Headbangers around the world are mourning the death of a true metal icon after Motörhead singer/bassist Lemmy Kilmister passed away Monday evening at age 70. According to a message on the band’s Facebook page, his death came following “a short battle with extremely aggressive cancer.”
He had learnt of the disease on December 26th, and was at home, sitting in front of his favorite video game from The Rainbow which had recently made it’s way down the street, with his family.
Motörhead was last scheduled to play Houston’s House of Blues this past September, but pulled out after Lemmy struggled during a show in Austin, walking offstage after only three songs, and canceled the next night in San Antonio. They never got a chance to reschedule, making the band’s final Houston-area concert the Rockstar Mayhem tour also featuring Slipknot and Anthrax, which stopped at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in July 2012.
Lemmy’s was the second death in the Motörhead family in as many months, following the November 11 passing at age 61 of drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor, who served with the band between 1975 and 1984 and 1987 and 1992. Motörhead’s message Monday continued:
We cannot begin to express our shock and sadness, there aren’t words.
We will say more in the coming days, but for now, please…play Motörhead loud, play Hawkwind loud, play Lemmy’s music LOUD.
Have a drink or few.
Share stories.
That’s exactly what happened all over the Internet Monday night. Besides tributes from across the rock spectrum and beyond — Cheap Trick, the Dead Kennedys, Judas Priest, Supersuckers, Phil Anselmo, Ministry and dozens more — lots of Houston music folk shared their own memories. We’ve linked a few of our own below.
RIP Lemmy. We miss you already.
Hear hear.
This article appears in New Year’s Eve Guide 2015.
