Slash explains why he found Lemmy “intimidating”
As he is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitar players of all time, you wouldn’t think that Slash is one to be nervous. After all, he’s made a career out of playing to enormous crowds in one of the most unapologetic acts rock has ever seen, Guns N’ Roses. However, Slash is acutely aware of his position, greatly respects those he calls heroes, and wouldn’t dream of overstepping the mark in front of them. He made this point clear when recounting a story of meeting late Motörhead frontman Lemmy for the first time, an experience he described as “a little bit intimidating”.
Slash looked back on meeting the speed-metal pioneer during an interview with Outlaw magazine in 2019. “Meeting him for the first time, it was a little bit intimidating,” the guitarist revealed at the start of his tale.
“It was the first time Guns N’ Roses came to the UK (in 1987), and somebody asked us, ‘Would you guys like to meet Motörhead, they’re doing a record?’ So it was like, ‘Oh yeah!’ I mean, we just got off a plane. And listened to those fucking records as a kid, and I’d seen Motörhead twice before I ever came here, so yeah, it was intimidating. But we went down there and they were cool – and Lemmy and I were friends ever since,” he continued.
Slash and Lemmy were such good friends that after the Motörhead leader passed away in 2015, the guitarist spoke at his funeral. “Lemmy was one of my all-time favourite fucking human beings,” Slash told Classic Rock in 2018. “We got to be friends back in 1987, when we first came over here, when Guns played those Marquee dates.”
Reflecting on how important to him Lemmy was, Slash continued: “To me, it was really losing somebody that was one of the greatest friends to have, and one of the greatest mentors, one of the greatest pillars of what rock ‘n’ roll is to me. Just one really sweet motherfucker.”
The guitarist concluded: “There’s so many guys out there that think you have to, you know, wear your leather jacket and be the tough guy, be rude and a fucking slob and break shit, to be rock’ n’ roll. And Lemmy dispelled all that because he was a perfect fucking gentleman. Very considerate and polite to everybody around him, and yet he was as hard-core a fucking rock ‘n’ roller as you’re ever going to find.”
