My favorite Rock n Roll Chick…Chrissie Hynde

[BHPSteel]

That's an amazing experience! Motorhead isn't one of my favorite bands, but Lemmy, his style/way of life, and bass preference always stood out to me.

Yeah, I was more a Prog Rock guy, but even back then, Lemmy was a kind of living legend.

 

[Torn]

With apologies to Torn , since he's OP, I'll make it quick.

Lemmy's timeline is pretty well documented on Wikipedia. One of his 'periods' was after he left being a roadie for "The Nice" in about 1971, he still kinda hung out with Keith Emerson and those guys, but he got involved with a Psychodelic Space Rock band named "Hawkwind".

I think I first met him, drunk as always, at a gig at one of Hawkwind's regular 'dive venues' in my home town. I went to watch the band, and Keith Emerson was there, so I went up for an autograph, or at least to say hello. I would have been maybe 13 (my district of South London was really lax about kids and alcohol exposure).

Lemmy's first words to me were "**** off, kid". Hey, pretty polite. I wouldn't take no for an answer, so I hung around becuse I knew that Lemmy would be back on set soon, and I could go back to Emerson and get what I wanted. I hung around a while, watched the set and when Lemmy came off the stage, he said "Make yourself useful - carry that back to that room over there" - so I became "The Littlest Roadie".

Lemmy was pretty much wasted - as you'd expect, but turned out friendlier (and pretty tolerant of a snot nosed kid) than you might expect, and so going to see Hawkwind when they played that gig became a regular feature. The band in general were a bit remote, but Lemmy would buy me a beer for hauling lightweight **** around. It was no way to make a living, but I enjoyed hanging out with a borderline famous band at the time.

And then Lemmy was busted for drugs and the band fired him. Which was funny, because the rest of the band were out of their heads on LSD most of the time.

So Lemmy moved on to form Motorhead, I had some memories, and some accumlated advice from him on women, drugs and living the life.

Oh, and I got my autograph from Keith Emerson, and later, one from Greg Lake.

Edit: and when I said "drunk as always", I have to say that Lemmy never seemed to fit the stereotype of a drunk. He was RIDICULOUSLY high-functioning. The man must have literally been pickled 24/7

No apologies needed and thanks for sharing an awesome story and experience like that. As the little roadie for Lemmy YOU have cemented your seat at the ODT Rock n Roll throne.

 

[BHPSteel]

No apologies needed and thanks for sharing an awesome story and experience like that. As the little roadie for Lemmy YOU have cemented your seat at the ODT Rock n Roll throne.

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This was what Lemmy was really known for in '72. This wasn't the venue I went to, but it was similar, just to give you young'uns an idea.

 

[Torn]

Very cool. Sort of a Jefferson Airplane, David Bowie and Early Sabbath