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Despite being eligible for Cleveland, Ohio’s hallowed Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame since 1996, induction has eluded the greatest Irish band of all time.
Thin Lizzy released its debut album in 1971 and remains one of the most eclectic and boundary-pushing rock acts of their generation. While the band was nominated in 2020, they have sat and watched in the intervening years as far inferior acts, such as Foreigner and Bad Company, are enshrined without them. They have even ceased to be mentioned on listicles of long-time snubbees who should get their due. This neglects to include the countless non-rock acts (great in their own right) that have been welcomed into the hall since Thin Lizzy’s eligibility began.
In 1969, bassist, songwriter, and brashly charismatic frontman Phil Lynott formed Thin Lizzy with longtime friend and drummer Brian Downey and guitarist Eric Bell on the streets and in the rowdy pubs of Dublin, Ireland. From their eponymous debut and throughout their first few releases, Thin Lizzy crafted an inventive blend of the psych-tinged blues revivalist sensibilities pioneered by Cream and the Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac, combined with their own Irish folk influences and bittersweet balladry, to create a layered sound that was uniquely theirs.
Lynott also began to develop his talent for evocative and narrative lyrics. As Beloit College visiting instructor of English and longtime Thin Lizzy fan John Porcellino says, “Phil Lynott was really unique, I think he was just a great storyteller.” Lynott would weave dingy working-class fables colored with alcoholism, violence, lost loves, and drug abuse, becoming hard rock and metal’s Irish answer to the supremely crafted stories of Gordon Lightfoot and Bruce Springsteen. These elements, juxtaposed with Lynott’s creative inflections and unique, soulful vocals, helped Thin Lizzy stand out as a rock ‘n’ roll oddity.
Twin lead guitarists Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham joined the fold for the band’s fourth studio album, 1974’s “Nightlife.” And with 1975’s breakout LP “Fighting,” the band fully grew into a pumped-up and energetic hard rock sound typified by flashy leads and spellbinding solos from the aforementioned axemen.
Their commercial peak came early the next year, after the band dropped what would be their defining album, for better or worse, in the form of a rollicking arena-ready set that remained true to their Irish roots. “Jailbreak” peaked in the top 20 on Billboard’s album chart in the United States and at number five in Canada. John Porcelino describes picking up a $5 compact disc version of the album at Walmart and recalls, “From the first listen, it blew my mind [how] consistently excellent it was. So that’s when I was like: ‘I have to check this [band] out’.”
Its blockbuster singles included the title track and the anthemic “The Boys Are Back in Town,” the latter of which hit number 12 on the Billboard charts. These songs have formed much of Thin Lizzy’s legacy stateside, becoming staples on classic rock radio, and have been viewed by the American public at large as their only notable works.
An optimistic fan might hope that the era of streaming and a decreased dependence on chart position and airplay for mass exposure might lead American audiences to take a listen to their nearly flawless run of albums throughout the seventies. But alas, fan voters and committee voters alike seem to continually turn a deaf ear to these rock masterpieces as the years pass, from the snarling and heavy “Bad Reputation,” to the sentimental yet equally heavy moodpiece laden with character-based vignettes that is “Johnny the Fox.” Scattered throughout these releases is guitarist Garry Moore, who would become a key weapon in Thin Lizzy’s formidable live sound.
This is not to mention the coda to their classic period, “Black Rose: A Rock Legend,” an album that features Thin Lizzy’s hard rock concoction at its best, oscillating between catchy pop rock anthems and metal with honey-coated ballads and sprawling prog-rock tableaus based on Irish folklore thrown in for good measure. As Porcelino puts it, “I love all of them, even the metal ones. That’s what I tell people, even their metal ones are good.”
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As the eighties dawned, the band pivoted to a heavy metal direction, and had they been able to resist the tides of the future for a little longer, they may have been able to enjoy a less truncated metal-based resurgence brought on by heavy hitmakers like Quiet Riot and Def Leppard. Instead, they called it quits after the release of “Thunder and Lightning” in 1983. Lynott pursued a solo career for a short while before his untimely death in 1986 as a result of a heroin overdose. He was just thirty-six years old. Tragically, Lynott is rarely spoken of in the same larger-than-life pantheon of rock martyrdom in which members of the infamous “twenty-seven club” reside.
For some reason, Thin Lizzy never received nearly the same amount of critical raves as Lynott’s songwriting peers; in fact, they drew the ire of rock critics at the time. It appears they have never been granted the reappraisal that bands like Queen (whom critics similarly hated in the seventies and toured with Thin Lizzy in 1977) have been afforded.
At this point, there is really only one conclusion to be drawn, and it is unfortunately the cynical one. These 40 music writers, academics, industry professionals, and inductees that make up the voting body, according to the Hall’s website, have not softened on an act that is beloved around the world, and that modern metal innovators like Mastodon credit as major influences.
The only real criterion for induction besides the fact that the band or artist must have released music at least 25 years ago is the whim of the voters. Unlike the voting bodies for pro sports halls of fame, there is no way to hold the voters accountable for bias or glaring error. That is how we end up in a world where Thin Lizzy is not in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.
Porcelino also posits that blindness to international talents might be another reason for such blatant snubbery on the part of the voters, saying, “In America, they’re known as one or two hit wonders. Everywhere else in the world, they’re beloved.” He adds, “I think you couldn’t really pigeon-hole them.” Thin Lizzy more than showed this with the eclectic palette of different styles they presented on each release and with how they seamlessly moved through distinct subgenres.
Until the mainstream music consensus catches up to Lynott and Thin Lizzy’s brilliance, those in the know will be satisfied with celebrating a band that is beyond casual labels.
Featured image from guitarworld.com
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