Thin Lizzy

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 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. more...

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." Others have suggested that Van Morrison was a major influence instead of Springsteen. American group Little Feat and Bob Seger also influenced Lizzy..

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 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.

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