Alice Cooper’s Hollywood Vampires Give Lemmy a Raucous Grammy Send Off
The Alice Cooper-fronted Hollywood Vampires offered an appropriately raucous tribute to the late Lemmy Kilmister tonight (Feb. 15) during the Grammys.
The performance began with a new original song titled "As Bad As I Am," then moved into the title track from Motorhead's 1980 album Ace of Spades – but only after a lingering glimpse of Kilmister's amp set up. The Hollywood Vampires also include actor Johnny Depp, Guns N' Roses' Duff McKagan and Aerosmith’s Joe Perry.
They were introduced by Dave Grohl, who offered his own personal salute to Kilmister too. "Many of us play rock and roll but few among us are rock and roll," Grohl said. "He was Motorhead; he was a legend – and I was proud to call him my friend. I have an Ace of Spades tattoo, but the truth is Lemmy and Motorhead left their mark on me a long time ago."
Lemmy died on Dec. 28 after a short battle with cancer. Grohl made mention of former Motorhead drummer Phil "Philthy" Taylor, who passed away last year, as well. "As Bad As I Am" was released Friday (Feb. 12) via a deluxe edition of the Hollywood Vampires' self-titled debut recording.
The album included covers of songs originally done by Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and Jim Morrison, among others. "We started this band as a means to toast our 'dead drunk friends' at the Rainbow – all the ghosts in the bar – and now I guess Lemmy is involved in that, too," Cooper said before the broadcast.
Perry later returned for Pitbull's broadcast finale song "Bad Man," which also featured Robin Thicke and Travis Barker. The Hollywood Vampires are rounded out by Guns N' Roses vet Matt Sorum, Tommy Henriksen and Bruce Witkin.
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