(Credits: Far Out / Rama)
Sun 25 January 2026 21:30, UK
Virtually every time they took to the stage, frontman and bassist Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister would step behind the mic, tilt his head back and make the announcement, “We are Motörhead, and we play rock ‘n’ roll”.
There have been variations over the years, “We are Motörhead, and we’re gonna clean your clock” to “We are Motörhead, and we’re gonna screw your old lady”, but the speed metal titans’ on-stage proclamations broadcast clearly the musical tradition they tried to honour until the founder and captain’s death in 2015.
“I’m not qualified to do anything else,” Lemmy told Bass Player in 2011. “I am not going to suddenly quit and become an eye surgeon.”
Lemmy was shaped by rock ‘n’ roll. Like a recurring motif throughout rock’s evolving chapters, Mr Kilmister can be seen suited up eager for a slice of the British Invasion lending his little known guitar chops to Blackpool beat group The Rockin’ Vickers, then shifting amps as part of Jimi Hendrix’s road crew, conjuring the Space Ritual street psych for Hawkwind, before building a bridge between punk and heavy metal for his 40-year Snaggletooth juggernaut.
The keen swerve around the new wave of British heavy metal tags in favour of the tried and tested R’n’R speaks to Lemmy’s fervent fandom. Doggedly staying put in the elemental cradle of popular music, Motörhead’s shoulder to shoulder with the 1950s’ plugged-in flashbang was a chance for Lemmy to spiritually hang out with his teen heroes, sharing some affectionate realm with Elvis Presley and his “golden god”, Little Richard.
He was always paying attention to rock’s evolving climate, however, playing with The Damned during their punk heyday and penning 1991’s ‘RAMONES’ in honour of New York’s CBGB veterans. Jumping later in rock’s timeline, Lemmy namechecked Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain as one of the artists—living or dead—he’d most want to collaborate with.
However, all roads lead to Liverpool’s finest in the end. “Lennon and McCartney, of course, although I couldn’t work with them. I mean, I’d end up being beaten to death by the awe of it all.”
The Motörhead frontman was always effusive about his love for The Beatles. As well as forever highlighting their formative influence, he famously countered the impression that The Rolling Stones were the bad boys’ answer to the clean-cut Fab Four, noting their Merseyside upbringing as a stark contrast to the “mummy’s boys” who “were all college students from the outskirts of London.”
The Beatles’ hook was stuck in Lemmy ever since first witnessing them play at the lauded Cavern Club in their hometown, reportedly inspiring the future bassist to initially pick up the guitar. Before long, the road to rock royalty would at least be soldiered, finally gleaning his stature once Motörhead kicked off in the late 1970s.
Full of surprises, Lemmy also plucked out a time capsule of 2000s symphonic metal as a final entry to his collaborative fancies. “I would like to collaborate with Amy Lee from Evanescence,” he said. “I bet she is a really good writer.”
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