LEMMY'S MEMORIAL SERVICE

This was streamed live a week ago. I highly recommend watching some of it, if not all of it. Motörhead may not have been one of your favorites, but it's worth viewing. Lemmy was one of very few die hard rockers who was really was true to his cool and, by all appearances, an exceptionally nice guy. Very little of it is about his music, most of it is about interactions and friendships, stories that are inspiring and endearing. We could all learn something from watching it.

NONE OF THIS "MOMENT OF SILENCE" MALARKEY

Lemmy died today. I never thought I'd say that. We may not see another like him, a dyed in the wool rocker who never, ever, did things any other way than his own. Any man who cannot be tamed, in any occupation, is admirable. He embodied that for decades. Reason enough to pause. Loudly.

Roughly ten or fifteen years ago I ran into a guy I hadn't seen for a while. He'd been on tour with Motörhead, as the guitar tech. The guy had been in a punk band, and I had no idea that he was technically qualified to be a guitar tech, but I never got around to asking him how he got the job. I was more interested in getting a first hand account of what Lemmy was like. This tech had been around him on a daily basis for weeks. He told me that Lemmy's diet consisted of red meat, hard liquor, cigarettes and women, without any deviation to speak of. Lemmy would have already been in his fifties, and he'd been doing it for decades. He added that Lemmy was not as imposing as one would expect, and was pretty much a nice guy in general. And funny. That to me was the surprising part.

About a year or so ago, another first hand encounter was related to me. I was in a friend's record store when he showed me a photo of himself, with his daughter and Lemmy.  He said that he'd recently been to Europe and was a few people behind Lemmy in line to board a plane. He introduced himself and asked if he could get a photo, and Lemmy obliged. Despite his imposing looks, his daughter, who didn't know who he was, came away thinking he was a nice likable older guy. Later that night in their hotel room, the concert that Lemmy was traveling to was televised live on TV. The daughter was in disbelief that it was the same person. Browse through YouTube, you'll see what you need to substantiate both accounts of the type of guy he was.

If you have no idea who Lemmy is, there's all sorts of stuff online. Right now I'm not at all in the mood for biographical details. At this moment, I need to hear "Ace of Spades". Loud.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Motörhead - Ace of Spades mp3 at Robert McAdams (?)
Another side:
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Lemmy - Eve Of Destruction (streaming) at YouTube
Video:
Motörhead - Stage Fright 2005 (Full Concert) at YouTube
Lemmy - Documentary trailer at YouTube
Visit:
Lemmy Kilmister quotes at Good Reads
Lemmy at Wikipedia His Wiki page addresses him by first name only. Elvis doesn't even get that treatment.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE LISTENABLE

Here's three covers. One good, one competent but could use some more flair, and one that I couldn't even listen to, just because of the people involved in it. It seemed too contrived. A super group has to be organic, not just "this project that can't help but be a sure seller". But we'll get to that.

First up is Motörhead's cover of "Sympathy For the Devil", a song that's been covered a zillion times, but few measure up, because the original is so far superior. Motörhead, though, does it in their own inimitable style, which is to say they rip it a new one. That's the nice surprise tonight. In second place, the Black Lips with Boy George doing T Rex's "Bang A Gong". Interesting, if only because that combination seems so unlikely, but it's kind of tepid. Hands down, the dog of the night goes to the Hollywood Vampires. Oh holy shit, it's like Ringo Starr's All Star rejects piled into the Rainbow Bar and Grill. Alice Cooper dreamt the project up, and it could be seen as just some old rockers on a joy ride, but I don't like this idea one bit. This grouping just seems to be too self aware. I'm almost positive a few are narcissists. Cooper recruited Johnny Depp, Joe Perry, Paul McCartney, Perry Farrell, Dave Grohl, Brian Johnson, Robbie Krieger, Slash, Joe Walsh, someone named Orianthi and motherfucking Kip Winger. Thankfully Mike Love was busy that night.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Hollywood Vampires - My Generation (streaming) at Cover Me Plus a more favorable blurb.
The Black Lips with Boy George - Bang a Gong (video) at Vimeo
Motörhead - Sympathy For the Devil (streaming) at Soundcloud

RUDOLPH BETTER HAUL ASS

You gotta like Lemmy. He's his own man, isn't he? He never seems to say no, and he leaves it all out there. Even with a Christmas song. On "Run Rudolph Run" he teams up with Billy Gibbons and Dave Grohl, but really, it's all Lemmy. Every song he does sounds like the last song of a live set, on the last date of a long tour. And he's been like that for how long? God love him.

