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A review by royzee
Lemmy: The Definitive Biography by Mick Wall
3.0
Not sure about this one... have read about the man himself, watched the biopic, seen him on stage a few times... TV too... but does this do the man/icon justice? Who can tell. Kind of academic now anyway.
I think if you like rock music you could do worse than delve into this tome; it took me just over a week to read it - it was a birthday pressie and I was halfway through by the time the plane landed. Sadly the rest of the book is as you might expect painful to read... and like a whodunnit when you've guessed the villain early on. But then I felt like that about the Freddie biog I read a while back... no doubt Bowie will also have that effect, no author can treat the subject perfectly but his old mate Mick likely comes close... that compromise of reverence and "just the facts ma'am".
Other impressions that flitted through this addled brain were just how remarkable Lemmy was... but at the same time nihilistic and self-indulgent. How someone can treat their body so casually is beyond me and I am no health nut. He should have been studied by medicos to discover how his body coped maybe even thrived with such poor nutrition let alone over-indulgence in chemicals and booze... not to mention sex... how did this bloke escape the fate of some other rock n rollers et al?
Never boring, always near the precipice the world is somehow a bleaker place now the likes of Lemmy no longer walk the boards...
Oh yes, one thing... it does not mention his hearing... I saw Motorhead but once (that infamous support gig to BOC at HO... and we loved 'em! How fitting that the support became (in time) mightier than the main band! But I refused the opportunity to buy tickets later on when the decibel count went off the scale...
I think if you like rock music you could do worse than delve into this tome; it took me just over a week to read it - it was a birthday pressie and I was halfway through by the time the plane landed. Sadly the rest of the book is as you might expect painful to read... and like a whodunnit when you've guessed the villain early on. But then I felt like that about the Freddie biog I read a while back... no doubt Bowie will also have that effect, no author can treat the subject perfectly but his old mate Mick likely comes close... that compromise of reverence and "just the facts ma'am".
Other impressions that flitted through this addled brain were just how remarkable Lemmy was... but at the same time nihilistic and self-indulgent. How someone can treat their body so casually is beyond me and I am no health nut. He should have been studied by medicos to discover how his body coped maybe even thrived with such poor nutrition let alone over-indulgence in chemicals and booze... not to mention sex... how did this bloke escape the fate of some other rock n rollers et al?
Never boring, always near the precipice the world is somehow a bleaker place now the likes of Lemmy no longer walk the boards...
Oh yes, one thing... it does not mention his hearing... I saw Motorhead but once (that infamous support gig to BOC at HO... and we loved 'em! How fitting that the support became (in time) mightier than the main band! But I refused the opportunity to buy tickets later on when the decibel count went off the scale...