Keith Emerson has lead further tributes from the prog community to Hawkwind and Motorhead man Lemmy,
In a post on Facebook, which also alleges that Lemmy took his nickname from a 1950s BBC radio programme Journey Into Space, specifically the character Lemuel ‘Lemmy’ Barnet, originally played by David Kossoff, Emerson recalls the days when Lemmy road managed The Nice.
“Farewell Lemmy. In the late 60s Lemmy and The Nice toured England. Lemmy was our road manager and he presented a formidable figure of someone that did not take prisoners or suffer fools gladly,
The Nice were in their destructive art period, a term used by Pete Townshend. Lemmy came up after a show. ‘Ere, if you’re gonna use a knife use a real one and gave me two Hitler Youth knives. He was an avid collector of World War 2 paraphernalia, not that he was into the horrors of war. No, far from it. His reckoning was that if you’re going to send an army into war, dress ‘em so they look and feel good. The English, according to my father who was with The Royal Engineers, had very drab outfits and consequently morale was low. And the opposition looked well turned out. So that was it with Lemmy. He just wore black.
Many have wondered why he chose the name ‘Lemmy’. In the late 50s and early 60s there was a BBC Radio series called Journey Into Space. ‘Lemmy’ was one of the characters. Lemmy was a big fan.
He will be sadly missed at The Rainbow, LA. My sympathies go out to his band, his friends, his family and all his many fans.
God bless Lemmy.
Keith Emerson.”
Amplifier’s Sel Balamir told of the advice Lemmy had once given him, and confirmed that the band had named the opening track from their debut album after Motorhead.
“There’s a reason this song was called Motorhead. Lemmy was always an inclusive and encouraging figure. He never preached anything other than ‘Run it up the flagpole, see who salutes’. My life maxim was scrawled on a piece of paper that could easily have been thrown away. It said ‘Rock without remorse, you bastard’. Yes sir.”
Steve Hackett tweeted “I’m very sorry to hear of Lemmy’s passing. He was a great rock veteran, a force of nature and a really sweet guy.”
Tributes also flowed in from Knifeworld’s Kavus Torabi, Alan Reed, Ghost Community’s Matt Cohen and Lifesigns’ John Young among others.
