Europe singer Joey Tempest discussed Kurt Cobain and Lemmy insulting him in a new Louder Sound interview.
“I’m told that he wrote ‘Who the fuck is Joey Tempest?’ on a wall at Oakwood Apartments when we stayed in LA recording the ‘Prisoners in Paradise’ album in late 1989.
“If it’s true, it’s kinda flattering. And very funny that he would take one second to even think of me.”
He added about Lemmy, “A couple of us from the band met him [Lemmy] at his second home, the Rainbow [Bar & Grill on Sunset Strip in LA].
“He was playing the pinball machine, as ever. Somebody said, ‘Hi, we’re from the rock band Europe.’ Lemmy didn’t even look up. He just replied, ‘Europe’s not a rock band.’
“Such a cool reply. We were absolutely stunned. But we laughed about it and got on fine. A few weeks later we got our own back when Kerrang famously reviewed one of our gigs and said that we were ‘louder than Motorhead.'”
He said about Metallica, “I met James [Hetfield, vocals/guitar] while Metallica were doing their [1991’s] ‘Black Album.’ I told him we were working on an album of our own; we were just about to add some ‘big-ass background vocals.’
“He looked at me confused. ‘Background vocals?’ Metallica don’t even use those. So I gave up and we spoke about something else.”
