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Someone help me appreciate Lemmy

#102
el murdoque said:
I will have to disagree.
As I gather it, Mr. Richards switched to a lifestyle that is a lot healthier than the one Mr. Kilmister led until the end. Most Rockstars survived a couple of years doing what Lemmy did - for close to five decades.

I think Motörhead is the nexus between Rock'n Roll, Punk and Metal. No other band I know of can really stake a solid claim in all three genres, having fans from all three camps.

The bass playing of Lemmy is, as mentioned earlier, not exactly something a bassplayer listens to on his day off, between Stanley Clarke and Les Claypool.
But it does what it does: It is driving the band. Dirty, loud and with that uncompromising in-your-face attitude.
In my humble opinion, Motörhead was a group effort thing. None of the single instruments were exactly virtuoso. But the result of it all coming together was more than just the sum of the parts.

I must admit that I've seen more than a few famous musician's obituaries in the four decades I spent on this planet. Seeing Lemmy Kilmister's was the one that hurt the most.
By far.
Motörhead was, among other things, a burning symbol of indestructibility. Some old guys that have been doing this for more than fourty years now, that have pumped out 23 studio albums that all sound exactly like Motörhead and never like anything else, that still go out there and deafen people that could be their grandchildren with their Rock and Roll music played at ridiculous, obnoxious volume levels.

I never was super hyped when they came to town, because I had the feeling that I'll be able to see them again soon. I can't make the concert? Ok, they'll play one or two festivals soon and they have not released an Album in the last 18 months, so they'll bring out a new one within the next half year and tour again.

Lemmy Kilmister led, as far as Rockstars go, an extraordinary long life. Nonetheless, I shall miss him dearly.
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Well said.
 
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#103
I like Lemmy and Motorhead a lot. Along with AC/DC and Ramones, they are the holy trinity of bands that have managed to sound pretty much the same album to album throughout their entire careers. For me, that's a big part of their appeal. Some people don't like that and I can totally understand why.

I also like it when a bass player is the driving force behind a band. Not all that common in rock.
 
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#106
stringthrough said:
There seems to be a lot of love for him on this site and I'd like to join the party.

I like his voice, he's got the appropriate rock and roll attitude, but his basslines are rudimentary and his tone is trebley and to my ears, unpleasant.

For context, I like my music funkier and more harmonically developed (Steely Dan, Earth Wind and Fire, Tower of Power, as well as fusion artists such as Tribal Tech, etc.), however I enjoy and respect many rock bassist, i.e. Jack Bruce, John Paul Jones, Geddy Lee, McCartney, Sting.
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IF you listen to as the vernacular goes the deep cuts, not just the chart makers. Yes they had some. But listen to some die hard fans seem to hate. Another Perfect Day, Dancing on Your Grave. If you hear his whole catalog. Bearing in mind most live versions maybe musically tight but an audio mess. You will hear chorded skiffle banjo riffs played to Samba beat with a swing pivot. Then he made that raw venting aggression. Who else did that? Blurring walks together with chord climbs then a chromatic run. Dont let the grit shake you off the trail. There is some bad ass convergence of bass worlds here. A few Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent like riffs on bass. Live I saw him playing though a huge star, at a basicly unpromoted show in a field of cow poopie in Pinellas Park. The PA the promoter provided was a real turd. The turn out was around 500 people, there where supposed to thunderstorms. Those guys gave it the same hell you see them give huge 100,000 people crowds in Brazil.
Strangely trebly, yeah but he sounded easy for the ears to find and carved out a space for the kiks. He sang cold hearted truths with heated passion, and used every thing a beat up voice could give you. Unlike bands today with the forced fakey vocal lows and pseudo gutteral growls. He was doing his damndest to sing with some abused gutteral vocal chords. He was snarling with you, not at you.
If you want to get it listen to Another Perfect Day (studio), Iron Fist, then the last two albums
 
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#108
Loudart said:
IF you listen to as the vernacular goes the deep cuts, not just the chart makers. Yes they had some. But listen the one one some die hard fans seem to hate. Another Perfect Day, Dancing on Your Grave. I f hear his whole catalog. Bearing in mind most live versions maybe musically tight but an audio mess.
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Another Perfect Day is my favorite Motörhead album. The production was horrible, IMO, and it really suffers for it. Iron Fist was my favorite classic lineup release.
 
