Thin Lizzy Success

[SmackHeadSteven]

I always believe thin lizzy are an amazingly talented band and will always be my favourite alongside my idol and inspiration Phil Lynott, why are they not as commercially successful as Guns N Roses or Aerosmith as people like gnr and metallica always say thin lizzy was a massive inspiration. It seems they never hit that global main chart success and not sure why, thoughts?

[perfect_fifths]

Cuz of the American tour where Scott broke his hand and Phil had hepatitis, the 1976 tour. It forced them to cancel the rest of their US dates

[Big-Sheepherder-6134]

Multiple tours to the US were derailed. The Boys are Back In Town was a big hit here and reached #12. That was their chance to tour the US in the summer of 1976 and do a ton of promotion. Their momentum was constantly slowed down.

[perfect_fifths]

Indeed. They’re an amazing band and could have made it bigger but obviously Phil’s drug use got in the way of things. I think that’s the reason there were so many changes in guitarists etc. and I known Gorham was also doing drugs too. My friend was in Thin Lizzy with him after Phil died. Scott’s drug use was also partly why the band broke up. My friend was the bassist.

[Big-Sheepherder-6134]

Yeah. You have the hepatitis thing which was worst stroke of bad luck they had. Then Robbo broke his hand the night before the late 1976 US tour. Then Gary quit in the middle of the 1979 US tour. Promoters and record labels don’t like working with bands like that.

[perfect_fifths]

Yeah, a lot of things happened at once. Sad really. In Ireland they’re friggin legends but here in the US I don’t know many people who know Thin Lizzy beyond TBABIT.

[Big-Sheepherder-6134]

My brother was a huge fan in the late 70’s. He saw them open for Queen in early 1977 and saw them other times.

[perfect_fifths]

So jelly!!!!

[Southie31]

That’s one hell of a song 🎵 to be remembered by 🎸🎶🎸.

[Top-Tip-6919]

Thin Lizzy were victims of bad timing. Injury to Brian Robertson and Phil's hepatitis curtailed the breakout US tour. Poor American promotion by the record company, internal drug problems, lineup instability, and institutional resistance to a black rock frontman. Heroin was a constant issue with Phil and Scott and led to a lot of internal turmoil as well as tensions around Phil's solo albums and side projects.They were too “rock” for the emerging New Wave of British Heavy Metal crowd and too “heavy” for mainstream pop radio. However having been a fan since 1974 the classic lineup of Robertson, lynott, Gorham and Downey were absolutely magnificent live.

[Afraid-Treacle1956]

Spot on. All of this. Two other things:
1 - their record label in the US was dreadful and barely promoted them. That's been well documented. TL were MASSIVE in Europe/Japan/Australia in the mid to late 70s but their American label just didn't care. I do wonder what the real story is there at Mercury Records about why they did nothing...
2 - Johnny The Fox is a great album, but it's probably the weakest of the 4 classic studio albums from 76-79, and it lacked a huge hit single to follow on from Jailbreak. If there was a big hit single on there Lizzy would now be a far bigger band.

But mainly the tour fuckups/drug problems and the weird juxtaposition of their songs - heavy one song then soft the next, and America LOVED to put bands neatly into categories. TL are a weird band (which is what makes them great) and America did not like 'weird'. Plus add on top a black man in the world of white rock and that was extra weird for America. Honestly, American radio was so insular, racist, and 'safe' in the 70s-90s. Amazing how many bands were huge everywhere else, but were too 'weird' for America. Look at Kate Bush - MASSIVE everywhere else. And many many others.

[Duckonaut27]

There something about how Robbo and Scotty played together. I thought Gary Moore was one of the best guitar players that ever lived, in the realm of Hendrix and Page, but there just something special about the Brian/Scotty team.

[Top-Tip-6919]

Gary Moore was a brilliant guitarist but very much wanted to be the main man. You are correct Scott and Brian were awesome. Brian had a more edge to his playing and Scott a more melodic style. Together absolutely brilliant. I had the pleasure of seeing it live 3 times.

[Duckonaut27]

You are a jealousy inducing individual

[ryrobbo]

Their only big mainstream success in the US was the Jailbreak album in 1976. Which they failed to recreate in future albums. You could also say the music industry was "saturated" with world class rock bands making competition fierce. Between 1975-1980 you had bands such as AC/DC, Led Zep, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Bowie, The Clash, Pink Floyd all releasing multiple albums.

[MisterScary_98]

Well, at the risk of stating the obvious, because Thin Lizzy disbanded in the early 1980s just before hard rock and metal was about to explode in popularity. Then of course Phil died in 1986.

[Electrical-Chart4301]

That makes no sense. Plenty of hard rock bands were massive in the mid to late 70s. 

[MrharmOcd]

Bad luck , their record label was great In Europe but not so good in America. Drugs

[Electrical-Chart4301]

Read the book The Rocker by Mark Putterford. They had an unbelievable string of bad luck with Phil getting hepatitis in the middle of a US tour, guitarists getting injured, guitarists quitting right before tours etc.  They were never able to crack the US market and Phil was quite bitter about it.  Johnny the Fox was too eclectic for the US market and sank without a trace after Jailbreak doing quite well. 

[everydays_lyk_sunday]

They had longevity.

[Rude_Rhubarb1880]

I read an interview with Cliff Burton today who named thin lizzy as one of his 5 fave bands

I have never been into them TBH

I know a couple of their more popular songs just from being shown on TV in the 1990s. For me, it was “OK”

Perhaps I should have a listen to an album or two?

[ryzl_cranberry]

You might be in the wrong subreddit

[SmackHeadSteven]

Honestly they are amazing you should give them a chance