Las Vegas Mixtape v57: Metal-Punk Forever, Charcoal Room, and Sally Steele’s 8th Vegas Rocks! Magazine Awards

Track #1 (of 5): Motörhead Exhibit @The Punk Rock Museum

Cozy up here to the enduring legacy of Motörhead, who brought loud-and-fast metal-punk to dizzying heights. (Image: Vegas 411)

Tonight House of Magic 5:00 PM · Silver Sevens Get tickets

Hats off to The Punk Rock Museum, one of the crown jewels of Vegas that was founded by Fat Mike of punk legends NOFX. The two-level venue opened in 2023 to celebrate the long-running musical movement that gleefully stomped on the musical establishment in the mid-‘70s and has been going strong ever since. 

After wolfing down a deservedly hotly tipped “Stay Tuned” smash burger at the nearby Hard Hat Lounge, I headed to the museum for the packed opening of the Motörhead exhibit honoring the pioneering and notoriously loud metal-punk band headed by Lemmy Kilmister who died in 2015. On hand: Fat Mike, David Ellefson, Eddie Trunk, Stoney Curtis, Brian Slagel, Rob Ruckus, Lonn Friend, Steffan Chirazi, and David Plastik, whose photos are among those displayed. 

You can’t miss this display of the custom-made motorcycle with airbrush artwork that was presented to Lemmy Kilmister in 2011.  (Image: Vegas 411)

The centerpiece of the artifact-rich exhibit is Lemmy’s original Rickenbacker bass that visitors are encouraged to play through the Marshall amp stack he used. At the opening, master bassist David Ellefson (Megadeth’s original bassist who now plays with Metal Church) stepped up to the plate, laying down some thunderous notes on Lemmy’s instrument—it was a “wow” moment to witness. The exhibit runs through February 1.