Lemmy Kilmister on how Buddy Holly “never did a bad track”
No artist is without flaws. Despite the tendency of some rock stars to project an image of perfection, the reality is that no one is immune to making mistakes or falling short of expectations. Even iconic figures like Lemmy Kilmister, who seemed to effortlessly command respect with Motörhead, recognised the unparalleled songwriting prowess of Buddy Holly, acknowledging him as superior to any other songwriter in the genre’s history.
For all of the grizzly attitude behind his music, Lemmy would always be pulling from the genesis of rock and roll. Born and raised at the same time the British invasion was underway, Lemmy was fortunate enough to see many of the greatest acts in the world firsthand, watching The Beatles play their first gigs in Liverpool and eventually hauling gear for Jimi Hendrix on his first tours.
While Lemmy was still looking to make a name for himself as a musician in the psychedelic outfit Hawkwind, the first artists to really excite him came from the 1950s. Before The Beatles or The Rolling Stones had even begun, Chuck Berry and Little Richard were paving the way for what the genre was capable of, either through the amazing guitar licks or the ability to holler like no one else.
Even for the raucous side of rock and roll, Holly was never meant to be that kind of rock star. Clad in his nerdy horn-rimmed glasses, Holly never put on a facade about who he was, being happy to just play his amazing songs to anyone who would hear him. Although many of the songs only relied on three or four chords, Holly’s way of writing hooks would become integral to rock and roll for years.
Outside of Lemmy, The Beatles would take a lot from Holly, either covering his material on record or giving John Lennon the confidence to wear his own glasses whenever they rehearsed songs. While the beginnings of the showman were beginning with artists like Elvis Presley, Lemmy still thought that Holly was the gold standard for any rock songwriter.
In his book White Line Fever, Lemmy thought that there was no competition between Presley and Holly, saying, “His style, he looked great, he really was a one-off, but I thought that he was inferior to Buddy Holly and Little Richard. The problem was that he had really naff B-sides…Buddy Holly never did a bad track, as far as I could hear”.
Then again, Holly had so little time to work with that many fans never had time to see what he was capable of. While Presley’s star would continue to rise, any chance of Holly becoming a superstar was dashed when he was killed in a plane crash a few years into his career, later becoming immortalised as ‘The Day The Music Died’.
It especially stings knowing where Holly could have been going later. Since he had songs like ‘True Love Ways’ under his belt, it looked like he could have fit into the same sonic space that The Beatles picked up on years after his death. Though Lemmy may have taken things in a slightly heavier direction, there was no debating that Holly was one of his all-time songwriting heroes.
