0:00:02 > 0:00:06Is there anybody here with any Irish in them?
0:00:06 > 0:00:08CHEERING
0:00:08 > 0:00:12Is there any of the girls would like a little more Irish in them?
0:00:12 > 0:00:14This programme contains some strong laguage
0:00:14 > 0:00:17MUSIC: "Don't Believe A Word"
0:00:25 > 0:00:26# Don't believe me if I tell you
0:00:28 > 0:00:31# Not a word of this is true... #
0:00:31 > 0:00:35Thin Lizzy were the ultimate boy's own rock band.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38Some say the best ever to come out of Ireland.
0:00:38 > 0:00:39# Don't believe me if I tell you... #
0:00:39 > 0:00:42'Great songs, great guitar playing.'
0:00:42 > 0:00:46Every modern rock band has a little bit of Thin Lizzy in 'em!
0:00:46 > 0:00:51They inspired average people to think, "If you can do it, so can I."
0:00:56 > 0:01:01Throughout the '70s, they produced hit after hit.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05Their distinctive vocals and twin guitars lending a whole new sound to hard rock.
0:01:13 > 0:01:19At their heart was lead singer, Philip Lynott, writer of some of rock's greatest anthems.
0:01:20 > 0:01:26He brought a vivid intelligence to this thing that could be just dismissed as adolescent boys' music.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30The shapes, the look, the style, the pointing.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34He had the crowd in the palm of his hand.
0:01:34 > 0:01:40But with these talents and the success that followed, came legendary rock'n'roll behaviour.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43I did get into a lot of fights, yeah.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48It was the rollercoaster ride. Is it going to stay on track or fly off the rail?
0:01:48 > 0:01:52There was always, kind of, shit happening, if you like.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56The least professional band in the business!
0:01:56 > 0:02:00This is the story of a band that from small beginnings,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04went on to conquer the world through raw talent, hard work
0:02:04 > 0:02:06and a little bit of Irish luck.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25It's early 2010, and on a Tuesday morning at Dublin airport,
0:02:25 > 0:02:30one man stands out among the hordes of tourists and business travellers.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36Almost 30 years after Ireland's first rock super group split,
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Thin Lizzy's ex-guitarist, Scott Gorham, is back where it all began,
0:02:40 > 0:02:44on a mission to breathe new life into their music.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48We've been talking about this for years, actually taking, uh...
0:02:48 > 0:02:54the original recordings of the albums that we did, the earlier albums,
0:02:54 > 0:03:00and to go into the studio and put a kind of remix on these things.
0:03:00 > 0:03:07It would just be cool to hear Phil's voice in a really nice, produced atmosphere.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14Scott's on his way to the home studio of Def Leppard lead singer, Joe Elliott.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Joe baby!
0:03:17 > 0:03:19THEY LAUGH
0:03:21 > 0:03:25He will be working with ex-Thin Lizzy drummer, Brian Downey,
0:03:25 > 0:03:28to bring these tracks back to life.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30# Hiding low, looking right to left... #
0:03:30 > 0:03:37They're starting with the legendary Jailbreak, the sixth of 14 albums they released in their career.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40# From under my breath
0:03:40 > 0:03:42# When I count to three, blast 'em! #
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Gosh, why didn't we use that?
0:03:46 > 0:03:48It seems like it was yesterday, really.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52That's a pretty distinctive voice,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55talking, singing, anything, you know...
0:03:55 > 0:03:59When you're around it as much as Brian and I were,
0:03:59 > 0:04:04it just seemed like he should be walking through the door.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06THEY CHUCKLE
0:04:07 > 0:04:11If that happened, I think I'd go right through the plate glass window!
0:04:11 > 0:04:12Aaah!
0:04:19 > 0:04:24# In these words I wrote and play and sing for you... #
0:04:24 > 0:04:27The seeds of Ireland's first commercially successful rock band
0:04:27 > 0:04:32were sown on the streets of a tough neighbourhood in 1960s Dublin.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36It was here where 16 year-old Philip Paris Lynott got his first gig,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39singing in a neighbourhood covers band.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48Brian Downey was an ex-pipe band drummer, who lived just around the corner from the singer.
