On October 27th, MOTÖRHEAD frontman Lemmy Kilmister was among the artists who helped the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame And Museum and Case Western Reserve University pay homage to CHUCK BERRY at his American Music Masters tribute concert. Rock Hall spoke with Lemmy on the evening; an excerpt from the interview is available below:

RH: Do you remember the first time you heard Chuck Berry's music?

Lemmy: "It was on a jukebox where I lived in North Wales, which is pretty desolate, so we didn't get stuff like London did – there were no TV shows then with rock and roll on them, and there was no way to hear because the radio didn't play it. You had to tune into Radio Luxembourg, which was in Luxembourg, in Europe, so that was very dodgy with the reception. You'd often find that a song would come on and you didn't find out who played it until three weeks later – the fucking tuner would fade out. So, I first heard Berry on the jukebox, in the local cafe that we used to go to – I think it was 'Sweet Little Sixteen', I'm not sure. Would've been 13-14."

RH: Berry had a way with words, a sense of humor, a certain economy of language…

Lemmy: "Berry always had humor even though he was going through shit in his life. That was about the same time he went to jail for that bullshit charge involving a minor, which you wouldn't have ever heard about if it were a white man. He always gave you all the details, even in the car songs, which were kind of state of the art – he'd give you all the makes of the cars, the things he was having done to them to make them fine. In just a few words, he'd lay it all out, and that was his great skill. He was the first one."

RH: In Lemmy's guide to the galaxy, what does the entry for Chuck Berry read like?

Lemmy: "Chuck Berry was a seminal figure in rock and roll, still playing at the age of 86. And a great lyricist and poet. And a great fighter for his rights."

RH: And where would rock and roll be without him?

Lemmy: "Nowhere. It took a lot of people to make rock and roll, but he was one of the cornerstones."

Go to this location for the complete interview.