Thin Lizzy

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Thin Lizzy was an Irish Rock band, formed in Dublin in 1969. The band was led by bassist, songwriter and singer Phil Lynott. They are probably best-known for their 1976 song "The Boys Are Back In Town", a major international hit still played on hard rock and classic rock radio.

Critic John Dugan writes that "As the band's creative force, Lynott was a more insightful and intelligent writer than many of his ilk, preferring slice-of-life working-class dramas of love and hate influenced by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and virtually all of the Irish literary tradition."[1] Others have suggested that Van Morrison was a major influence instead of Springsteen. American group Little Feat and Bob Seger also influenced Lizzy.<ref>See Mark Putterford in "Phil Lynott, the Rocker" and Alan Byrne in "Thin Lizzy, Soldiers of Fortune"</ref>.

Their music covered much territory (including hints of country and traditional folk music), but is generally classified as proto-metal or hard rock. While some say the band's name may have been derived from a nickname for the Ford Model T car, the Tin Lizzie, another account insists that the band name came from a Dandy comic [2] character (a robot, who may very well have taken her name from the Model T) called "Tin Lizzie". The band changed the spelling of "Lizzie" to Lizzy" and "Tin" to "Thin" as both words were pronounced the same in the Irish dialect.

Like most other groups, Thin Lizzy borrowed many of their techniques from other musicians; however, Thin Lizzy is now widely recognized as one of the first hard rock bands to employ double lead guitar harmony - a technique later refined and popularized, especially by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal; groups such as Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Examples include "The Boys Are Back in Town" and "Cowboy Song" from Jailbreak. Brian Robertson's unconventional use of the wah-pedal as an extension of the instrument during soloing rather than as a purely rhymic effect, as described in the Total Accuracy video "Still in Love with the Blues" (featuring Brian Robertson & Stuart Bull), is also generally regarded as a pioneering, perhaps unique use of the effect.

1 History
2 Personnel
3 Discography
4 Notes
5 External links

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History

Lynott was the only original member not born in Ireland, and remains one of the few black men to achieve significant success in hard rock. Their first taste of success was the 1973 hit single, "Whiskey in the Jar", a version of a traditional Irish song (Metallica scored a major hit with their 1998 cover version, featured on their album, Garage Inc.).

Fighting (1975) was their first album success, but the next album, Jailbreak, was a smash hit thanks to the single "The Boys Are Back in Town", now their most remembered hit.

During the late 1970s and early 80s, Thin Lizzy played to a rabid fanbase but was unable to break into mainstream markets. Unlike most established rock musicians, Lynott was a vocal supporter of early punk rock; this endeared him to some punk musicians and fans, but many more punks rejected Thin Lizzy as a useless relic.

Their live shows at this time were no-nonsense, no special effects affairs relying purely on the music and Lynott's rapport with the fans. Encores would feature Lynott seemingly ignoring repeated requests from the crowd for The Rocker. Eventually, he would say "This is what I want to play.... a song called The Rocker......." and the band would launch into the crowd favourite. Their critically acclaimed live album Live and Dangerous has been called one of the best examples in the genre of concert recordings, having been voted the best live rock album of all time by readers of Classic Rock magazine, as reported by the BBC.

One notable highlight for the band in their latter days was headlining the first ever Slane Castle concert in 1981 - and like all Irish dates, the final, final encore was a crowd pleasing "Whiskey In the Jar". The supporting lineup that day included Kirsty McColl, Hazel O'Connor and U2.

After the band broke up in the mid-80s, Lynott continued his solo career, which he had begun while still with the group with the album Solo in Soho, yielding hits in "Dear Miss Lonelyhearts", "King's Call" (featuring Mark Knopfler on guitar), and "Yellow Pearl" (used in the early 80s as the theme tune for the BBC programme Top of the Pops). He also recorded a rock'n'roll medley single in 1983, "We Are The Boys (Who Make All The Noise)" with Roy Wood, Chas Hodges and John Coghlan. He died in January 1986, a victim of drug abuse. The band reunited without him in 1999 for a European tour and live album. Having toured with Deep Purple in the USA in 2004, Thin Lizzy are currently, as of 2006, touring the UK.

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Personnel

Over the years, the membership of the band went through many changes, but the constant members were Lynott on bass and vocals and Brian Downey on drums. The list of guitarists who played with the band includes:

Eric Bell (1970-73)
Gary Moore (1974, 1978-79)
Brian Robertson (1974-78)
Scott Gorham (1974-83,2004-2006)
Snowy White (1980-82)
John Sykes (1982-83,2004-2006)

Guitarists who played with the band on a temporary basis include:

John Cann (1974)
Andy Gee (1974)
Midge Ure (1979)
Dave Flett (1979)

Mark Nauseef stood in for Downey on drums during a tour of Australia in 1978.
Eric Wrixon played keyboards with Thin Lizzy during their first few weeks together in 1970. In later years Darren Wharton joined the band on keyboards (1980-83).

Bassists

Phil Lynott
Marco Mendoza (2005-2006)

Drummers

Lead Vocalist

Phil Lynott
John Sykes (2004-2006)

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Discography

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Thin Lizzy Singles

Their chart peak positions are shown for the following singles in the following territories. Blank spaces indicate either that the single was not released in that territory, or that there is no information available regarding its chart position. Many of these singles were released in other countries, but chart information is not yet available.

Key to chart headings: UK (United Kingdom), US (United States), IRL (Ireland), GER (Germany).

Single	UK	US	IRE	GER
"The Farmer" (1970)			-
"Whisky In The Jar" (1972-73)	6		1	7
"Randolph's Tango" (1973)	-		14
"The Rocker" (1973)	-		11
"The Boys Are Back In Town" (1976)	8	12	1
"Jailbreak" (1976)	31
"Cowboy Song" (1976)		77
"Don't Believe A Word" (1976)	12		2
"Dancin' In The Moonlight" (1977)	14		4
"Rosalie / Cowgirls' Song" (1978)	20		14
"Waiting For An Alibi" (1979)	9		6
"Do Anything You Want To" (1979)	14	81	25
"Sarah" (1979)	24		26
"Chinatown" (1980)	21		12
"Killer On The Loose" (1980)	10		5
"Killers Live E.P." (1981)	19		11
"Trouble Boys" (1981)	53		30
"Hollywood" (1982)	53
"Cold Sweat" (1983)	27		23
"Thunder And Lightning" (1983)	39		22
"The Sun Goes Down" (1983)	52
"Dedication" (1991)	35		2