0:04:48 > 0:04:54He was in a band called the Black Eagles, and I used to go and see him playing in Dublin.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56He was a great singer, he was a brilliant frontman.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58He had great presence on stage.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03I said to him one day, "The band is really great". He said, "What do you do?"
0:05:03 > 0:05:07I said, "I play drums". He said, "Come down next week and you can play support for us."
0:05:07 > 0:05:09I was with them for about two and a half years.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13That gig was a bit of a laugh with Phil and the guys,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17but the band broke up and we kind of lost contact for a bit.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27After short stints apart, playing with other musicians,
0:05:27 > 0:05:32Phil and Brian got together once more to form a band called Orphanage.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35One of the first people to see them play was Eric Bell,
0:05:35 > 0:05:42a blues-loving guitarist from north of the border who had once played with Van Morrison.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46I went to this club one night with this keyboard player.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50The band came on to play and it was a band called Orphanage.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Phil Lynott was the singer and Brian Downey was the drummer.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57It just blew me away.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00They took a break during the night.
0:06:00 > 0:06:06I started talking to them and I said, "Yeah, I could fit my guitar playing into your song style."
0:06:06 > 0:06:11Philip says, "Hey Brian, do you fancy forming a group with Eric?"
0:06:11 > 0:06:16And he said to Brian, "I want to play the bass.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18"And I also want to do some of my own songs."
0:06:18 > 0:06:22So I said, "Yeah, OK, let's give it a go."
0:06:25 > 0:06:27# Up to now
0:06:28 > 0:06:30# My youthful stage... #
0:06:30 > 0:06:36In 1969, the new band started gigging Phil's compositions of folk rock with a Celtic twist.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40All they needed now was a name.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43Eric Bell thought of the name.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47There was a comic called the Beano.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51And, um... on a John Mayall album cover,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Eric Clapton was reading the Beano, so...
0:06:54 > 0:06:58Eric Bell was a big Eric Clapton fan at the time
0:06:58 > 0:07:01so he went out and when we were looking for a name for the band,
0:07:01 > 0:07:03he bought a copy of the Beano,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06and there was a female robot called Tin Lizzie.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09But, T-I-N L-I-Z-Z-I-E.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13And he said, "We should call the band, Thin Lizzy."
0:07:13 > 0:07:18I thought it was a dreadful name. I thought, "What does this mean?"
0:07:18 > 0:07:21So we made it Thin Lizzy
0:07:21 > 0:07:24because Dubliners say "tin" anyway, you know,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26and it was about as deep as that!
0:07:28 > 0:07:30The new band started to look for gigs.
0:07:30 > 0:07:37But unlike Britain, where clubs, rock concerts and even music festivals were everywhere,
0:07:37 > 0:07:42the Irish scene was still years behind.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52Ireland was a very backward place at that point in time.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Especially in the country.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57The show bands ruled the roost.
0:07:57 > 0:08:04It was usually eight people with a brass section, keyboards, a guy at the front singing.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09They would do the top 20 that was in the charts at that particular time
0:08:09 > 0:08:14and they would also do evergreen songs like Danny Boy.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19One of the first gigs we did, it was an Irish show band on before us
0:08:19 > 0:08:24and there was about 600 people there, very country people.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28So the show band finished and we walked on, and they just...
0:08:28 > 0:08:30they just laughed.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35Basically, and started pointing up at us - "Look at him, look at him!" Seriously.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40They had never seen anything like it in their life. They thought a UFO had landed outside!
0:08:42 > 0:08:44# Oh, we run
0:08:44 > 0:08:47# Oh, I run
0:08:48 > 0:08:51# In your skin
0:08:52 > 0:08:55# Look what the wind just blew in... #
0:08:59 > 0:09:04Phil was always a very striking figure because he was tall and thin
0:09:04 > 0:09:06and basically a good-looking guy.
0:09:06 > 0:09:07Very unusual.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11He was the only black guy of his age group -
0:09:11 > 0:09:15there were very few black people in Ireland at that stage, certainly round Dublin.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18A few students at Trinity and that was it.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28I think he always saw himself as being some sort of an artisan.
