Anthrax’s Scott Ian Tried to Drink With Lemmy and Paid the Price
For many rock fans, getting the chance to walk into a bar and try to keep up with Lemmy in his prime would be a little like a sports fanatic being invited to play basketball with Michael Jordan: You know you'll almost definitely end up hurting in some way, but it's hard to say no. Just ask Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian, who shares the story of the night he tried to go shot-for-shot with the Motorhead frontman in his new DVD, 'Scott Ian: Swearing Words in Glasgow.'
As Ian explains in the above clip, he was only 21 at the time, and really had no way of knowing what he was in for. "We walk into this bar and the first person I see sitting at the bar is my f---ing hero," he recalled. "I f---ing lose my mind. I'm 21, the band hadn't done anything yet and the guy that I think is the coolest motherf---er on the planet earth is sitting in this bar and having a drink and a smoke."
Youthful bravado was enough to get Ian up to the bar, but it couldn't disguise his inexperience with Lemmy's beverage of choice -- particularly after they'd shared four shots of whiskey. "I didn't think this through, I'd never drank a whiskey in my life," Ian said. "I get the drink and I can smell it and it's turning my stomach. I'm like, 'You are gonna drink this like a f---ing man. Man up, motherf---er.' Next thing you know ..."
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