The bizarre reason Phil Lynott almost broke up Thin Lizzy: “Whoa”
Music can be incredibly cruel. While it gifts us great songs by great artists, it also doesn’t hesitate to take those artists away from us in the blink of an eye. Too many a great voice and mind have been lost because of this cruel aspect of music, and what we can presume would be a plethora of more great music is lost in a sea of “what ifs”. One of the voices of rock that we lost well before his time was the Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott.
Lynott was a great asset to Thin Lizzy. He had a knack for songwriting that made it hard for him to miss. Throughout the ’70s, some of the songs that he was responsible for putting together were truly second to none. Many of them we still listen to today and celebrate the moment they begin.
Of course, it wasn’t just Lynott who contributed to this sound. While his songwriting and unique vocal tone certainly helped the band along, Thin Lizzy also became famous for their excellent guitar style. Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson would often play the same notes using different tones and effects to give the band a unique sonic texture. It derived a sound that quintessentially belonged to Thin Lizzy, and no other musical outfit could touch it.
Lynott understood what it meant to be in a rock band and knew that there was more to staying in the public eye than just the music; there was also the look. While some people might roll their eyes at this, there is no escaping the fact that the way a band looks is also incredibly important; you can be a success based wholly on the thing you create. Lynott understood this and was keen for the band to have a very distinct style, which meant he kept his iconic hair and facial hair, and in a bid to make it stand out, the other band members would remain clean-shaven. He cared a great deal about this look, which is why when Robertson came to band practice one day rocking a full-grown beard, there were inevitable problems for the band.
“We’d just had two weeks off and Robbo had grown a beard,” said Scott Gorham, recalling the incident. “Phil says, ‘I’m the only one with facial hair, man – you gotta shave that thing off.’ Of course, Brian’s going, ‘Fuck you, man!’ ‘Well, if you don’t, you’re out of the band!’ How trivial can you get?”
Robertson’s refusal to cut his beard was a precursor to problems that the band would have in the future. Though his attachment to his facial hair might seem harmless, the argument that it resulted in is a good insight into the temper that he had. It was this temper that would see him eventually kicked out of the band, as following a fight in a London speakeasy, he had to bail on a tour that Thin Lizzy were riding on.
The tour was coming up shortly after the release of their successful live album Live & Dangerous, and there was a great deal of anticipation in the States for them. Lynott was understandably furious that he might have to call the tour off because of a fight, and decided that was the last straw and kicked Robertson out. The tour still went ahead with a new guitarist, but Robertson didn’t join them.
“He was enraged that Brian could put the band in jeopardy like that,” recalled Gorham, “Everybody in the band knew how important this tour was for us. Phil was beyond being able to speak, even. So Brian was out of the band right at that moment.”
