The late legendary Motörhead founder, bassist and vocalist Lemmy Kilmister was part of the music business long before he created his own group in 1975. His career started playing in local groups like The Rockin’ Vickers and also had the opportunity to be Jimi Hendrix‘s roadie, before he became a member of Hawkwind, the most famous group he was part of before making it with Motörhead.
With a career that lasted more than five decades, until his death in 2015 at the age of 70, Lemmy was lucky enough to have seen the transformation of Rock and Roll. He saw up-close many bands starting and there was a more recent one that he immediately became a fan of. The musician even described them as being a mix of AC/DC with Janis Joplin.
The band Lemmy Kilmister said it was a mix of AC/DC and Janis Joplin
Besides being one of the most influential bassists, singers and songwriters of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, Lemmy was also known as a very sincere person. So he was always telling the truth when he was speaking about other groups and if he didn’t like a band he would say that without a problem.
In the beginning of the 21st century he wasn’t very happy with where the new bands were taking the heavy music and criticized many groups like Slipknot and Limp Bizkit. However, there was a less-known group that he really loved and even said they were a mix between Janis Joplin and AC/DC.
When asked in an interview with Ear Candy magazine in 2000, which were new bands that caught his attention, he said: “Not many. Except the Skunk Anansie from England, you heard them? They are on Virgin. And the Skew Siskin from Berlin, they are kinda like AC/DC and Janis Joplin,” Lemmy said. The interviewer commented that every year less good bands were appearing and the Motörhead vocalist agreed with that.
“That’s right & fucking people like Limp Bizkit, I don’t understand it. I don’t understand their success. What the fuck is this, its just rubbish! You’re just garage attendants with fucking gas masks on & 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!”
He continued:
“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.
Skew Siskin was formed back in 1990 by the guitarist Jim Voxx and the singer Nina C. Alice, with the original line-up being completed by the drummer Nik Terry and the bassist Jogi Rautenberg. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1992 and since then the group put out more five albums, the most recent one being “Peace Breaker” in 2007.
The late Lemmy loved the band so much that he took them on the road and their were Motörhead’s special guests on more than 70 concerts. He also co-wrote many songs with the group in the following years. One of them was “Riding With the Devil”.
Skew Siskin also toured with famous groups like Accept, Alice Cooper, Anthrax, Saxon and Black Sabbath.
He also loved Skunk Anansie, which was one of his favorite bands
Skunk Anansie was formed in London, England back in 1994 and was always praised by Lemmy during his life. They were first active until 2001 and during those first seven years released 3 albums. It took them another seven years to reunite again in 2008 and since then they remained together releasing three more albums, the most recent one “Anarchytecture” in 2016.
The band is formed by Deborah “Skin” Dyer (Vocals, guitar, keyboards), Martin “Ace” Kent (Guitar), Richad “Cass” Lewis (Bass) and Mark Richardson (Drums). That same question about new bands was made to Lemmy by Metal Insider in 2011 and his answer was the same. He once again mentioned Skunk Anansie.
“Yeah, there’s a few, but I mean ‘recently’ for me means two or three years. One of the most exciting things to me was that Skunk Anansie got back together. Do you know who they are?” The interviewer replied that he didn’t know them much and Kilmister continued: “Ah, well they broke up ten years ago and just reformed with all of the original members.”
He continued:
“And they’ve got some of the best music. Do you want me to tell you a couple of their album titles? The first album is called Paranoid And Sunburnt. The second album is called Stoosh. And the third album is Post Orgasmic Chill (laughs). And the new album is called Wonderlustre,” Lemmy Kilmister said.
During the same conversation, the musician revealed his favorite albums of their discography. “Well, it’s of course between ‘Paranoid And Sunburnt’ and ‘Post Orgasmic Chill’. They’re really fucking good man!”
Lemmy Kilmister said that Skunk Anansie could be his favorite band
Lemmy wasn’t an easy person to please musically and when he liked a group or an artist, it was really for real. So when he stated in an interview with Stay Thirsty in 2011 that Skunk Anansie could be his favorite band, he really meant.
At the time the group had released their first album after the reunion, the fourth one from their career, called “Wonderlustre” (2010). About that, Lemmy said: “Skunk Anansie reformed, which is great news for me, you know? They’re my favorite band I think. I went to see them in London a little while ago.”
“You know they reformed, right? I went to see them in London the day before we played Brixton Academy. They played there so we went down. They were fucking amazing. She walks out on the crowds’ hands. Twice, just in case you missed it the first time. Case you’re at the bar or something, you know. They were so good,” Lemmy Kilmister said.
Some of their most famous songs are “Charity”, “Hedonism” and “Selling Jesus”. They have sold an estimated amount of more than 5 million records worldwide.