Why Lemmy Kilmister Called Motörhead ‘The Best Worst Band’ In The World

One of the early space rock bands, Hawkwind, used several musical genres, hard rock, progressive rock, and psychedelic rock, along with being known for their proto-punk style. The band became a turning point for various musicians such as Lemmy, Robert Calvert, Nik Turner, Ginger Baker, and Huw Lloyd-Langton. They would be very famous and commercially successful in the music industry soon.

Undoubtedly, the most popular one among them was Lemmy Kilmister, who became a milestone figure for the new wave of British heavy metal. The singer significantly influenced countless next-generation artists who wanted to follow his steps while beginning their careers. The legacy set in stone began when Kilmister was fired from Hawkwind after Canadian police arrested him for drug possession and founded Motörhead in the same year.

What Did Lemmy Kilmister Think About Motörhead’s Style?

Lemmy Kilmister decided to change his musical style to being loud, fast, raucous, arrogant, paranoid, and rock and roll while creating and performing the songs in his new band, Motörhead. It was named after the last song the musician had written during his time in Hawkwind. Larry Wallis and Lucas Fox became original members, but the band went through many lineup changes due to various reasons for years.

Even though most of Motörhead’s records hit the charts and sold millions all around the world, the band emerged during the progressive rock’s reign, which caused them to receive negative reviews from music critics and journalists at that time. The genre reached its highest fame during the 70s with its unique instrumentation and compositional techniques, close to jazz, folk, or classical music. Motörhead’s loudness was defined as ‘the antithesis of the ’70s progressive rock movement.’

In one of his previous conversations with the Chicago Tribune, Kilmister opened up about the band’s definition, saying that he felt determined after these comments, which also described them as the worst. According to the singer, they evolved from the worst to the best worst band in the world in some people’s eyes because the music changed with the punk movement. Kilmister highlighted that they initially found Motörhead funny, but things were different after their first work.

In Kilmister’s words, he said:

“How did it make me feel? Determined. They started changing their tune. We became the best worst band in the world. Then people started to understand us better when punk came along. We were the first band of long-haired people who could relate to the punk crowd. They’d look at us funny at first, but after the first song, we never had a problem with them.”

Furthermore, Motörhead released twenty-two studio records, ten live, and twelve compilation albums during their successful career decades. Almost all of them received positive reviews from critics and metalheads, especially Kilmister’s exceptional singing and bass-playing performance. However, previously, most critics harshly targeted Motörhead because of their different style from mainstream music of the period.