The current political climate and what people are willing to consider acceptable behavior these days is certainly different from when it was when the undeniably legendary Lemmy Kilmister passed away in 2015. But we’re in 2023 now and while speaking with Metal Pilgrim (transcribed by Blabbermouth), former Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee said some of the crazy shit that happened to the band over the years would have absolutely gotten them “canceled” today. And it would have driven Lemmy bonkers.
“We would be so off the scale. I mean, to play a joke on someone and then to take a joke from someone, that is life; that’s the way it should be. But today you can’t say anything, really, before people freak out over absolutely nothing. And no sense of humor at all.
“So, I’m glad Lemmy doesn’t have to experience this because he would be going fucking crazy. ‘Cause he was a jokester, and with Motörhead we played jokes on each other all the time, and with other people. And we were good sports, and we could take any kind of joke back. So that’s how we were. That’s why a lot of craziness happened in a very funny way. But thinking about some of this shit, I go, ‘Oh my God. If we would do this now, we would be in jail. We would be off this planet. They’d put us on the moon, for sure.’”
Now, it’s important to note that playing pranks on people and being a massive piece of shit are two completely different things. We don’t know all of the jokes and crazy situations Dee’s thinking about, so we can’t exactly know if he’s right there.
When asked to pick a specific crazy moment from his time with the band to share, Dee couldn’t come up with just one. All he does know, he said, is that he’s happy to have spent time with an unfiltered Lemmy.
“Lemmy used to say, ‘We are ‘Spinal Tap’ with no script.’ Because there was shit happening — funny stuff — every single day. But I can’t just take one [incident]; it’s too hard because we had so much fun together, and there was so much craziness happening that today sometimes if I’m lying in bed thinking back on certain tours or whatever, I go, ‘I can’t believe that happened.’ Today it’s almost impossible to think because the world has changed so much with acceptance of everything. One thing I’m glad Lemmy [doesn’t] have to experience is this fucking political correctness that I can’t stand.”