The Death of Lemmy and The Glorification of Drug Culture

We live in a very contradictory world. The day after Black Friday ('Murica's version of Boxing Day on steroids) we LOL’ed at images of folks scavenging for new HD TV’s and biting, kicking (whatever it took really) to whoever stood in their way. In the same breath we like pictures of our friends’ new cars, just bought Coach purses and everything else under the sun that defines consumerism. Don’t get me wrong, I love me a brand spankin’ new pebble leather Coach purse, I’m just saying we are all walking, talking contradictions that hate on one thing but like (literally) the same thing just disguised in a more civilized and prettier package.

We do not however only practice such behaviour in relation to images on our screen but also to those we worship and consequently then mourn (and somehow look surprised that they died). On that note, I don’t know about you but show me everyday Joe Blow or Plain Jane who struggles with drug addiction and you will show me somebody who has lost the majority of his or her friends and family. Somebody who walks around the party with a scarlet letter attached to their Motorhead shirt that could might as well read, “Serious Drug User. Do not Approach and/or Approach with Caution.” 

Drug users live with a certain stigma that most almost never shake off (even when clean). And understandably so. However none of this applies if you are a successful musician as Lemmy Kilmister was. Your hardcore partying, bad boy, “I do as I please and go as I please” approach to life and love is praised and regarded as a holy doctrine of sorts in the bible of rock n roll. To some he is rock n' roll and to criticize him is to criticize the genre that so many (including myself) love.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hatin’ on good ol’ Lemmy (in fact a part of me wishes I had more of him and less of nagging, responsible me) but I am somewhat shocked at how much we are praising a man who proudly proclaimed to have slept with over 1,000 women, smoked, injected and snorted more than he probably needed all under the disguise of living life to the fullest.Why don't we praise everyday civilians who live like that? God knows many do. Maybe if they played guitar and wore all black they would be, right?

Musicians such as Lemmy often brand drug addiction in such a colorful, cool package that one cannot help but say, "This looks fun, can I has dat?" At what point though does one say enough when such a lifestyle starts deteriorating your health, your mind, our body, and above all, your talent and craft. Lemmy was a gifted musician, no one is denying that but make his life some kind of an example to an impressionable young kid and watch how fast he may end up as an STD ridden addict with no real future. 

Lemmy preached the rock n roll lifestyle till he died but what else was left for him to do? Tell us all that it's all just one giant lie that will leave you sick in the end. Break the hearts of countless aging but once young men who followed his bachelor lifestyle to a tee and are now living at home while some of their friends have wives and children. 

It's a hard thing I assume to be a walking, talking rock n roll God because at the end of the day you are merely a human being that may one day say, "I changed my mind." Personally, I've always believed that though people project a certain image and outlook it does not mean that at one point they wished their life had taken a different turn (even if they wont admit that to their friends, fans or even themselves).

Sometimes we preach a certain lifestyle so loudly and passionately and for so long that even when we want to change it, we feel almost ashamed to abandon the person we claimed to have known it all. Maybe at the end of his life Lemmy regretted his decisions to have been the poster child for drugs, sex and rock n roll. Before you message me with a “No of course he didn’t, silly girl!” please know that you do not know that. I don’t either. How Lemmy felt at the end of his life is something only he knows. Hopefully he died at peace or maybe he wished (just a little bit) he could do it all differently. Again, I don’t know that answer and you don’t either.

Going back to my original point- why do we shun everyday non-famous drug users but praise rich popular ones? They too are living life to the fullest, if you ask them. Is there a difference to them? Sure there is. Only to a fan though. Drug addiction is all about living "life like a video. When the sun is always out and you never get old. And the champagne’s always cold and the music is always good" until you witness somebody close to you become a shadow of who they once were due to them. After that, references to them in your favourite songs don’t seem so catchy anymore and any sort of praise by them by a celebrity is seen as an example of a blabbering drug addict who is trying to convince everyone that the party is still on and nothing is wrong. Even when everything is.