0:09:28 > 0:09:33He did hang out with poets, he did go to poetry sessions.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36And I basically think that he knew he was different,
0:09:36 > 0:09:39but he was going to make that difference work for him.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42# Look what the wind just blew in... #
0:09:45 > 0:09:49It didn't take the three-piece with the black singer long to make a name for itself
0:09:49 > 0:09:55on the Dublin club circuit, but what they needed more than anything was a record deal.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59I was going to Ireland anyway with an in-house producer,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02we were going to look at a singer called Ditch Cassidy.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06Ditch was very good, but there was a three-piece band behind him,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10and I must admit, I was watching them more than Ditch Cassidy.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14A great drummer, a fabulous guitar player and Phil.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18A black Irishman. Never seen before.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22He was so thin, you could have knitted with him. It was lovely.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28# And here I'll go
0:10:30 > 0:10:31# Into
0:10:32 > 0:10:34# A new day... #
0:10:36 > 0:10:39The deal was, they would have to come and work and live in England.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44There was no point signing a band who were going to stay in Ireland, that was no good to us,
0:10:44 > 0:10:48because any record sales wouldn't cover their boat fare.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57Thin Lizzy landed in Britain in 1971,
0:10:57 > 0:11:01as glam rock bands like Slade were breaking into the charts,
0:11:01 > 0:11:05alongside established acts like David Bowie and The Who.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10They recorded two albums in quick succession, but neither made much impact.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15If they were going to have a hit, the three-piece from Dublin would need some Irish luck.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Thin Lizzy used to rehearse in this pub
0:11:18 > 0:11:22in King's Cross, I think it was, upstairs
0:11:22 > 0:11:26and we used to rehearse there every week if we weren't playing.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29Sometimes it just wouldn't happen.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32This particular day, we were having a hard time.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35So Philip picked up a guitar and he started going...
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Just messing about with these Irish songs.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48About 20 minutes later, he started going...
0:11:48 > 0:11:53# As I was going over
0:11:53 > 0:11:57# The Cork and Kerry mountains. #
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Brian and me are sitting going...
0:12:00 > 0:12:04At that point, one of our managers came in, Ted Carroll.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07I said, I think if you can go in the studio
0:12:07 > 0:12:10and record it just like you've played it now, you've got a hit.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14We said, "Don't be stupid.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18"We left Ireland to get away from that type of music and now you want us to record it."
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Me and Philip went out with two acoustic guitars.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Brian got on the drums and we went...
0:12:40 > 0:12:45# As I was going over
0:12:45 > 0:12:48# The Cork and Kerry mountains
0:12:48 > 0:12:52# I saw a Captain Farrell
0:12:52 > 0:12:56# And his money he was counting
0:12:56 > 0:13:00# I first produced my pistol
0:13:00 > 0:13:03# Then produced my rapier
0:13:03 > 0:13:07# I said, stand or deliver
0:13:07 > 0:13:11# Or the devil, he may take you. #
0:13:11 > 0:13:16In 1973, Whiskey In The Jar won them their first Top Of The Pops appearance,
0:13:16 > 0:13:18reaching number six in the UK charts.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22Thin Lizzy had a hit single on their hands.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26It was still very much Thin Lizzy - Phil's vocal,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29the rhythm, the whole feel of it was great.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31It established them.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38I think Phil, when he appeared
0:13:38 > 0:13:43on his first Top Of the Pops, his whole life changed instantly.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45The whole new vista opened up to him,
0:13:45 > 0:13:50because he looked out and there was all these fantastic-looking women.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52A whole new world opened up.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56I'm not too sure about Eric, I think it was a bit overwhelming for him.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06It got us loads and loads of gigs.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10We were going out to places like Germany, Finland, Holland,
0:14:10 > 0:14:16Spain and we were actually going out to these places to play Whiskey In The Jar, but we weren't playing it,
0:14:16 > 0:14:18we were just miming it on TV shows.
0:14:18 > 0:14:24Everybody was getting fed up with this, especially Eric Bell.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27He was really fed up with the whole...
0:14:28 > 0:14:31..star trip.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34Eric just wanted to play the guitar and get on with the music.
