The album was another commercial failure, and the ensuing frustration and disillusionment with the music industry would cause Bell to leave the band in January of 1974 under the grounds of exhaustion to stay home in Ireland. In spite of "Whiskey"'s success, the band disowned the song and chose not to include it on their September 1973 release Vagabonds of the Western World, an album in which the band clearly tried to distance themselves from the traditional, acoustic guitar riff driven Irish folk-rock by making their stance as a flashy and heavy rock outfit. in February of 1973, ultimately becoming their highest charting single in the U.K., as well as hitting #1 in Ireland. The single became a surprise hit however, peaking at #6 in the U.K. The band was verbally upset by Decca's decision, feeling that the song did not well-represent their sound or their image. Around this time, Decca decided to release the band's recording of traditional Irish folk song " Whiskey in the Jar" as a single without consulting the band. Things would turn around towards the end of 1972, as the band embarked on a tour of the U.K. In any case the band would continue to struggle as they filled their contractual obligation to Decca, releasing their debut Thin Lizzy in April of 1971, and Tales from a Blue Orphanage in March of 1972. The reasons as to why the band was not so received in London are mostly speculative, but I would reasonably guess the obvious - London is much less of a rowdy, spilling drunkard fighter's town than Dublin, and was less prepared to receive the level of heaviness Thin Lizzy was putting on the table.
The band relocated to London to play gigs in 1971, but their live debut at the Speakeasy Club was underwhelming and unsuccessful. Decca Records sent an A&R agent from England to investigate, who then signed Thin Lizzy to the label in November of 1970. Though the year of 1970 the band garnered a reputation as a strong live act in North Ireland (not to be confused with Northern Ireland). Some posters of the band's early gigs in the beginning of the 1970s would mispromote the band as "Tin Lizzy" or "Tin Lizzie." The band found the wordplay amusing, and the name stuck. The name "Tin Lizzie," the band's etymologically correct pronunciation, was mockingly modified to "Thin Lizzy" to account for the Irish habit of dropping the h in such words. The name of the band was first suggested by Bell, who took the name from a robot character out of a U.K. The original lineup also featured organist Eric Wrixon, who reportedly did not fit in well with the sound of the band at all, and by February of 1970 Thin Lizzy had dissolved into a trio. They quickly recruited Eric Bell as the band's original lead guitarist, who had made a name for himself in a brief stint with Van Morrison's band Them.
For having been one of the greatest guitar bands of all time, it is perhaps ironic or perhaps quite appropriate that the core of the band and the only two consistent members throughout the band's history would be the two men who made the rhythm section. So let's start from the beginning, with a black Irishman named Phil Lynott.īorn in 1951 in Dublin, Ireland to parents of Irish and Brazilian descent, vocalist bassist and songwriter Philip Parris Lynott founded Thin Lizzy in 1969 with his childhood and lifelong friend, drummer Brian Downey. While none of the facts in the existing writeup are wrong, the quantity of information here on one of the most unique, unexpected, and successful classic rock influences of all time seems quite anemic.
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