Silver Machine

by Harry on December 29, 2015

Lemmy is no longer with us.

But he’ll never really go away.

{ 18 comments }

1

Shylock Homeslice 12.29.15 at 2:34 am

Drag. Also Medowlark Lemon.

2

Alan White 12.29.15 at 3:08 am

Saw this just an hour ago. From CNN:

“Rock critic and Rolling Stone contributor David Wild paid tribute, saying: “There are people who play rock & roll. And there are people who ARE rock & roll. #RIPLemmy.”

Thanks.

3

js. 12.29.15 at 3:11 am

“Silver Machine” is a good song, but I really like his next band more. If only all metal sounded like this. I am really not a metal fan, and outside of maybe the first side of Paranoid, Overkill is the only metal album I am always super happy to listen to. RIP, as one says.

4

js. 12.29.15 at 3:14 am

My last comment is inexplicably in moderation. But since I’m writing out another one, I will note that I read somewhere tonight (forget where), that Lemmy was a huge MC5 fan. Which (a) completely makes sense, and (b) is fucking awesome.

5

bob mcmanus 12.29.15 at 3:26 am

Listened to Space Ritual tonight

Just looked up 1969 Sam Gopal “Escalator” album, Lemmy (as Ian Willis) wrote the songs, played rhythm guitar, and was vocalist. Passable slow hard psych, on Youtube
Just researched Sam Gopal in connection with Clark-Hutchinson, but didn’t notice Lemmy

6

max 12.29.15 at 3:35 am

Lemmy is no longer with us.

I think it would be fair to question whether Lemmy was, in fact, ever actually alive.

But he’ll never really go away.

My point.

max
[‘Never did get the Hawkwind thing though.’]

7

b9n10nt 12.29.15 at 9:28 am

You don’t need to ask,
“What is it to ascend?,
How blinding the summit?
What is it to fall?
What is the Next Desire?” 

Lemme was there, and so are You

8

bob mcmanus 12.29.15 at 11:51 am

‘Never did get the Hawkwind thing though.’

Leaving everything else aside, the mix of Space Ritual I heard last night has Lemmy mixed way up front, even dominant: fast for prog, but more lyrical and melodic than Motorhead. Besides MC5, Lemmy in interviews mentions listening to Can (Mother Sky*, Halleluwah) and Neu (Hallogallo). There is also Clark-Hutchinson. I haven’t listened to the Sam Gopal much recently, but the idea is sort of an Eastern drone on speed, the removal of some kinds of dynamics to gain momentum and tension. Yeah, MC5 and Stooges also did it.

As far as how that went to proto-punk (Motorhead), punk and new wave, I can’t say.

*Jerzy Skolimowski British movie The Deep End, 1970 used Mother Sky on the soundtrack. Various reasons Lemmy might have seen it. Very good movie.

9

tenzing 12.29.15 at 3:28 pm

10

tenzing 12.29.15 at 3:34 pm

11

tenzing 12.29.15 at 4:11 pm

Lemmy didn’t give no shits. Incorporatate that into your tired philosophy if you can.

12

T 12.29.15 at 5:15 pm

13

Dr. Hilarius 12.29.15 at 5:20 pm

Writer Michael Moorcock made contributions to Hawkwind during its early years, overlapping with Lemmy. Moorcock and Michael Butterworth wrote a little-known SF novel, “The Time of the Hawklords” (Star 1976) complete with a cover illustration of the band.

14

phenomenal cat 12.29.15 at 6:32 pm

Heard Lemmy on Marc Maron’s podcast a while back and he didn’t sound very well. Worth checking out if one is a fan or just curious. The stories these old rock and rollers have to tell when they’re on Maron’s show are worth their weight in gold.

I’ve never gotten over the fuzzy tone of the guitars on ace of spades– hyper-cool as the French say.

The Motorhead record 1914 is a good one for those that haven’t heard it by the way.

15

David 12.29.15 at 9:16 pm

I have vivid memories of hearing “Silver Machine” at university when it came out. But, at least on the radio, the vocals were indistinct, at best, and I first thought that the guy was excited by the delivery of his new sewing machine.
I wanted to check with the video, but that’s not viewable here for “copyright reasons”. Anyone have another link?

16

Dean C. Rowan 12.29.15 at 10:00 pm

Damn, this is sad, yet encouraging to see tributes in all manner of sites and fora. Outside my office, adjacent to the door, I have posted a newspaper article from a couple years or so ago discussing how age is catching up with Lemmy. Below it I’ve set one of those AARP membership cards the association sends to, uh, qualifying adults. It’s how I give the finger to aging, which I really don’t mind all that much, but also how I highlight at least one, probably the only, characteristic I have shared with Lemmy. Once I grew mutton chops almost entirely as a tribute to him. (The level of respect I commanded without any other effort on my part was astonishing. This should not be.) It is hard to be hyperbolic about him and his bands. A real loss.

17

Fred Herring 12.30.15 at 1:05 am

Yeah…Lemmy will never die. Slightly freaked out that Lemmy is the age of my mother for a lot of reasons.

http://www.booksamillion.com/1/1/6861529-overkill-the-untold-story-of-motorhead.html

18

ZM 12.30.15 at 10:29 am

Stevie Wright from The Easybeats also passed away sadly RIP

https://youtu.be/rBJLoYd8xak

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