Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3639 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In White Line Fever, Lemmy, the thinking person's Ozzy Osbourne, provides a completely unreconstructed, warts and all account of his excessive life--well, the bits he can, or cares to, recall of it anyway. "That was a great time, the summer of 71", he wistfully muses at one point, "I can't remember it, but I'll never forget it!" Leader of Motorhead for close to 30 years, Lemmy has had more drugs, drinks and girls than hot dinners. His mechanism really has gone--in 1980 his blood was officially diagnosed as toxic to other human beings.

Lemmy, born in 1945 and christened Ian Fraser Kilmister, was a vicar's son. His dad, however, didn't stay around long and he was raised, predominantly, by his librarian mother in Wales. A teenager at the birth of rock 'n' roll, Lemmy first took an interest in music after discovering, as he forthrightly puts it, "what an incredible pussy magnet guitars were". After spells in local beat combos he headed off to Manchester and then London. Here he became a roadie for Jimi Hendrix, played in Opal Butterfly, before pretty much ambling into space rockers Hawkwind's line-up during 1971. This was, of course, an era when the group "would get high in the park and talk to the trees--sometimes the trees would win the argument". Sometimes it sounded as if the trees wrote the songs, too. Four years later speedfreak Lemmy was sacked for "doing the wrong drugs".

Vowing to form the "dirtiest rock 'n' roll band in the world", he put together Motorhead, arguably the heaviest (and according to the Guinness Book of Records for about five years, the loudest) heavy metal band ever to grace a stage. Thrilling buzzsaw songs such as Ace of Spades, Bomber, Killed by Death and Hellraiser (as deep as their names suggest) gained them a legion of headbanging fans. And while Lemmy may spend a little too long berating his former record label Sony and griping about recent albums being overlooked, this sex, drugs and metal memoir certainly goes all the way up to 11. --Travis Elborough

Synopsis
The autobiography of the frontman of the loudest rock band in the world. Told with Lemmy's indomitable charisma and humour, this is the autobiography of a rock icon who over the past thirty years in the industry, has stayed true to his music, his fans and his pleasures. Lemmy was born Ian Fraser Kilmister in 1945, the son of a vicar who walked out on his mother when Lemmy was just three months old. Having been inspired to play the guitar by chicks, Little Richard and Buddy Holly, Lemmy formed what would become the ultimate metal group in 1975 and christened them Motorhead. The group went on to embrace a rock-and-roll lifestyle fuelled by drink, drugs and women, and in the process released twenty-one albums and attracted a huge following. WHITE LINE FEVER is a truly headbanging tour through the last few decades of speedmetal, offering a sometimes hilarious, often outrageous, but highly entertaining trip with the frontman of the loudest rock band in the world.

Customer Reviews

Louder than everything else
Lemmy is the kind of rock star that makes you proud to be British. He doesn't take himself too seriously, he just wants to play in a rock and roll band and get laid after the show. In this book (called an autobiography, but it reads like an interview) he recounts his long career in rock, powered by amphetamines and bourbon, and it is a risible ride indeed. Stories of drink-and-drug-induced foolishness abound, along with interesting pen sketches of his fellow band members over the years. I laughed out loud a lot whilst reading this book, you know you're always going to have a good time, all the time, with Motorhead.

It's the life that you're glad somebody led, just to prove that it can be done.

The last rock hero
In a world of pop music mediocrity and shameless promotion, Motörhead retain an honest integrity that belies its rough and ready image. That it should matter twenty-five years on is testament to one man, Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister.

This riveting autobiography reveals more about the man than has previously been proffered and for devotees and novices alike, it is written with enough character and drama to keep you enthralled until the end. As you turn the pages your jaw remains firmly upon your chest as time after time you wonder just how Lemmy survived it all. What is evident is that the world is a far richer place for his contribution. One would perhaps expect little coherence or worldly logic after the years of hard rocking, but whilst single-minded and brash, Lemmy’s been-there-seen-it-done-it philosophy is as refreshing as it is often controversial.

There can be no other rock artist around today who has remained so true to his roots, despite the incredible obstacles that have confronted him. His extraordinary story is brutally frank, capturing the wild innocence of youth, the transient formative years and the belief in an ‘honest’ rock n’ roll lifestyle. With stepping stones such as the Rocking Vicars and Hawkwind, Lemmy permits us to draw our own conclusions about his character with candid praise and scathing criticism of those who have crossed his path.

This is raw, unpretentious rock and roll, with no punches pulled. As Lemmy approaches sixty, you are left with the distinct feeling that he has only just got going!

Truly stunning- Warts and all
I'm not the sort of person who reads a lot. Magazines, yes- but they have pictures. I can never really be bothered to read a proper book though, but when I saw Lemmy's autobiography I instantly thought "must have!" The man is a genius. No no, he is THE genius! I've seen him on stage once and I have to say that there is no man I have ever encountered with more energy and personality thatn him. And his autobiography reflects this. It has everything- practically his entire life story, condensed into 200+ pages of book! From obscure local bands, to Hawkwind and eventually the formation of Motorhead, Lemmy looks back on his last 60 years and recounts everything. From the terribly funny Philthy Animal trying to climb through his own bathroom mirror to the brutal and disturbing murder of Lemmy's flatmate, Kilminster leaves no stone unturned. He talks openly of his speed addiction (which contributed to the band and song name "motorhead") just telling everything like it is. A brilliant mix of comedy and tragedy, at break-neck speed told by the man himself. Everything louder than everything else? In this case, definitely.