Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister: Vampire of the Sunset Strip

Lemmy Kilmister may be the most indestructible rocker alive. At 63 years old, he still spends nearly every day he's not on tour swilling bourbon at West Hollywood's legendary rocker hangout the Rainbow Bar & Grill — and his band still plays about 150 shows a year. Rolling Stone's Mark Binelli put in some quality time at the Rainbow (and Kilmister's nearby apartment, stocked with a mind-blowing array of WWII and Nazi memorabilia) for a profile of Motörhead's singer/bassist in our new issue.

Go backstage with Motörhead on the band's 2008 European tour.

"The first time I ever saw Motörhead was on the Blizzard of Ozz tour," Slash tells RS. "I swear to God, it was the loudest thing I ever heard. They EQ'd it in a way to rip the top of your fucking head off." Ozzy Osbourne recalls that tour too: "[Lemmy] had a plaid bag with three books an a notepad. No change of clothes. His fucking rider was seven bottles of bourbon, eight bottles of vodka, two bottles of orange juice, and that's fucking it!"

Unsurprisingly, Lemmy has taken a path that's very unlike other rockers. Acknowledging his unusual journey, Kilmister tells RS, "I mean, I missed out on human relationships. But looking at relationships that I've seen along the way, I don't think I've missed much." Kilmister has let rock & roll be his guide since he was a kid learning Buddy Holly records in Wales, and in our profile Kilmister recounts joining (and leaving) legendary psych-rock band Hawkwind, attempting to teach Sid Vicious how to play the bass and the beginnings of Motörhead, which he conceived as a blend of Hawkwind, the MC5 and Little Richard.

For Binelli's full story, pick up the new issue, on stands now. And check out Rolling Stone's Q&A with Kilmister from last year, when the legend was celebrating the release of his band's 20th album, Motörizer.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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