Lemmy

Most helpful review Lemmy

• And don't forget the joker.

   

  By SeekerSolace (36 reviews) from Oxford , 24 Mar 2011

  [Highly rated reviewer]

  When I was ten I used to love Motorhead, but like most schoolboy fazes, I soon grew out of my infatuation whilst still always garnering a deep respect for this gnarled, Grandaddy of modern rock bands. A bloke I know, (now well into his forties) however, likes to entertain his guests by cranking up a variety of said bands live DVD's whilst drunkenly growling repeatedly 'Lemmy is God' for hours on end before finally collapsing in a Stella induced coma around midnight, thus allowing his guests to quietly slip away vowing never to return.
  
  So, when after a few moments of this 'film' we are treated to pre-pubescent teens echoing the 'Lemmy is God' mantra, I found myself enduring an unpleasant bout of deja vu and torture association.
  
  I once had the opportunity to see 'God' playing live at Nottingham rock city and am sad to admit that after five or six tunes, I sought solace in the downstairs bar for the rest of the evening. This studded, bearded, Rickenbacker playing Deity just wasn't floating my spiritual boat I'm afraid.
  
  This movie is a bit of a damp squib to be honest. We are told that Lemmy is an icon and then not really given any justification or history as to why that is.
  
  Does any one else see the irony of members of Guns'n'Roses and Metallica sycophantically purring over his legendary drug and alcohol intake when they themselves have all been through rehab rather publicly and are now all (to be quite frank) rather sober, shiny, boring, washed up and not actually very rock'n'roll at all?
  
  So, it seems icon status is achieved through A: still making a living playing the same song over and over again for forty years whilst B: managing not to die in the process. Dave Grohl take note.
  
  i actually found some of this movie quiet sad and touching when I'm sure it wasn't supposed to be. The ever present JD, nicotine stains, and trembling hands are not the greatest look I must say. An air of unresolved loneliness also struck me alongside his surprisingly nerdy son, heir and drinking partner. Everyone in the film just thought absolutely everything was extremely cool and rock'n'roll though so what do I know?
  
  A bit of a wasted opportunity to scrape beneath the skin of a enigmatic 20th century figure of popular culture in my book.
  
  Yes he drinks, speeds and smokes a lot, his band are loud and no, (again) he's not dead yet, are facts that we all kind of knew already aren't they? We get the briefest snippets of the soul behind the character but nothing is ever embellished upon as it reverts repeatedly back to the L.A rock cliches. Not forgetting the obligatory 'what a great bloke he is' quotes from just about everybody.
  
  Of course Lemmy is an old school rock star of the highest order but that's more to do with his genuine 'don't give a f##k' attitude than anything else. It's the attitude that attracts all those teenage boys out there. Most of whom (judging from this film) seem to go on to form world famous rock bands and thus, alas, never seem to grow out of it. Even when, for some, a spleen explodes or mental breakdown arrives.
  
  For the diehard metal fan only, this one, which counts me out. I'm off to put Nick Drake on the CD player. Nick's not an icon by the way, cause he's dead.

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