Lemmy Kilmister: a Hendrix roadie, a borrowed bass and Ace of Spades | Highway to Hell

Why fans still care

LEMMY KILMISTER made the bass sound like a rhythm guitar run through a Marshall turned all the way up. Ace of Spades has been played at nearly 1,500 Motörhead shows and has passed 590 million plays on Spotify. Metallica dressed up as him for his 50th birthday. James Hetfield, Who’s Who number 14, says that without him, there would be no Metallica.

Early life

He was born Ian Fraser Kilmister in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, on 24 December 1945. He has said the nickname came from asking people to “lend me a quid till Friday”, though that’s his own telling. In the mid-1960s he played in the Rockin’ Vickers, including a 1965 tour behind the Iron Curtain.

Career chapters

1. Mid-1960sthe Rockin’ Vickers
2. Late 1960sroadie for the Jimi Hendrix Experience
3. 1971joins Hawkwind
4. 1972Silver Machine reaches number 3 in the UK
5. 1975leaves Hawkwind and forms Motörhead
6. 1979Overkill
7. 1980Ace of Spades
8. 1981No Sleep ’til Hammersmith goes to number one
9. 1995Metallica play his 50th birthday as The Lemmys
10. 2002autobiography White Line Fever
11. 2005Grammy for Whiplash

Hendrix and Hawkwind late 1960s to 1975

He roomed with Noel Redding and worked as a roadie for the Jimi Hendrix Experience. “As a roadie for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, I learned that I should give up being a guitar player,” he told Spin. He joined Hawkwind in 1971 as a guitarist. When their bassist didn’t turn up for a gig but left his bass in the van, Lemmy played it. “I’d never picked a bass up in my life before,” he said. His lead vocal on Silver Machine took Hawkwind to number 3 in the UK in August 1972. He left the band in 1975.

Motörhead 1975 to 1981

He formed Motörhead with guitarist Larry Wallis, naming it after the last song he wrote for Hawkwind. Overkill reached number 24 in the UK in 1979. Ace of Spades, produced by Vic Maile, reached number 4 in November 1980, and the single got to number 15. Then the live album No Sleep ’til Hammersmith went straight to number one in the UK in June 1981.

Later years 1981 to 2015

Motörhead made 22 studio albums. Lemmy co-wrote songs for Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tears, including Mama, I’m Coming Home and I Don’t Want to Change the World. In December 1995 Metallica played his 50th birthday at the Whisky a Go Go in black wigs, dressed as Lemmy and billed as The Lemmys. His autobiography, White Line Fever, written with Janiss Garza, came out in 2002. In 2005 Motörhead won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance, for their cover of Metallica’s Whiplash.

Craft, sound and style

Bass like a rhythm guitar

He played with a pick, using double stops and full chords through overdriven Marshalls. “A lot of chords and a lot of fill-ins,” as he put it.

The Rickenbackers

His main bass in later years was a Rickenbacker, the 4004LK signature model with a carved oak-leaf top, according to Premier Guitar and Vintage Guitar.

Murder One

From 1976 he used one Marshall 1992 Super Bass 100-watt head, nicknamed Murder One, in the studio and on the road for more than 30 years. Marshall announced his signature 1992LEM head on 1 August 2008.

Writing Ace of Spades

He described the Ace of Spades lyric as “just a word-exercise on gambling, all the clichés”.

Stories people still tell

1. The Lemmys.

   For his 50th birthday at the Whisky a Go Go on 14 December 1995, all of Metallica dressed up as Lemmy and played as The Lemmys.

2. The borrowed bass.

   The Hawkwind bassist didn’t turn up, but his bass did. Lemmy had never played one.

3. Murder One.

   In 2016 Metallica released Murder One, a tribute built from his song titles.

Legacy

Lemmy died in 2015. Motörhead were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020. Metallica’s tribute song Murder One came out in 2016, and Lars Ulrich, Who’s Who number 13, has said a big part of who Metallica became was down to Lemmy. Ace of Spades is still Motörhead’s most played song live and on Spotify.