The 90s Metal bands that Lemmy Kilmister said were crap

Ian Fraser Kilmister was born in Burslem, Stoke-On-Trent, England back in 1945 and few years later became a Rock and Roll legend known as Lemmy. Besides being part of small Rock bands in the 60s, he was Jimi Hendrix‘s roadie for a while and was part of the space-Rock band Hawkwind before creating in 1975 his own band: Motörhead.

Lemmy Kilmister had the chance to see the evolution of Rock and Roll up-close, seeing bands like The Beatles live in concert when they still weren’t famous and also touring with incredible acts over the decades.

But the musician wasn’t really happy about the path that Metal music had taken in the 90s and he criticized many groups over the years, even saying that some of them were “crap”.

The 90s Metal bands that Lemmy Kilmister said were crap

Although Lemmy always said at the band’s concerts: “We are Motörhead and we play Rock and Roll”, the band was quite fast and heavy. So they were obviously labeled as a Hard Rock and Metal group.

The group existed until Lemmy’s death in 2015 at the age of 70 and during the four decades they were on the road, the group released 23 studio albums. However, the band sold only 15 million records worldwide, an amount that is not that big compared to other famous Rock groups. So much of their fame came from their constantly touring that really turned them into a cult-following band over the years.

Almost every year they would play in every country and festival they could, so Lemmy had the chance to see many new groups, but he wasn’t happy with what he saw in the 90s and two of those acts were Slipknot and Limp Bizkit.

Slipknot and Limp Bizkit

Slipknot was formed in Des Moines, Iowa in 1995 and released their self-titled debut album in 1999. One year later, Lemmy heard them and wasn’t really happy with their sound as he told Ear Candy magazine in 2000.

He also wasn’t happy about what Limp Bizkit, formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1994 was doing. By 2000 they already had 3 studio albums out, which had some of their biggest hits.

In the conversation he was asked about if he also felt that every year less good bands were appearing. He said: “That’s right & fucking people like Limp Bizkit, I don’t understand it. I don’t understand their success.”

He continued:

“What the fuck is this, its just rubbish! You’re just garage attendants with fucking gas masks on. And I mean I don’t mind kids having their own thing, I’m all for it. When you’re 17, you want a 17-year-old band to play for you, you don’t want these old fuckers like me.”

“I understand that & but Slipknot is just crap! And I know crap when I hear it, been listening to it all my life you know? And that’s crap, believe me & it’s a good example of crap. A lot of these new bands have a riff and no song. I was brought up to admire songs. A good well crafted song. Like the Beatles were 5 years into their career and they were doing ‘Yesterday’,” Lemmy Kilmister said.

Tool and Marilyn Manson

In the 90s, Motörhead had already released their most famous records but continued to make albums that were praised by fans and critics. Some of them were “1916” (1991), March ör Die (1992) and “Bastards” (1993).

But during that decade Rock and Roll was totally transfomed by Grunge. Also later on by the so called Nu Metal, in which some of the groups mentioned by Lemmy were part of.

The two acts from the 90s that Lemmy criticized were Marilyn Manson and the Progressive Metal group Tool.

Talking with Hot Press, the musician was asked why Motörhead didn’t managed to get bigger in the United States. He mentioned groups like Limp Bizkit and Tool when explaining why.

“We’re not pretty enough and the music’s too brutal for them. Everything there is fad-driven. Limp fucking Bizkit and Tool and all that. It’s just fucking hopeless. If that’s the future of rock ‘n’ roll, it’s suicide for me,” Lemmy Kilmister said.

He was then questioned about Marilyn Manson and he said he should compose better songs. “All mouth and no tights. The show’s great but that last record of his was hopeless. Fair play to him for getting up people’s noses. But he needs to come up with a few decent tunes,” Lemmy Kilmister said.