Less than a year after his passing, Metallica paid tribute to late, great Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister with the track “Murder One” from their “Hardwired… To Self-Destruct” album. Frontman James Hetfield said at the time to 95.5 KLOS: “It’s a song called ‘Murder One’, which was the name of Lemmy’s amplifier, his favorite amp on stage.”
“And I loved being murdered every night by that thing, man. He was just such an icon, such an inspiration to us as a band. There’s certainly no way we’d be around if there was no Motorhead. And, you know, to see your idol, your immortal one, actually be mortal, it hit us pretty hard. So I felt, lyrically, it makes sense to acknowledge him and how much he’s meant in our lives.”
Hetfield has again paid tribute to Lemmy, this time in tattoo form. The Metallica singer shared via the band’s Instagram his new ink containing the ashes of the late icon. “With the steady hand of friend and tattoo artist @coreymillertattoo, this tattoo,” Hetfield wrote. “A salute to my friend and inspiration Mr. Lemmy Kilmister. Without him, there would be NO Metallica.
“Black ink mixed with a pinch of his cremation ashes that were so graciously given to me. So now, he is still able to fly the bird at the world.”
Hetfield also previously told SiriusXM about Lemmy: “Motorhead had a lot to do with Metallica sitting here right now. But just Lemmy as an entity, as kind of a father figure, he helped us a lot. He was unafraid. And he was a character. And he was himself. And we all respected that so much. He did his own thing to the last breath. No matter who you are, how could you not be inspired by that?”
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