Philip Anselmo: Lemmy Kilmister Warned Me Popularity Is ‘A Fleeting Thing’
When Lemmy Kilmister gives you advice, you listen. That's just what a young Philip Anselmo did while dominating the globe in Pantera. In the midst of what would be a decade-long campaign as metal's torchbearers, Lem warned the singer that the fame would not be permanent as there is an "ebb and flow" to popularity in the music industry.
Recalling the last conversation he had with Kilmister before his death in late 2015, Anselmo told the Fantasm podcast he and Motorhead were sharing a festival bill and that Lemmy had asked to speak with him "and, of course, I went in and talked to The Great One." When the two spoke, Anselmo reminded the Motorhead mainman of a valuable piece of wisdom he had handed down to a then young Pantera frontman.
"He was always, always, always — especially when I was young — he was always the one to tell me that music and your lifetime in music and your popularity and whatever, it's here and gone — it's a fleeting thing and it's also ebb and flow," began Anselmo (transcription via Blabbermouth). "There'll be points in time in your career, if you keep going, where you'll be misunderstood, you'll be not popular, what you do won't be 'in,'" he further recalled.
As the years have passed, Anselmo has witnessed this foretelling advice unfold, adding, "But the bigger picture now, in hindsight, is the fact that music is ebb and flow and the more bands that you're in, the more different-size crowds you'll have, type of crowds you'll have and all that s--t."
Anselmo also mentioned how Lemmy thought what Pantera was doing didn't sound "that different" from Motorhead, which Anselmo attributed to that band's "drums-bass-guitar-vocals format." There's also a parallel to draw between both frontman as they've endured unforgiving pain during their performances. First citing the own physical toll his body has taken, Anselmo then shifted to Lem, stating, "[Lemmy] hated the pain, but loved the stage. And I can relate to that."
Catch Anselmo on the road with Superjoint as they support last year's Caught Up in the Gears of Application. Much like their run earlier this year, the tour will be rounded out by Battlecross and Child Bite and a list of stops can be found at our 2017 Guide to Rock + Metal Tours.
Philip Anselmo on the Fantasm Podcast
See Motorhead + Pantera in the Best Metal Album of Each Year Since 1970
10 Unforgettable Lemmy Kilmister Moments