What did Lemmy Kilmister consider the key to heavy music?
For as long as there has been rock and roll, there have been those determined to take the defiant sound of the genre to its most extreme and abrasive. Early pioneers like Link Wray set the standard for heavy guitar distortion with ‘Rumble’, and the likes of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath carried on that torch during the late 1960s.
However, no discussion on heavy music, hard rock, or metal can be truly complete without mentioning Motörhead frontman and hard rock philosopher, Lemmy Kilmister.
Cutting his teeth within the ranks of space rock progenitors Hawkwind, Lemmy immediately established himself as a musician like no other. He’d play louder, live faster, and stay out longer than everybody else, and his wild, drug-fueled antics gave him a reputation for courting anarchy. Eventually, he was booted out of Hawkwind, an outfit he loved so dearly, for differences in drug habits, with Lemmy preferring amphetamines over any psychedelics. In many ways, his sacking was a blessing, as it allowed him the freedom to form his own group, Motörhead, and the rock landscape would never be the same again.
Motörhead were not the first heavy metal or hard rock outfit to hit the scene, but nobody played with the same level of energy, abrasion, or ear-bleeding volume as Lemmy’s outfit. The band established the blueprint for every half-decent hard rock outfit, both in the 1970s and beyond. If you look at the metal world of the 1980s onwards, there is scarcely a band out there that doesn’t owe something to the defiant sounds of Lemmy and Motörhead, which is perhaps why the bassist is such an enduring figure in hard rock.
As well as being the frontman and bassist of one of the greatest rock bands on the planet, Lemmy was a deep thinker, capable of spewing profound knowledge at a moment’s notice, even if that knowledge wasn’t overly pretty. So, who better to define the rules of heavy music than the man who encapsulated the style so perfectly? During one interview, the Motörhead songwriter was asked for the essential key to playing heavy music, and he gave a typically profound answer.
Without beating around the bush, the bassist immediately decreed, “First, you’ve got to believe it, because that’s the first thing a crowd finds out, they can sense that”.
He added, without naming any names, “Some people have got it off to be a good con man, but not many. And the other thing is, you’ve got to be loud. Heavy music has to be loud. What’s the point of soft heavy music?”
Motörhead always played loud, to the point where their concerts became infamous for the sheer volume of the music. Reportedly, at a 1986 gig at Cleveland’s Variety Theatre, the band reached 130 decibels at one point, the equivalent of a gunshot, or an aircraft taking off. So, Lemmy certainly can’t be accused of not following his own advice.
Continuing with his golden rules for heavy music, the bassist shared, “You have to have charisma, because when you’re playing, your vocals are very often inaudible, unless you’re at such a height that you can afford a massive PA.”
He concluded, “They don’t come to listen to the perfect sound, they get that on the album. They come for the event, so the charisma is the event.”
Motörhead gigs were certainly an event to behold, and Lemmy remained an utterly captivating performer right up until his passing in 2015.
So, if you are looking to start a heavy rock band and are in need of guidance, look no further than the wise words of Lemmy Kilmister. Throughout his life, the bassist saw it all, did it all, and snorted it all; he was rock and roll through and through, and the sage advice he handed out is akin to a holy text for any self-respecting hard rock obsessive.
