Author/Musician JOEL GAUSTEN Pays Tribute To LEMMY - "I Owe My Entire Professional Career To Him; I Hope He Died Happy"

Respected author/musician and long time BraveWords supporter Joel Gausten has posted the following tribute to Motörhead legend Lemmy, who passed away on December 28th, 2015 at the age of 70:

Back in 2010 when I was a guest on The Classic Metal Show, host Wendell Neeley asked me the traditional Classic Metal Show question: “How has Lemmy from Motörhead influenced your career?”

Here was my reply:

“Lemmy is not a pinup model. You’ll never see Lemmy as a judge on American Idol; you’ll never see him host the Grammys because he doesn’t fit in the traditional mold of what you’d expect a public figure to be. So why does he do it? He does it because he HAS to, because it’s in his blood, in his nature and in his spirit. That’s what I’ve learned from Lemmy – to do what you want to do, and do what you HAVE to do, and not worry about, ‘Is the mainstream going to get this?’ You do what you have to do and live the life you want to live, and that’s what Lemmy’s done.”

More than that, I owe my entire professional career to Lemmy. In 2000, I got hired for my first full-time post-college job – serving as the managing editor for a music magazine – on the strength of a Motörhead live review I wrote for an area paper. A week later, I had Nikki Sixx on the phone for an interview and was paying bills doing something I love. How many other people can credit their life’s work to Lemmy? I’m sure the list is endless.
What a discography…Listen to those Motörhead albums. That is the real thing. Listen to Hawkwind. How innovative was that bunch during Lemmy’s time with them? Those are absolutely perfect records.

Philthy. Wurzel. And now Lemmy. Talk about a bunch of scraggly, rough, dirty and completely inspirational motherfuckers.

Goddamn. Lemmy’s dead. That guy meant something. I hope he died happy.

– Joel Gausten, 12/28/15

Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee told Sweden’s Expressen: ”Motörhead is over, of course. Lemmy was Motörhead. But the band will live on in the memories of many. We won’t be doing any more tours or anything. And there won’t be any more records. But the brand survives, and Lemmy lives on in the hearts of everyone.”