When everything was ready for Thin Lizzy to conquer the United States, everything was spoiled by a series of incidents that made the fans of the band lose their confidence in them. What happened?
The Thin Lizzy story began in 1970. Two friends who had been playing together since school, singer/bassist Phil Lynott and drummer Brian Downey, were performing in a Dublin pub when a red-haired guitarist named Eric Bell approached them to propose the formation. of a band The new trio was baptized by Bell with a play on words in reference to a comic called Tin Lizzie, which talked about a robot woman; Although the other two found the name horrible, it stayed that way. A journey of thirteen intense years and twelve studio albums began during which Thin Lizzy would undergo countless changes —only the two old childhood colleagues, Lynott and Downey, would be there from start to finish—, is one of the groups with life most convulsive in the entire history of rock. And without exaggeration: from a certain moment, there was practically no album tour in which they did not lose a member for one reason or another.
Thin Lizzy’s big moment in the US came in 1976 when “The Boys are Back in Town” – one of the tracks on the “Jailbreak” LP – spent 17 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 12. Magnificent opportunity, when they also had followers of the stature of Bruce Springsteen.
But their US tour was cut short when Lynott contracted hepatitis, and a subsequent return visit was canceled when Robertson broke his hand in a bar fight. In 1978, the band switched guitarists from Gary Moore to Midge Ure while touring the United States.
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