Top 10 Surprising Lemmy Quotes About Metal and Motorhead

Ian Fraser Kilmister, aka Lemmy (Motörhead). R.I.P. Lemmy.
Most of the quotes are taken from Motörhead's wiki page, chapter 2: Style.

The Top Ten

1 "We were not heavy metal. We were a rock 'n' roll band. Still are." (2011)

2 "Everyone always describes us as heavy metal even when I tell them otherwise. Why won't people listen?" (2011)

3 Lemmy reiterated to Der Spiegel: "I do not particularly like heavy metal." (2014)

4 "Motörhead have more in common aesthetically with The Damned than Black Sabbath, and nothing whatsoever in common with Judas Priest."

5 Lemmy felt little kinship with the speed metal bands Motörhead have inspired: "They've just got the wrong bit. They think that being fast and loud is the whole thing and it isn't."

Currentrly I agree with that 100% (meaning, there was time I disagreed, LOL

6 “We were a blues band, really. Although we played it at a thousand miles an hour, it was recognizable as blues – at least to us it was; probably it wasn’t to anybody else.”

This quote is from his book "White Line Fever: The Autobiography".

7 "I generally feel more kinship with punk rockers than with heavy metal bands."

I read these statements about 3-4 years ago and I was shocked. But now I am convinced Lemmy was right - Motorhead weren't metal.

8 [Motörhead's music is] "very basic music - loud, fast, city, raucous, arrogant, paranoid, speed-freak rock n roll."

9 "I am rock and roll, and rock and roll is me."

This would be surprising if you believe he was a metal musician. Because a metal musician would say "I am metal and metal is me". But Lemmy wasn't a metal musician.

10 About the umlaut character ö in the band name: "I only put it in there to look mean".

The Contenders

11 Born To Lose, Live To Win

BAdd New Item