Lemmy Interview- November 1, 1986, Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, Illinois, USA

The following is a re-transcription of an interview that I did with Lemmy in the early hours of November 1,1986, after a Motorhead Halloween show at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois, USA that was originally done for a fanzine out of Albuqerque, New Mexico, USA called Metal Madness.
Recently, I had the good fortune to have a brief chat with Lemmy himself. Even though this is not the most in-depth of interviews,as always, Lemmy came up with a few interesting things to say. So sit back, relax, and prepare to take in these words of wisdom from one of rock and roll's living legends.
MM- Where did the name Orgasmatron come from?
LK-It refers to the three things that I hate most in life, organized religion, politics, and war. Things like people that go to church and cum in their pants while communing with Jesus Christ. It's all a bunch of bullshit. If you are really into that, you don't need to go to a church to talk to God, you can talk to Him anywhere, you know? Or if you join a political party and get your jollies off of that, when your party wins and all that. It's the herd instinct. The same thing with the war. They give you a nice new uniform and march you off to die.
MM-So Orgasmatron has nothing to do with any Woody Allen movies then?
LK- No, not at all.. I never thought of that when I wrote it. Since then, everybody's been coming up to me and mentioning that. I thought that I invented the term, but maybe it was a subconscious thing.
MM- Now that you're 40 years old, do you get a lot of people that come up to you ans say, "You're 40 now, so why do you cultivate all this adolescent anti-establishment stuff? After all you're making a good living, etc... " How do you answer these types?
LK- I usually tell them to fuck off, actually. I mean, just because you're 40 doesn't mean that you have to act a certain way. I'll do whatever the fuck I want, I read 'em as I see 'em, what you see is what you get.. There's no answer to those guys,they can go back into their fuckin' hole.
MM-How did the recording go on Orgasmatron?
LK- Two weeks.
MM-Is that the usual amount of time that you have used to record in the past?
LK- No, actually we didn't have the money to take a whole lot of time in the studio. Three years off didn't help things too much financially. We also got it done that quick.. Even if we had done it ideally, it wouldn't have taken much longer.
MM-Is this the best incarnation of Motorhead yet?
LK-I think so, I think that it's the best album yet.
MM-How's it selling in the USA?
LK- It's selling better than any other album we've ever done, but obviously we're not Top 40 material. It's been getting a lot of airplay on college radio shows, and we're getting pushed in various regions.
MM- Do you believe in preaching in your songs?
LK- I believe in preaching against preaching. I man, look at those assholes like the Clash calling their album Sandinista. What the fuck do they know about hard times? They live in England. They don't have hard time sin England like they do in Nicaragua. That's a cheap shot, man. That's like singing about the devil, it's a bunch of shit!
MM- So you don't like any of that stuff in songs, the devil worship, politics, etc.?
LK- No, it's rubbish, a bunch of garbage. I don't worship anything but rock and roll, man!
MM- Sort of like the 1950's stuff, just good time rock and roll then?
LK- Well, isn't it? Shouldn't it be? One of the only things that you've got in your life that helps you escape the shit for awhile is misic. It should be pure escapism. It should get you out of your hole and get you to AAARRRGGGHHHH for an hour or so. It's better if you get laid too.
MM- I'd like to ask you a couple of questions about your lifestyle. Do you get a lot of grief about it?
LK- About what?
MM- Your lifestyle. Would you recommend it to kids?
LK_ NO! I would not recommend what I did as a kid to anyone.
MM_ It's pretty well known that you have taken a lot of hard drugs...
LK- I've never done hard drugs! As far as I'm concerned, the only hard drug is smack, and I have never done that.
MM- Why is smack different from anything else?
LK- Because it takes away a friend or a lady you knew well and replaces them with this slack-jawed, drooling, fuckin' mess that'll slink around you andd steal money out of your pockets. There' all covered in great sores on their fuckin' arms, all over their bodies as well, because they're fixin' between their toes, fingers, etc. I saw one guy fixin' up here in a vein in his eye once( pantomimes the act of injecting a needle into your eye). It was the only vein he had left, all the others had collapsed. I've found my friends stabbing themselves in the arm trying to find a vein. It's fucking horrible, man.m it degrades you, makes you a slobbering animal, it also makes you easy prey, and it kills you. It takes away everything, your dignity, your job, it's just a fucking disgusting, horrible thing. If I saw a smack dealer on the street, I'd shoot the fucking cunt!
MM- So you've never mainlined ( injected intravenously) or done smack ( heroin) in any form then?
LK_ No, I've never hit the spike at all ( rolls up his sleeves) and I have never done smack in any form. I used to smoke opium, though.
MM- Do people always read cosmic meanings into your lyrics?
LK- You see. People are always ready to read shit into it that you never thought of. John Lennon swore, and he's got no reason to swear, that when he wrotew Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds he never thought of LSD, but when it came out, everyone said, " Oh, look at that!" If you push the record backwards with your finger..... Who's gonna do that? If you're gonna leave a message there, it wouldn't be so hard to find, right?
MM- Seeing that we have this right-wing, religious " Clean up the music" crusade sweeping America now, are you getting hassled by those types?
LK- If there were any of those Jesus guys here tonight, I think they've left, but I told them right off that they weren't gonna convert me to no Christianity because I consider it a bunch of bullshit. They're nice guys though, and they're welcome to believe in it if they want. At least they're not sitting up in a big fucking chair, they're just a group of people. Sure they preach to you, but Christians can't help themselves. Fuckin' Hare Krishnas are the worst. You want me to look like that?? Ha ha ha, maybe next year.
MM- Do you get upset with people that think just because you're in Motorhead, that you must be some kind of barbarian?
LK- After eleven years, I'm used to it.
MM-If you moved in next door to me, would my lawn still die?
LK- Do you have a lawn?
MM- Yeah, and it's half dead already.
LK- And we haven't moved in yet.
MM-What's Motorhead really about as far as you're concerned?
LK- Motorhead's just that I wanted to play this music and I'm playing it. I'd have done it even if it wasn't successful at all. I couldn't give a carrot what anybody says about it.
MM- Have you heard any of the Hawkwind stuff that's come out in the last three years with you on it?
LK- That's just Dave Brock trying to make a few bob. I love the version of Motorhead with his vocals overdubbed on it. I sang on the original version, which is the B-side of Kings Of Speed.
MM- You had the name Motorjead picked out a long time ago, right?
LK- It's the American slang for speed freak ( amphetamine user).
MM- How come I never heard it used that way?
LK- Because you're too young. That's from my generation.. Frank Zappa was gonna name Dweezil Motorhead, you know.
And on that note, the interview ended. So there you have it, ideas to live by from the mind of Lemmy. If for some insane reason you aren't familiar with either Lemmy or Motorhead, I urge you to become so immediately. Just the fact that Lemmy did this interview with me is proof enough that the man is cool with a capital C. So get yourself some brain damage and kill your lawn or whatever and continue to support Motorhead until they come to drag you off to the asylum, because you'll never have so much fun going mad!

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