In the spirit of Booman’s unabashed love for the Dead, I need to admit how much I love Motorhead:
I twist the truth, I rule the world, my crown is called deceit
I am the emperor of lies, you grovel at my feet
I rob you and I slaughter you, your downfall is my gain
And still you play the sycophant and revel in you pain
And all my promises are lies, all my love is hate
I am the politician, and I decide your fate.
I almost don’t know where to begin about this band. Should I start with the fact that singer/bass player/band leader Lemmy Kilmister is almost as old as my dad, continuing through his disdain for religion, through his support for obama and overall pro-sex attytood, through his support for Rodney King (who knew???), and most importantly his little-known feminism…
Q: You’re known as a great lover of women, but you’re also known as a great lover of women in rock music. You’ve been very vocal of your support of Joan Jett, Skin of Skunk Anansie, and many others. In punk rock, it seems there is a disconnect between appreciating a woman’s talents and appreciating her attractiveness. Can one appreciate a female musician’s attractiveness without objectifying her?
A: Well, why the fuck can’t you do it? Is that impossible? There are certainly people who have an axe to grind. Someone might be bitching about it, but I don’t care. I never objectified women. I’ve always been honest. I treat people as I expect to be treated. Women, they’re the same as me with tits. If they want to be crazy, well that’s all right because I’m a little crazy myself, sometimes. If they want to play rock music, that’s great, because I like to play rock music, too. You should treat people the way you like to be treated. If it’s good art, then it’s good art. Shit, I like women.
You can almost taste smell the disdain for such a stupid question. BTW, Lemmy’s answer inspired the following AMAZING slab of German pop:
Who rocks YOUR world? Consider this a late-night open thread.
Orgasmatron – great song from a great album. That came out when I was still listening to a lot of US and UK hardcore (a scene that was essentially in its death throes by the mid-1980s) and industrial music. Although their records were typically classified as “metal” they were at least kindred spirits of the punks. Some of the bass playing on that album seemed reminiscent of what Joy Division was up to in the late 1970s. Yeah…good times. Good times.
A few years ago, I was talking to my wife while listening to Wilco.
“I love this song. In fact, I really love Wilco.”
Then I got to thinking satirically…
“I need to watch how much I love them, though. You love someone so much, you end up getting committed to them and end up marrying them. But, then, the relationship deteriorates, and after a while you’ve split up, and everyone hires lawyers. And you’re fighting over finances, and Wilco entered our relationship with more money. So my attorney will want alimony from Wilco, and that’ll be hard.”
To this day I have magnetized letters on my refrigerator formed in the phrase “Wilco Alimony”. That has more to do with my inattentive housekeeping and sense of absurd fun than anything else. Wilco hasn’t let me down; the inevitable decline in their work hasn’t happened yet.
This was my first date with Wilco:
One of my very favorite moments with them:
And an adventurous night out, disturbing and exhilarating: