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Saturday, March 26, 2011

LEMMY: 49% MOTHERF**KER, 51% SON OF A BITCH (DVD)

Lemmy. Sure his full name, Lemmy Kilmister, is as well known in rock and roll as anyone but just say Lemmy and there is almost no one on this earth who has owned an album/CD/MP3 that doesn't know who you are talking about. The raspy voiced rock music legend is the star of this wonderful documentary created by directors and producers Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski. The filmmakers follow Lemmy from his modest if cluttered Hollywood, CA apartment to his favorite hangout nearby and his travels throughout the globe as the driving force behind his iconic band Motorhead.

Olliver and Orshoski are obviously Lemmy fans so this is not a hard nosed journalistic documentary of Lemmy's life but more of a celebration of a hard rock and metal icon. If metal, thrash and hard rock have a Godfather, his name is Lemmy.

If there is any surprise of all the things we learn about Lemmy the man is that he has a softer emotional side that we get a few short glimpses of. His tale of losing his first and only love to a heroin overdose in 1973 is one. Lemmy only talks about it briefly but it seems obvious to me it has affected him and his attitude towards relationships as well as his thoughts on heroin. Another glimpse of the heartfelt Lemmy would be in his cluttered, overstuffed apartment in Hollywood when he is asked what the most precious thing in that apartment is to him. He responds "my son" who is seated on the couch right next to him.

There are lots of clips of some other rock icons and musicians throughout the film who offer a short quote or story about Lemmy. "Motorhead transcends all forms of music movement"-Dave Navarro, He's the "hard rock Johnny Cash"-Duff McKagan, "Captain Hook"-Alice Cooper, "Lemmy should be a verb"-Lars Ulrich, "Lemmy is a legend, baddest motherfucker in the world"-Dave Grohl. There are countless others and they all have one thing in common, they all love Lemmy and you will too after you see this film.

Finally, you can't have a film about Lemmy without some great music. There are some great performance clips of Lemmy integrated into the film including a version of Damage Case  with Metallica on stage in Nashville in September of 2009 and his staple, Ace of Spades with Motorhead in Berlin in July of 2008.

Lemmy fan or not you will enjoy this film. It is available in DVD and Blu-Ray and can be ordered at:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddvd&field-keywords=lemmy%3A+49%25&rh=n%3A130%2Ck%3Alemmy%3A+49%25&ajr=3

"WE ARE MOTORHEAD AND WE PLAY ROCK AND ROLL" - Lemmy Kilmister

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