#109
stringthrough said:
There seems to be a lot of love for him on this site and I'd like to join the party.

I like his voice, he's got the appropriate rock and roll attitude, but his basslines are rudimentary and his tone is trebley and to my ears, unpleasant.

For context, I like my music funkier and more harmonically developed (Steely Dan, Earth Wind and Fire, Tower of Power, as well as fusion artists such as Tribal Tech, etc.), however I enjoy and respect many rock bassist, i.e. Jack Bruce, John Paul Jones, Geddy Lee, McCartney, Sting.
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Review the songs he wrote and who all recorded them. You should be able to appreciate that even if you don't listen to him do any of them.

If you like his voice, you are already appreciating him as a singer.

He is, by the way, a lead singer & bassist that had a unique way of performing. He's kind of a package deal, not just a bassist, but not much at all like the rock bassists you named. If you are looking for the recording where he plays like Rocco Prestia, it doesn't exist.
 
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#111
lfmn16 said:
No disrespect to Lemmy, but with all of the great bass players out there, why would anyone try to force themselves to like someone they so clearly don't like? There is nothing to get, it's not a math problem with a right and wrong answer.

Like who you like and quit worry about who other people like. ;)
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Just trying to get educated and expand a bit. If so many like him and I don't, I might be missing something.
 
#112
Lemmy kilmister is definitely one of my musical influences. he's one of the few metal bassists that inspired me to have a distorted bass sound along with cliff burton and peter steele. not too mention his vocal style is an influence in my singing. rather if you're into metal, punk, or even hard rock in general, lemmy is an inspirational musician when it comes to the rock and metal genres. r.i.p lemmy.
 
#114
Iron Fist was released just as i got in to my teens, starting to play the guitar. As a concept , Motörhead worked perfectly for rebellious young me. They were the antithesis of moderate adulthood, for me symbolized by wussy country music. In fact, country makes me shudder to this day. I associate it with a modest outlook on life that I just can not embrace. Maybe a topic for another thread right there. For me, Another perfect day was Motörheads last great album. Later albums are inhibited by a combination of bad production, lack of ideas, sloppy playing on lemmys behalf and from 2005 and on by lemmys declining health. The studio version of ”Bomber” would be Lemmy at his best. Soundwise, the fuzzy midrange has a percussive quality that highlights Lemmys tight samba style 1/8 rythm against Philtys 1/4 hihat and 1/8 bassdrums. This formula is the base for many of their hits. Soundwise, myself playing bass in a Motörhead tribute band, I wonder how they did it in the studio. As I’ve found out, Eddie Clarke was quite accomodating on facebook and of course I shold have asked him about it before it was to late.
 
#115
I knew Lemmy back in the late 80's, in my touring days. Sat with him and played many times. Believe me, there's more to his "thing" than meets the ear, especially rhythmically. He was a great player. Not conventional, but clever and inventive at his best. As it happens, also a top man. Friendly, funny, supportive and (mostly) easygoing. I play absolutely nothing like him, but he's one of the players I look up to the most.
 
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#116
stringthrough said:
I hear many of you.

Relevant points:
For better or worst, he plays the bass differently, like a guitarist. (I will admit he's style really drives MH's music.)
Love it or hate it he has his own, possibly unique sound.

Irrelevant points:
He knows and is himself.
He's got a rock and roll attitude
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Maybe being pedantic, while I agree if one is talking strictly about him as a bass player, what is dismissed as irrelevant here I believe was very relevant to his success as a performer.
 
#118
Anybody who writes/records a song that plays over and over in your head for ten days deserves much credit.
Ace of Spades sticks for weeks...I've woken up with it rattling around in my head at 7AM.
I don't think of him as punk or metal, he seemed much closer to Duane Eddy, Link Wray, Dick Dale, Booker T and the MG's, The Ventures, The Cramps, and a bunch of garage rock from 1958-1969.
 
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