It sounds macabre, but it's a status symbol: Lemmy made it to the Forest Lawn cemetery in L.A. - one of the top addresses for life after death. There he is now in good company: Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Stewart, Spencer Tracy, Nat King Cole and, well, Michael Jackson. Whereby his death, which was based on aggressive cancer in the brain and neck, provided for an unbelievable sympathy. Even the Rainbow, his favourite pub, closed the tap - on a Saturday evening!
But the health of the Rockunikum had not been in good shape for a long time: Lemmy was diabetic and suffered from arrhythmia. Since 2013 he had also rapidly lost weight, had to cancel several concerts, spoke with a soft, broken voice, seemed simply old - and felt the same way. "It is a terrible experience when your body no longer does what you are used to from it," he explained shortly before his 70th birthday. And continues: "I am now as old as rock'n'roll itself. It means I'm running out of hair. There's nothing you can do about it."
Still, a guy's tree never thought about quitting. Maybe because his band, but also the people behind the scenes have driven him again and again, but maybe also because he never would have had the idea to step down. "That's my job. My calling. My life. I don't know what else to do!" Words that speak volumes and are quite understandable in view of the successes he has had since the noughties. Exactly: Why stop when you have a first number 1 in the German album charts with "Bad Magic"? For Lemmy this was the confirmation that he had done everything right and that his approach of playing rock'n'roll like living paid off, but...