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As we approach five years since the immeasurably sad passing of Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, both this unique legend and the Grammy Award winning MOTÖRHEAD remain more important, and popular, cultural icons than ever.
In their 40-year career, the band were recognized as vanguards of freedom, inclusion and the loudest rock ‘n’ roll known to humankind (and all other species), led by the force of nature that was Lemmy. And that legend has continued to remain both established and ascendant in the world, with MOTÖRHEAD’s groundbreaking, lawn-busting, genre-defining sound hitting wave after wave of newer fans as well as being celebrated by the faithful.
The last five years have seen:
- A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination for 2020.
- Spotify statistics showing MOTÖRHEAD have had over 686 million streams, over 40 million listeners, and have over 2.5 million followers.
- YouTube numbered 28 million viewers in 2020 alone.
- The deluxe Ace of Spades 40th Anniversary box-set topping the US charts, as well as achieving high chart positions internationally, including #10 in the German National charts, #4 in Sweden, and #4 in the UK rock and metal charts. It was also named as one of Rolling Stone magazine’s top box-sets of 2020.
- MOTÖRHEAD appearing on a slew of top magazine covers, including Metal Hammer, Rock Hard, Classic Rock and Sweden Rock. In the US, MOTÖRHEAD have received glowing coverage from CNN, Fox News, Rolling Stone magazine, Loudwire and LA Weekly among others.
- SiriusXM radio celebrated the 40th Anniversary of Ace…with a dedicated MOTÖRHEAD weekend, featuring music and guests including Ozzy Osbourne, Slash and Duff from Guns N ’Roses plus (of course) Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee from MOTÖRHEAD in discussion. The weekend was hosted by the world famous WWE legend Triple H, who is himself a massive fan.
- Lemmy and MOTÖRHEAD continue to be one of the most prominent and venerated rock icons/bands in the world, consistently landing in magazine top 10 polls, including:
- Metal Hammer Germany readers’ poll – best band of all time #3, best song of all time “Ace of Spades” #3, best album of all time Overkill #10
- Deaf Forever Magazine – Germany, MOTÖRHEAD #2 best band, Lemmy #6 top personality of the year, 1979 box-set #3
- Lemmy was recognized by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the top 50 bass players of all-time at #33. Rolling Stone also recognized the album Ace of Spades as number 408 out of the 500 best albums EVER!
- In 2016 there were tributes to Lemmy at many of the major music festivals MOTÖRHEAD regularly played, including the Wacken Festival in Germany where MOTÖRHEAD’s full stage set-up -including the iconic bomber lighting rig- hosted a video tribute to Lemmy’s life, Hellfest in France erected a statue nearly as tall as the myths surrounding Lemmy, Glastonbury had an “Ace of Spades” sculpture above The Other Stage, and Sweden Rock named one of their stages “The Lemmy Stage.”
- Lemmy’s passing was also honored at the 2016 Grammy’s, where Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters gave a passionate speech followed by The Hollywood Vampires featuring Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper, Duff McKagan, Joe Perry and Matt Sorum playing “Ace Of Spades” while Lemmy’s equipment and boots were on display.
- No one has quite perfected the arts of drinking and gambling like Lemmy and the boys did. This was recognized by Poker News Daily who awarded “Ace of Spades” as “favorite poker music,” beating out Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face,” and We Are The Pit honoring “Born To Raise Hell” as the #1 Top Greatest Drinking Song of all time, and having been one of the first bands to develop their own line of award-winning wines, spirits and beers, MOTÖRHEAD’s specially blended Premium Dark Rum was voted the #1 rum in the world for 2020 by the Beverage Testing Institute.
- There is even a major motion bio-picture on Lemmy in development, with shooting scheduled to commence in June 2021 (pandemic allowing).
When Lemmy said he is Rock ’N’ Roll, you can bet your ass that he meant it, and as long as there is Rock ’N’ Roll Lemmy lives on. So remember to raise a glass on December 24th and celebrate Lemmy on what would’ve been his 75th birthday, and as 2020 draws to an end, celebrate the fact that the world continues to acknowledge, absorb and adore both him and MOTÖRHEAD fervently, with even more to come in 2021.
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