Lemmy and Pavel

Since I last wrote, the world has learned of the passing of Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister and Pavel Srnicek. I'm not going to claim I was a huge fan of Motorhead*, but you didn't need to be to acknowledge the influence they had on rock music and a huge number of artists. If the claim on his Wikipedia page that he drank a bottle of Jack Daniels a day between the ages of 30-68 is true, it's remarkable he lived to be three score and ten. But what a life.

I remember Srnicek from when I used to watch football constantly as a child (not much has changed). Not only was he a fine servant for Newcastle United but also a gentleman admired and respected across the game.

There's very little these two men appear to have in common, save for the brutal, swift nature of their demise. Lemmy passed away two days after learning he had an aggressive form of cancer, having played a headline show in Berlin less than three weeks ago (Motorhead were also due to play the Hammersmith Apollo next month). Srnicek suffered a cardiac arrest while out running on the 20th December, after promoting his autobiography in Newcastle earlier in the month. He was 47 years old.

Basically, we've lost two men who weren't yet finished with life. Cruel, horrible, unjust life. And we're supposed to have a happy new year.


*Although I have a lot of time for the phrenetic joy of Ace Of Spades

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