Lemmy Kilmister, bassist and founding member of speed metal legends Motörhead, has passed away. In a statement posted to their Facebook, the band says that he succumbed to “an extremely aggressive cancer” whose existence he’d learned of only two days ago.
Kilmister formed Motörhead with guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox after being kicked out of the space-rock band Hawkwind for doing “the wrong kind of drugs.” The band bolted the heaviness of early metal to a lightning-quick chassis that would set the stage for thrash and speed metal, predating punk by several years. The group would rise to massive popularity in the UK and, on the strength of their 1980 North American debut Ace of Spades, would develop a devoted fanbase in the US.
While Kilmister’s cancer diagnosis came as a shock, he had reportedly been in ill health in recent years. Late this summer, the band were forced to cancel several shows after he experienced shortness of breath, an event which caused him to quip that he’d be switching from whiskey to vodka for health purposes. The group remained on the road, playing festivals and touring for the rest of 2015 before breaking after a December 11 show in Germany.
While Kilmister was lauded for his achievements with Motörhead, he was also a pop-culture icon and ambassador for the world of metal. He appeared in the 1994 film Airheads (“Trick question: Lemmy is god”) and, more recently, starred in the heavy-metal silent film Gutterdämmerung.
You can watch Motörhead play “Ace of Spades” on British sitcom The Young Ones below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co9yv2NjyWs
(via Consequence of Sound)
