Late, great Motörhead frontman and bassist Lemmy Kilmister was a history buff for practically his entire life. He was also an avid collector of World War II paraphernalia. Lemmy spoke to New York Waste prior to his death about his collection. “I’ll tell you something about history,” Lemmy said. “From the beginning of time, the bad guys always had the best uniforms. Napoleon, the Confederates, the N*zis. They all had killer uniforms. I mean, the SS uniform is f*cking brilliant! They were the rock stars of that time. What are you gonna do? They just look good. Don’t tell me, I’m a N*zi ’cause I have uniforms. In 1967 I had my first black girlfriend and a lot more ever since then. I just don’t understand racism; I never thought it was an option.”
Recently, Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell came to Lemmy’s defense on Twitter after a Venezuelan fan called him “the best rocker in history” despite his “N*zi tendencies.” Campbell responded: “FYI, Lemmy DID NOT, have any N*zi tendencies. He was a historian.” Lemmy’s bandmate in Headcat, Slim Jim Phantom, chimed in saying: “Phil Campbell is 100% correct & I will vouch for this true statement all day long. Best, SJP.”
FOZZY singer Chris Jericho also commented: “Lem was imo one of the worlds most knowledgeable historians of the N*zi regime & bended my ear multiple times about their strategies & horrible atrocities they committed. He was the coolest history professor I ever had AND 1000% anti N*zi in his thoughts, beliefs & principles!”
Lemmy further explained his hobby. “I don’t only collect N*zi stuff, I collect objects from all the ‘axis countries.’ Also from countries who aren’t even mentioned anymore as former part of the axis. Like Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Hungary. Okay, in the end, they all said, ‘We’re no N*zis’ when they saw that the Germans were losing it. But five years before that, they went, ‘Yeah!'”
“The USA is a great place for collecting that sh*t, ’cause the GIs took everything back to America. They took f*cking warehouses full of uniforms, Mercedes staff cars. One guy shipped a Focke Wulf 190 fighter home in pieces and rebuilt it in America. Now he owns the only f*cking FW 190 in the world. I used to buy a couple of things in Germany, but now you can’t take anymore knives or things back home in a plane. And it’s become more relaxed to buy stuff like that [in Germany]. There’s five or six stores in Hamburg especially. They’re advertising it. What’s the point, anyway? It’s not a nationalistic kind of thing, I mean, what the f*ck you’re gonna do? Pretend it never happened? There’s airplane model kits of Messerschmidt 109 fighters. Shouldn’t you touch them?”
Lemmy died on Dec. 28, 2015, just four days after his 70th birthday and two days after learning he was afflicted with an aggressive form of cancer.
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