Potentially the most ridiculous story in history has emerged involving Motörhead legend Lemmy and his nearly-amputated toes. In a recent interview with Landry. Audio, Anthrax’s Scott Ian has shared the story of how a single cigarette saved Lemmy’s toes from receiving the chop.

The late rock’n’roll legend famously suffered from diabetes. It was concluded by a doctor that due to the poor circulation in his feet brought on by the disease, Lemmy would need to have his toes removed. Read Scott Ian’s recollection of the story below:

“He literally almost lost a couple of toes because when he was in the throes of figuring out the diabetes and all that, a couple of his toes went black from bad circulation and all this.

He goes to have the surgery done and he’s sitting in this office and he’s smoking a cigarette. And someone tells him, ‘You’re not allowed to smoke in here. What are you — crazy? You can’t smoke in this office.’ And he said, ‘Well, if I’m gonna fucking lose a toe, I’m gonna have a fucking cigarette.”

Scott Ian continues: “And long story short, they said, ‘You can’t smoke in here.’ And he said, ‘Well, then I won’t be in here.’ And he left. And he ended up seeing another doctor, and they literally told him, ‘You just need to change this or this in your diet, and your feet are gonna be fine.’ And he changed his diet, and he didn’t have to have his toes cut off. So a cigarette literally saved him from having a part of his body amputated.”

Lemmy passed away in December 28th 2015, he was 70 years old.

Watch: Motörhead – Overkill

YouTube VideoPlay

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine