{"id":6660,"date":"2019-07-09T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2019-07-09T12:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=6660"},"modified":"2019-07-09T09:18:35","modified_gmt":"2019-07-09T09:18:35","slug":"gone-but-not-forgotten-wurzel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=6660","title":{"rendered":"Gone but not forgotten &#8211; W\u00fcrzel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/113249347_137282287537.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6666 size-full aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/113249347_137282287537.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"353\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/113249347_137282287537.jpg 250w, https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/113249347_137282287537-212x300.jpg 212w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a>W\u00fcrzel was born\u00a0Michael Richard Burston\u00a0on 23 October 1949.\u00a0 He joined Mot\u00f6rhead\u00a0in 1984 and played up until 1995,\u00a0playing on eight albums including two live albums. W\u00fcrzel died at the age of 61, following heart complications.<\/p>\n<p>He joined the same time as another unknown guitarist from Wales entered the Motorhead ranks a certain\u00a0Phil Campbell. Lemmy obviously liked them both so offered them the job and the iconic three-piece had now become a four piece making their debut as a band on\u00a0The Young Ones\u00a0on 14 February 1984 Valentines Day.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/co9yv2NjyWs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>After leaving the ranks of Motorhead W\u00fcrzel released a solo EP in 87 as well as some dodgy Jazz-Rock instrumentals.\u00a0 On this day in 2011, Lemmys bass technician reported that W\u00fcrzel had died. The cause of death was CardioMyopathy.\u00a0\u00a0Before passing, W\u00fcrzel was working on new material with his band, &#8216;Leader of Down&#8217;.\u00a0The following day, Lemmy dedicated Mot\u00f6rhead&#8217;s performance at\u00a0Sonisphere Festival\u00a0to his memory.<\/p>\n<p><i>His recording contribution with Motorhead shouldn&#8217;t be underestimated playing on some of the bands best albums\u00a0 they ever did such as &#8211; No Remorse<\/i>\u00a0(Compilation, 1984),\u00a0<i>Orgasmatron<\/i>\u00a0(1986),\u00a0<i>Rock &#8216;n&#8217; Roll<\/i>\u00a0(1987),\u00a0<i>N\u00f6 Sleep at All<\/i>\u00a0(Live album, 1988),\u00a0<i>The Birthday Party<\/i>\u00a0(Live album, 1990),\u00a0<i>1916<\/i>\u00a0(1991),\u00a0<i>March \u00f6r Die<\/i>\u00a0(1992),\u00a0<i>Bastards<\/i>\u00a0(1993),\u00a0<i>Sacrifice<\/i>\u00a0(1995),\u00a0<i>BBC Live &amp; In-Session<\/i>\u00a0(Live album, 2005).<\/p>\n<p>He earned the nickname &#8220;W\u00fcrzel &#8221; as a soldier because of his West Country roots and disheveled appearance, which led his fellow recruits (when he was a soldier prior to joining Motorhead) to compare him with the TV character Worzel Gummidge.\u00a0 Lemmy described him as &#8220;nearly a basket case&#8221; in his 2002 autobiography \u2013 encouraged him to add an umlaut to his name rather than go by his birth name, in line with the spelling of the band&#8217;s name besides putting \u00dc is like the \u00d6 in the band name and way more metal. W\u00fcrzel became the jester and a perfect counterfoil to Lemmy&#8217;s sterner image.\u00a0 Lemmy recalled a time when he lived up to his chaotic jester-like lifestyle when he ran into Bill Wyman at a London venue and almost knocked him out such was his level of excitement. Lemmy recounted,\u00a0 &#8220;W\u00fcrzel ran down there, all excited, and, just as he comes to the bottom, Bill Wyman comes along, and he hits him full-on and lands him flat on his back &#8230; Great start to the evening, you know? &#8216;Hello, Bill, I&#8217;ve always been a fan of yours. Oh sorry, have I knocked you out?&#8217; &#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Despite leaving the band he did remain friends with Lemmy and made several guest appearances at shows up until his untimely death including Guilfest in &#8217;09.\u00a0 Rest in peace\u00a0W\u00fcrzel.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1140\" height=\"855\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mgKO8M2fxDU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>W\u00fcrzel was born\u00a0Michael Richard Burston\u00a0on 23 October 1949.\u00a0 He joined Mot\u00f6rhead\u00a0in 1984 and played up until 1995,\u00a0playing on eight albums including two live albums. W\u00fcrzel died at the age of 61, following heart complications. He joined the same time as another unknown guitarist from Wales entered the Motorhead ranks a certain\u00a0Phil Campbell. Lemmy obviously liked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[1600,1343,2651,2650],"class_list":["post-6660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","tag-lemmy","tag-motorhead","tag-the-young-ones","tag-wurzel","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6660"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6668,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6660\/revisions\/6668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}