A petition is calling for a newly discovered heavy metal element to be named after late Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister, and has suggested the brilliant name “Lemmium”.
The petition, launched today by Change.org user John Wright from York, UK, is calling on The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC, aka the peeps who deal with these sorts of things) to give Lemmy’s name to one of the four new elements, which currently have the pretty boring temporary titles ‘ununtrium (113)’, ‘ununpentium (115)’, ‘ununseptium (117)’ and ‘ununoctium (118)’.
“Heavy rock lost its most iconic figure over Christmas with the sudden and unexpected death of Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilminster,” says Mr Wright, before stating his very scientific case for Lemmium becoming a thing.
“Lemmy was a force of nature and the very essence of heavy metal,” he says. Geddit?
Mr Wright says a star has already been named after Lemmy so that his name meets IUPAC’s naming requirements, which state that new elements “can be named after a mythological concept, a mineral, a place or country, a property or a scientist”. Lemmy was a rock’n’roll scientist, right?
After the four new synthetic elements are given names by the scientists who helped discover them, they’ll be up for public review for five months before being confirmed and added to the periodic table.
Mr Wright’s petition, which has almost 100 signatures at the time of writing, has already seen support from Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, who shared the petition with his Twitter followers by retweeting Mr Wright.
Like McKagan, Music Feeds reckons this is something worth getting behind. To show your support, head over to Mr Wright’s Change.org petition.
Kilmister died over a week ago, aged 70, after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Since his death, Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee has said the band is now “over”.
That said, fans are trying to get the Motörhead classic Ace Of Spades to hit number one on the British Top Ten singles chart.
UPDATE 08/01/16: A new petition is calling for the famous Jack Daniels & Coke to be renamed “a Lemmy”.
Gallery: 13 Photos Of Lemmy At His Most Badass
13 Photos That Show Lemmy Kilmister At His Most Badass
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1. Lemmy Chills With Dimebag Darrell
Nothing warms our hearts more than this photo of The Kilmister in his prime, hanging out with a fellow rock legend at a charity benefit. Bet he’s up there drinking black tooth grins with Dime now. -
2. Lemmy Wears Short-Shorts, Holding A Katana, While Smoking A Cigarette
Your argument is invalid. -
3. Lemmy Launches Official Sex Toy Range
And brings new meaning to the name “Motörhead” -
4. Lemmy Shows Us His Sensitive Side
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5. Lemmy Does Double Denim
Seriously, not even Sean Connery circa Zardoz could pull off this look. -
6. Lemmy Stars In <em>The Loudest Silent Movie On Earth</em>
Proving a badass to the very end, Lemmy is one of the top-billed stars to feature in the upcoming silent film Gutterdämmerung. Speaking in the 2016 flick’s batshit crazy trailer, Lemmy says: “If you don’t like it, you can fuck off”. -
7. Lemmy Hangs With His BFF
Two worlds collided when the Prince Of Darkness met the King of Jack and speed metal some 38 years ago, and the pair have been close mates ever since. Lemmy even co-wrote four songs on Ozzy Osbourne’s 1991 album No More Tears (which may or may not explain how he got this bandaged wrist) -
8. Lemmy Gets In Touch With His Animal Instincts
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9. Lemmy Meets Some Of His Biggest Fans
“Lemmy, you are one of the primary reasons this band exists. We are forever grateful for all of your inspiration” – Metallica. -
10. Lemmy Dresses As The Pope
“God bless you, my child. Even though you’re an asshole.” -
11. Lemmy Is A Bad Influence On The Nicest Guy In Rock
“We recorded his track in Los Angeles in maybe two takes about a year and a half ago. Until then I’d never met what I’d call a real rock ‘n’ roll hero before. Fuck Elvis and Keith Richards, Lemmy’s the king of rock ‘n’ roll – he told me he never considered Motörhead a metal band, he was quite adamant. Lemmy’s a living, breathing, drinking and snorting fucking legend. No one else comes close.” – Dave Grohl -
12. Lemmy Is A ‘Sex Legend’
In a 2005 doco called Motörhead: Live Fast, Die Old, it was claimed that Lemmy had “bedded” in excess of 2,000 women. Lemmy himself later offered some clarification: “I said more than a thousand, the magazine made two thousand of it.” Right then. -
13. Lemmy Continues To Give Zero Fucks
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13. Lemmy Is God
Lemmy’s close friend Eddie Trunk of That Metal Show fame posted the following picture to Twitter after breaking the news of his death, claiming it was sent to him by none other than Rob Halford of Judas Priest
