Lemmy Kilmister’s opinion on talent TV shows

The Motörhead leader, singer and bassist Lemmy Kilmister was one of the most influential musicians of all time. One of the first groups he was part of was The Rockin’ Vickers, then he had the chance to be Jimi Hendrix’s roadie, was a member of Hawkwind and finally in 1975 formed his own band which would be one of the few groups who had Heavy Metal and Punk Rock fans at the time. They were heavy and fast, which inspired a whole generation of Hard Rock, Heavy Metal and Thrash Metal musicians.

Things changed a lot in the following decades not only in music and many things got bigger with the TV and internet. The talent TV shows for example got really big with X-Factor and American Idol, for example. In an interview with The Arts Desk in 2011, Lemmy was asked about those shows and he explained why he didn’t like them.

Lemmy Kilmister’s opinion on talent TV shows

“It’s a joke. You can’t win fame. You have to earn fame. And if you get given fame without working for it, then you’re not going to be ready for it. Fame’s quite a thing to digest, you know. What it must have been like for The Beatles I’ll never understand. It must have been fucking awful. You ever seen footage of that Washington concert? It’s a four-sided arena and they’re facing one way for the first two songs, then they face another way but the amps aren’t turned round, then they face away from the amps, the opposite direction.”

“They couldn’t hear anything, man. And the screaming was overpowering. You have no idea. When I went to see them in Llandudno, the last time I saw them – no, Rhyl was the last time – the screaming was incredible, you couldn’t hear a thing they were doing. You could here the song generally as a little murmur. All you could hear was these chicks screaming their heads off. That’s why The Beatles got sick of touring,” Lemmy Kilmister said.

Motörhead was active from 1975 to 2015, until Lemmy’s death at the age of 70. During four decades, they released 23 studio albums. It was more than enough for them to become one of the most influential bands in Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.