The second song down there is a cover of "Stand By Your Man" with the late Wendy O. Williams (Plasmatics), and it sounds like you'd think it would sound, at the punk end of the metal-o-meter. There's a couple covers of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" down there too. One is an awesome soul version by Eli "Paperboy" Reed, and the other by Union Avenue, a Johnny Cash tribute band from Scotland. Their entire repertoire seems to be covers done in the style of Johnny Cash. That shit might get old. But do check the version by Reed. And check the trailer for the Lemmy documentary if you haven't already seen it. See what all the fuss is about.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Lemmy, Billy Gibbons and Dave Grohl - Run Rudolph Run mp3 at What Hh8r (?)
Lemmy and Wendy O. Williams - Stand By Your Man mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Eli "Paperboy" Reed - Ace of Spades mp3 at Ryan's Smashing Life
Union Avenue - Ace of Spades mp3 at Cover Me
Video:
Lemmy- Documentary trailer at YouTube
Motorhead - Ace of Spades (live) at YouTube

WHAT THE HELL

Here's a trio of covers that hit the spot, though I gotta be honest. I don't think that the Velvet Underground, George Baker Selection, and Motorhead originals can really be improved on, but it is kind of cool hearing these in styles that differ quite a bit from the originals and aren't entirely hokey. Two are by Union Avenue, a Scottish band that seem to borrow a lot from Johnny Cash, and by that I mean it sounds as if it's entirely intentional. Not surprising considering that Union Ave is the street that Sam Phillips parked his ass on way back when. The other is by a bluegrass band, the Meat Purveyors, doing the Velvet's "What Goes On" as if looped on Red Bull and moonshine.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

 Listen:
Union Avenue - Ace of Spades mp3 at Cover Me
Motörhead - Ace of Spades mp3 at Shelter From the Norm 
Union Avenue - Little Green Bag mp3 at Cover Me  
George Baker Selection - Little Green Bag mp3 at The Adios Lounge 
Velvet Underground - What Goes On mp3 at Rock Town Hall
The Meat Purveyors - What Goes On mp3 at Cover Me 

NO FUTURE (SLIGHT RETURN)

You know what? The whole Jubilee thing bugs me. I can't believe that kind of sucky tradition still exists. With or without the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen," it gets under my skin, as does everything that doesn't really have a common sense purpose. (The Jubilee is right below neckties on that list.) That said, when "God Save the Queen," came out, I wasn't even cognizant of the Silver Jubilee. Though not written specifically about, or for, the Jubilee, it coincided with the event. The Sex Pistols just resented the monarchy. Regardless, they just gave me one more thing to be annoyed about. The lasting effect, though, was that it reinforced the mindset, of questioning not necessarily just authority, but anything that doesn't make sense.

Here's some stuff. The Sex Pistols version, a cover, and a few other odds and ends added as filler. I definitely recommend the Pistols' stuff, including the clip from The Filth and the Fury. After that, you're on your own. The Queen Haters thing (at the very bottom) is kind of stupid, but I did get a chuckle from the lyrics.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen mp3 at Clones Project
Nouvelle Vague - God Save the Queen mp3 at Cover Me
Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant mp3 at Review Stalker
Sex Pistols - EMI (from Spunk) mp3 at This Is Fil
Sex Pistols - Satellite (Suburban Kid), unreleased version mp3 at Dalston Oxfam Shop
Sex Pistols - Seventeen (Wessex Studio outtake) mp3 at Sibling Shot on the Bleachers
Bonus oddballs:

Le Anarchie Pour Le UK (in French) mp3at Stillerman.com (From the film The Great Rock n' Roll Swindle)

Anarchy in the UK (as read by computer) mp3 at Internet Archive
Bananarama - No Feelings mp3 at Cover Me
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - Pretty Vacant mp3 at Cover Me
Video:
Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen at YouTube From The Filth and the Fury
Motörhead - God Save the Queen at YouTube
The Queen Haters - I Hate the Bloody Queen (from SCTV) at YouTube
Visit:
God Save the Queen - Song entry at Wikipedia

WHICH WAY YOU GOING BILLY?

