Dave Grohl Tearfully Remembers Motorhead’s Lemmy: ‘You’re My Musical Hero’
Yesterday (Jan. 9), friends, family and colleagues gathered to remember Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister during his memorial service at the Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in L.A., which was live-streamed so fans everywhere could watch along.
Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee, Matt Sorum, Slash, Alice in Chains’ Mike Inez, Anthrax’s Scott Ian, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, Metallica’s Rob Trujillo and Lars Ulrich all made moving tributes to Lemmy during the service. Dave Grohl also made a tearful speech, calling Lemmy his “musical hero.”
“He’s the one true rock and roller that bridged my love of AC/DC and [Black] Sabbath and [Led] Zeppelin with my love of GBH, the Ramones and Black Flag,” the Foo Fighters leader said (via Alternative Nation).
Grohl also recalled the first time he ever met the Motörhead frontman. “So I walked up and said, ‘Excuse me, Lemmy, I don’t want to bother you, but you’ve influenced me so much,” he said. “You’re my musical hero. I’m a musician, I play in the Foo Fighters, and I was in Nirvana.”
Lemmy offered his condolences to Grohl on the loss of Kurt Cobain. “He looked up to me from the video game, and the first thing he ever said to me; he said, ‘I’m sorry about your friend Kurt,’” Grohl continued. “In that moment, [he went from being] the whiskey-drinking, badass mother---in’ rock star to being this gun-slinging, whiskey-drinking, badass motherf---in’ rock star with a heart. And I walked away thinking I may never see him again, but that’s enough for the rest of my life.
"But then we became friends," Grohl said. "It’s one thing when you have a hero, but it’s another thing when your hero becomes your friend.”
Watch Motorhead's Mikkey Dee's Eulogy for Lemmy
Dave Grohl Albums Ranked in Order of Awesomeness