Remember When: Lemmy Confessed to Nerdiness in the Movie “Airheads”

The premise for the 1994 comedy Airheads wouldn’t fly the same way today, but it was fun back then. Three L.A. metalheads—played by Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, and Adam Sandler—get tired of the constant rejection of their band The Lone Rangers. They go down to radio station KPPX (“Rebel Radio”) and demand airplay while wielding realistic-looking water guns. After the police are called they wind up holding the DJ (Joe Mantegna) and staff (including Michael McKean) hostage. The trio draw a large group of police and a big crowd of supportive fans, and through a twist of fate they get a real gun and the situation gets worse. C’mon, man, they just want a record deal!

Confessions of a Nerdy Mind

In one key moment, Fraser’s character Chazz is being denied the chance to reunite with his ex-girlfriend Kayla (Amy Locane), who’s being held back by police. Unsure of how the standoff will end, he confesses to her in front of a throng of people that his real name is Chester. He was a total geek in high school—he had really short hair, played Dungeons & Dragons, had a bug collection, and ate his boogers.

At first, Kayla looks unsure of how to react, then one fan yells out: “I use to play D&D too!” Then another man, Lemmy Kilmister from Motörhead, declares, “I was editor of the school magazine!” More confessions of awkward nerddom follow from the throng. The infamous frontman’s cameo was an unexpected delight.

Lemmy was also referenced in the scene right before where Harold Ramis shows up playing a major label A&R rep who wants to sign The Lone Rangers. When he tries negotiating his way into the station, he is asked who would win in a wrestling match, Lemmy or God. He waffles between both and is corrected: “Wrong, d–khead, trick question. Lemmy IS God.”

Long Live Lemmy

Even 30 years ago, Lemmy’s legacy was being secured. Metallica were big fans and had sung his praises. The year after Airheads came out, they were the opening act at his 50th birthday bash—they performed as The Lemmys. In 1991, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne hired Lemmy to write lyrics for four songs on the No More Tears album. In 1992, Motörhead secured the first of four Grammy Award nominations—the 1916 album won for Best Metal Performance—and they won in that same category in 2004 for their cover of Metallica’s “Whiplash.” (Weirdly, they also were nominated in 2000 for their cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”)

By 1994, Lemmy was no stranger to film and TV. He and the band had appeared on numerous music shows, and he was interviewed in Penelope Spheeris’ 1988 documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years. Motörhead appeared on the British rock-comedy The Young Ones. Meanwhile, Lemmy also cameoed in the sci-fi film Hardware and played an assassin called Spider in the black comedy Eat the Rich (for which Motörhead contributed the title song and offered the use of five others).

Lemmy confessing to a nerdy secret in Airheads, albeit a fictional one, was hilarious. In real life, he was considered by many to be the ultimate rock ‘n’ roller. But truth be told, he also enjoyed playing video poker, liked The Lord of the Rings, and was a big World War II history buff who collected Nazi paraphernalia, which was understandably unsettling to many. He was also smarter than many people gave him credit for. Who knows, maybe he did edit the school magazine!

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