When I was young I was the nicest guy I knew
I thought I was the chosen one
But time went by and I found out a thing or two
My shine wore off as time wore on
I thought that I was living out the perfect life
But in the lonely hours when the truth begins to bite
I thought about the times when I turned my back & stalled
I ain't no nice guy after all
When I was young I was the only game in town
I thought I had it down for sure,
But time went by and I was lost in what I found
The reasons blurred, the way unsure
I thought that I was living life the only way
But as I saw that life was more than day to day
I turned around, I read the writing on the wall
I ain't no nice guy after all
I ain't no nice guy after all
In all the years you spend between your birth and death
You find there's lots of times you should have saved your breath
It comes as quite a shock when that trip leads to fall
I thought I was the chosen one
But time went by and I found out a thing or two
My shine wore off as time wore on
I thought that I was living out the perfect life
But in the lonely hours when the truth begins to bite
I thought about the times when I turned my back & stalled
I ain't no nice guy after all
When I was young I was the only game in town
I thought I had it down for sure,
But time went by and I was lost in what I found
The reasons blurred, the way unsure
I thought that I was living life the only way
But as I saw that life was more than day to day
I turned around, I read the writing on the wall
I ain't no nice guy after all
I ain't no nice guy after all
In all the years you spend between your birth and death
You find there's lots of times you should have saved your breath
It comes as quite a shock when that trip leads to fall
There are a lot of songs about being a “bad guy.” In 1985, Freddy Mercury wrote and recorded “Mr. Bad Guy.” Much more recently, just this past March, Billie Eilish recorded “Bad Guy.” But the song above is from 1992, and I pretty much guarantee you will be shocked at who wrote/performed this song. Are you sitting down? “I Ain’t no Nice Guy”was written by Ian Fraser Kilmister, otherwise known as Lemmy, the lead singer for Motörhead.
To make things even more surreal, he is joined on this song by Ozzy Osbourne and Slash. You see that line-up and you expect something loud and dark, and did I mention loud? There is some nice acoustic guitar work, and even a piano! And harmonies! It does get a bit harsher and Slash’s bit is on electric. But it ends softly and introspectively.
This is honestly a gorgeous song about looking back at your life and realizing that you haven’t been as kind as you could have been. A lot of us go through a realization like this as we get older. This isn’t a song for the very young. This is a song for people of a certainage.
I seem to be writing a lot about songs or groups that aren’t my style of music lately. Bananarama, Miss Krystal, and now Motörhead. I honestly do like all sorts of musical styles. Just not these particular performers. In the general swing of things, I will switch stations if a song by Motörhead comes on. There is a chance that I’ll stick with a song by Ozzy. I actually kind of like his voice, when he was a bit younger, and had some idea of what song he was singing. Turns out that when he was a kid, he took part in school productions of various Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. Ozzy Osbourne in The Mikado. I can almost hear it. Almost.
Motörhead, and by extension, Lemmy, are considered to be among the founders of heavy metal music, although Lemmy disliked heavy metal. He felt that they were a rock-and-roll band, with something in common with the punk music scene. Though he was the band’s bassist, having played the guitar before learning bass, Lemmy was known for playing chords instead of individual notes, as most bass players do. Lemmy was instrumental (pun intended) in starting a new musical genre.
Like Lemmy, there is so much I could write about Ozzy. How Ozzy’s band ended up being called Black Sabbath is like the bit in the movie Spinal Tap when the band members talk about how they got their name. In the case of Black Sabbath, they started out as Rare Breed. That band broke up, with two members reforming into Polka Tulk Blues. I suppose feeling that name was a bit confusing, they renamed themselves Earth. But there was another band named Earth and the band that would become Black Sabbath were mistakenly booked instead of the other band named Earth. So, another name change was in order and, somehow, they came up with Black Sabbath, which was also the name of a movie. My mind has boggled. There is also a Monty Python bit on band names,Toad the Wet Sprocket being one of them.
Slash, if you don’t know, was the lead guitarist forGuns N Roses, where he earned acclaim as one of the greatest guitarists of the last century. When GNR broke up, he worked with the members who weren’t Axl Rose, to start the band Velvet Revolver. (I really disliked GNR. I kind of like Velvet Revolver. Turns out I just really disliked Axl Rose. I was not alone.) Slash also works with a charity called Little Kids Rock, which helps to revitalize music programs in disadvantaged school systems. He even goes into the schools and jams with the kids. Can you imagine the impact that would have on a little kid? Jamming with Slash?
No, I am not going to talk about the alcohol and drug use, or the many, many shocking things that Lemmy and Ozzy have done through the years. But I do think that this song is born out of that behavior. It is a good song, with a message that most of us who are of a certainage can identify with. Give it a listen.
What do you think? Are you a fan of Motörhead, Black Sabbath, GNR, or Velvet Revolver? Let me know in the comments below. I will be posting this, and a few other songs by these artists this week on my Minnich Music FaceBook page, so check them out.
Until next time!
To make things even more surreal, he is joined on this song by Ozzy Osbourne and Slash. You see that line-up and you expect something loud and dark, and did I mention loud? There is some nice acoustic guitar work, and even a piano! And harmonies! It does get a bit harsher and Slash’s bit is on electric. But it ends softly and introspectively.
This is honestly a gorgeous song about looking back at your life and realizing that you haven’t been as kind as you could have been. A lot of us go through a realization like this as we get older. This isn’t a song for the very young. This is a song for people of a certainage.
I seem to be writing a lot about songs or groups that aren’t my style of music lately. Bananarama, Miss Krystal, and now Motörhead. I honestly do like all sorts of musical styles. Just not these particular performers. In the general swing of things, I will switch stations if a song by Motörhead comes on. There is a chance that I’ll stick with a song by Ozzy. I actually kind of like his voice, when he was a bit younger, and had some idea of what song he was singing. Turns out that when he was a kid, he took part in school productions of various Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. Ozzy Osbourne in The Mikado. I can almost hear it. Almost.
Motörhead, and by extension, Lemmy, are considered to be among the founders of heavy metal music, although Lemmy disliked heavy metal. He felt that they were a rock-and-roll band, with something in common with the punk music scene. Though he was the band’s bassist, having played the guitar before learning bass, Lemmy was known for playing chords instead of individual notes, as most bass players do. Lemmy was instrumental (pun intended) in starting a new musical genre.
Like Lemmy, there is so much I could write about Ozzy. How Ozzy’s band ended up being called Black Sabbath is like the bit in the movie Spinal Tap when the band members talk about how they got their name. In the case of Black Sabbath, they started out as Rare Breed. That band broke up, with two members reforming into Polka Tulk Blues. I suppose feeling that name was a bit confusing, they renamed themselves Earth. But there was another band named Earth and the band that would become Black Sabbath were mistakenly booked instead of the other band named Earth. So, another name change was in order and, somehow, they came up with Black Sabbath, which was also the name of a movie. My mind has boggled. There is also a Monty Python bit on band names,Toad the Wet Sprocket being one of them.
Slash, if you don’t know, was the lead guitarist for
No, I am not going to talk about the alcohol and drug use, or the many, many shocking things that Lemmy and Ozzy have done through the years. But I do think that this song is born out of that behavior. It is a good song, with a message that most of us who are of a certainage can identify with. Give it a listen.
What do you think? Are you a fan of Motörhead, Black Sabbath, GNR, or Velvet Revolver? Let me know in the comments below. I will be posting this, and a few other songs by these artists this week on my Minnich Music FaceBook page, so check them out.
Until next time!
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