MOTÖRHEAD's LEMMY: 'Rock 'N' Roll Always Rears Its Ugly Head Again'

January 17, 2008

Metal Edge magazine recently conducted an interview with MOTÖRHEAD mainman Lemmy Kilmister. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Metal Edge: What are your thoughts on what seems to be the inevitable fate of the record industry, with digital downloads and all that?

Lemmy: Yeah, it's killing itself, isn't it? I mean, they're too dumb to realize— I mean, it was fucking years ago that this started, and they just carried on doing what they were doing, blind to any advice, blind to any sort of evidence. They just kept on overcharging and kept on fucking people over, and now the chickens are coming home, you know? I think they're all gonna be out of business in ten years, you know what I mean? It's all gonna be on the 'Net.

Metal Edge: Does it ever concern you that with live albums and reissues with bonus tracks, your actual new studio albums can take a backseat?

Lemmy: Yeah, it does sometimes. There's so many fucking compilations that I've seen, and they very often fuck up a new album by putting bonus tracks on it. "Kiss of Death" shouldn't have "R.A.M.O.N.E.S." on it [on the 2006 Sanctuary release], and I fought like a bastard against that, but I couldn't do nothing. I got it taken off in the end, but the first pressing had it on there. What can you do? They don't tell you they're gonna do it. You only find out after the fact, and then, of course, 'Oh, it's too late to change it now.' That's the phrase that I hate the most about all my years in the record business: it's too late to change it now. [Laughs]"

On the state of rock and roll in 2007:

Lemmy: "It's the same as it always was — there's a lot of shit and a lot of great stuff. It's just that the media is coming back to it now because it won’t go away, one more time, and people want to hear it one more time. And they can't stand it. They keep trying to kiss off rock 'n' roll. When rap came in, that was the death of rock 'n' roll again, right? When emo came in, when new wave came in, when punk came in, that was all the death of rock 'n' roll. It's really funny, over the years, to watch it go by. Rock 'n' roll always rears its ugly head again — like, here we are, guys, you know? Deal with it."

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).