Phil Lynott: The Rocker
Phil Lynott hammed it up somewhat, with his introductory choice of words to Got To Give It Up (and side two of this playlist) a perfect example of him playing leader-of-the-pack to a rowdy rocker crowd. As Lizzy gigs got under full swing, he would spray audiences with fake ‘bullets’ from his Fender Precision Bass with the signature cheeky Lynott rocker grin, and didn’t the audience just adore him for it.
Musically, as with ‘Lizzy Chills’ on the softer side he could turn his hands and his voice to all manner of rock stylings. He could do a cracking faux Elvis (closing lines of Do Anything You Want To), homage to Hendrix (The Warrior) and towards the latter Lizzy days, a good old fashioned metal growl (try the album Thunder & Lightening).
Another even more famous Irish frontman Bono, described Lynott thus to the UK Daily Telegraph:
“He was an amazing frontman…if lyrical and musical ability has to be matched with showmanship, attitude, style, if that’s your version of rock’n’roll, there’s no way past Phil Lynott. He’s at the top of the tree.”
Still, very occasionally, lyrically, he could be daft as a brush (and somewhat primitive when compared with the Lizzy Chills more sensitive side). In Jailbreak for example: “Tonight there’s gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in the town” (er, the local prison possibly Phil?). It’s doubtful we’ll hear Killer On The Loose ever again on radio, and Chinatown only rarely. Both remain somewhat unreconstructed, although I could not leave Chinatown out of the mix here because it’s reedy guitar riff is one of the best in the Lizzy catalogue. Both songs were modest radio/chart hits of their time. Of course, Lizzy’s biggest ever hit, The Boys Are Back In Town, is essentially a predictably macho bad boy theme tune of the most cliched kind.
Sadly, Lynott walked the talk when it came to the rocker lifestyle of booze, drugs and bad health — something that quickly and tragically caught up with him.
There was more to Lizzy than Lynott, of course. The muscular drumming of Brian Downey and of course, that signature twin guitar attack — with various pairings across the years. Without question though, Lynott was the leader — and a generous mentor, inviting guitar players of varying styles into the band (Snowy White, Gary Moore, even Midge Ure at one point, alongside the classic rock & metal talents of Brian Robertson, Scott Gorham and John Sykes) to do their career-best work.
It’s easy to think of Lizzy’s brand of melodic rock as unfashionable (it was never cool even at the peak of the band’s popularity) but nonetheless, Thin Lizzy was and still remains a highly influential rock band. Look at the twin guitars of Sheer Mag for example — the Lizzy twin guitar formula to a tee.
After Lynott’s death in 1986, various incarnations of the band emerged over the years based around a core of the guitarists Scott Gorham and John Sykes (though Sykes left the band in 2009). Gorham later continued with a new line-up including Downey.
Fender re-issued a new line of the Phil Lynott precision bass earlier this year.
For more see https://www.songsommelier.com/
