser, uglier, nastier, meaner yet nicer, than any of his contemporaries. He had a sense of style that everyone in Rock has imitated.
BLIND DOG OZZY: And he made it cool to have warts on your face!
"BLUE" JIMMY: But what I really respected about Lemmy was that unlike Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and others, he was no Rock 'N' Roll Casualty. He had many women, smoked, drank, did hard drugs and hard tours yet paced himself, handled his fame, did what he wanted, lived a simple life and lived to be 70 years old while still recording and touring until the end of his life. The only thing that could kill Lemmy was Death itself and he probably lived exactly as long as he was supposed to. We will never have to see a video on YouTube of an old, fat, gray-haired, pathetic Lemmy trying to do a "reunion" tour!
BLIND DOG OZZY: Thanks, Lemmy!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Sake's Alive!
BLIND DOG OZZY: Wow! Wow!
bluejames61@hotmail.com
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