If you've ever seen Repo Man, you might remember the scene when Emilio Estevez's character Otto is in a bar, and the Circle Jerks are on stage doing a acoustic faux-lounge version of "When the Shit Hits the Fan." As an aside, he mutters "I can believe I used to like this band." That's exactly what I thought, not long after ZZ Top's fourth LP. You'd never guess it now, but back before the buffoonery, ZZ Top were actually a tight blues rock band with no bells, no whistles, and no ridiculous outfits.

They came along at a perfect time for a young male teenager. I remember humming "Just Got Paid Today" after cashing my first three digit paycheck; and swilling my first beers to "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers." Just about every band in the blues rock obsessed beach area party scene that I grew up in, knew that if the energy was lagging after one too many Allman Brothers songs, you played some ZZ Top. Everything was just fine. Then came Fandango, their fourth album. "Tush" got airplay. They were starting to blow up, and in the era of huge tour extravaganzas, they did it big. "That Little Ol' Band From Texas" (which is what they referred to themselves as) went on a stadium tour, complete with a stage in the shape of the state of Texas, and live animals, including a longhorn steer, a bison, two vultures and two rattlesnakes (the animal budget alone was $140K). To add more distress, this was when they started dressing alike (albeit, they were suits by Nudie). But the single most disturbing part of this whole "we'll do whatever it takes" fiasco, was those goddamned choreographed moves.

You can't coast on one gatefold sleeve forever.

I pretty much stopped listening to anything new by ZZ Top after that. I tested the water a little here and there, but in 1979, they all but told their old fan base to fuck off and die. In came the matching long ass beards and the spinning guitars, and the weird non-guitar shit started creeping into their music. And then, they did the unthinkable. Riding high, from catering to the lowest common denominator (MTV), they got the brilliant idea to enhance their earlier albums, to make them sound more 80's. It was the textbook definition of FUBAR. The original unfucked-with versions were not released on CD until 2006, at which time I started to consider giving them a pass. But, until they are up there, unchoreographed, without synthesizers, effects, animals, ridiculous outfits, or any sort of gimmicks, I'll still be saying "I can't believe I used to like these guys"

Here's a few from Billy Gibbon's earlier band, the Moving Sidewalks, and some cuts from the early ZZ Top albums, when they really were "That Little Ol' Band From Texas." And there's some covers too; by Motorhead, and Queens of the Stone Age (the latter on a rarities mix).

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Moving Sidewalks - Pluto - Sept. 31st mp3 at Merry Swankster
Moving Sidewalks - Every Night A New Surprise mp3 at Soylent Cream (Note: Fade-out cut short)
Moving Sidewalks - Flashback mp3 (via Box.net) at DailyBowBow
ZZ Top - Brown Sugar mp3 at SnapDrive.net
ZZ Top - Just Got Paid mp3 at TheSixman.com
ZZ Top - Francine (FUBAR version) mp3 at FileDen
ZZ Top - La Grange mp3 at MilwaukeeBay.com
ZZ Top - Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers mp3 at SoberMusicians.com (No, really.)
ZZ Top - Heard It On the X mp3 at DIYMedia.net
ZZ Top - Tush mp3 at Tracy Designs
Covers:
Motorhead - Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers mp3 at Heavy-Music.ru
Boula Matari Missie Tintin- Tush mp3 at BoulaMatari.org
The Queens of the Stone Age - Rarities Collection Vol 3 (zip, via MediaFire ) at Metal Bastard Goes Soft (Includes cover of ZZ Top's "Precious and Grace." Go there for complete song list.)
Oddball:
Lord Riffenstein - Tush ("No guitars with vocal") mp3 at LordRiffenstein What is this? Karaoke for guitar?

THE ONLY CARD I NEED

Ever wonder what "Ace of Spades" would sound like as a full-on funky soul send-up replete with screams, breaks and horns? Dig it, this one's a keeper!

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If you're a little skeptical about how it translates, you're not alone. But, unless you know the original well...no, even if you know the original well, it might not hit you until you hear Lemmy's future epitaph, "That's the way I like it, I don't want to live forever!" It works, primarily because Reed has the pipes and the soul sensibility to interpret it remarkably well. Now, you wanna feel old? The original (which should be a staple in the collection of everybody over 40) came out in 1977, 32 years ago. Reed is 23. Yeah, uh-huh, his parents probably hadn't even met...

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Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves - Ace of Spades mp3 at Ryan's Smashing Life