0:14:36 > 0:14:44I started going on stage, pretty out of my head and not bothering to practise any more.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47I don't even think I tuned up the guitar any more before I went on,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51because the band was no longer Thin Lizzy.
0:14:52 > 0:14:57We were playing on stage in Belfast and this little voice
0:14:57 > 0:15:02within my head said, "Throw the guitar up in the air,
0:15:02 > 0:15:06"kick the amps off the stage and walk off, this is it."
0:15:06 > 0:15:09I just walked over to all my amps, I kicked them off the stage.
0:15:09 > 0:15:17Underneath the stage, there were all these gymnasium mats and I laid down on one
0:15:17 > 0:15:19and that was it.
0:15:19 > 0:15:24I don't think the audience realised what was going on, they think they thought it was part of the act!
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Phil kept saying, "Eric is coming back. He's just going to get a few drinks for us."
0:15:28 > 0:15:30But he never actually came back on.
0:15:37 > 0:15:44Phil and Brian decided to hire a rising star called Gary Moore to take Eric's place.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47But after just three months, he left, too.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52It had a profound effect on Phil's view of the band's future size and shape.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56He said, "We're not just going to have one guitar player, we'll have two
0:15:56 > 0:16:01"in case one guy decides to leave in the middle of a tour."
0:16:01 > 0:16:04So that's how that double twin guitar thing came about.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09Auditions began for a pair of guitarists,
0:16:09 > 0:16:14bringing a huge number of hopefuls knocking at Lizzy's door.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18So, are you coming in or what?
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Now 54, Brian Robertson was just 17
0:16:20 > 0:16:23when he heard Thin Lizzy was searching for two new guitarists.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28I always had it in my head that I was going to join Lizzy anyway.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32When you're a kid, you sit and wait for a Saturday
0:16:32 > 0:16:36and save you money to go and buy another album.
0:16:36 > 0:16:42Hence, I knew all the tracks when I went to audition with Lizzy.
0:16:42 > 0:16:49I was sitting watching these other guys and I was just thinking, "They're shit."
0:16:49 > 0:16:53I was quite relaxed, waiting for my turn because as far as
0:16:53 > 0:16:56I was concerned, in my head, I knew what was going to happen.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06With one place filled, the new three-piece had to
0:17:06 > 0:17:09wait another week before they found their second guitarist.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23Now 59, Scott Gorham was a 23-year-old on
0:17:23 > 0:17:28the verge of outstaying his UK visa when he turned up for his audition.
0:17:28 > 0:17:34I walked in and there was Robbo up on the stage and Brian Downey.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37They looked miserable, those guys, absolutely miserable.
0:17:37 > 0:17:45I brought over a Stratocaster, but I ran at of money so I had to sell it.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48I'm still left with my Japanese Les Paul copy.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53Phil said, "Whip your guitar out and just come up on the stage."
0:17:53 > 0:17:57I remember opening up the lid of this guitar and pulling it out
0:17:57 > 0:18:04and both Robbo and Downey looked at this guitar and went, "Oh, man, what is this?! Jeez!"
0:18:04 > 0:18:06HE LAUGHS
0:18:07 > 0:18:10But Phil was really cool about it,
0:18:10 > 0:18:15he said, "Come on up, strap your guitar and let's go." And I'm, "Yeah, OK."
0:18:15 > 0:18:22Whatever I did, whatever I played on the day, it's obvious they liked what they heard.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32In 1974, with Robbo and Scott on guitars, the new-look band
0:18:32 > 0:18:36got to work, vowing never to play any of the old material again.
0:18:36 > 0:18:41Within six months, Lizzy released Nightlife, their first album as a four-piece.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46It was a significant step forward from their earlier albums,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48but they were still searching for a musical signature
0:18:48 > 0:18:52when they began recording their next album, Fighting.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57I think Robbo was actually in the studio and there was one line
0:18:57 > 0:19:03that he was going to play and I was going to double it or something.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07But the engineer had put this however many millisecond delay
0:19:07 > 0:19:13on that one line so when he played it, the delay came back
0:19:13 > 0:19:15and it was harmonising itself.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19We went, "Wait a minute, that actually sounds cool."
0:19:19 > 0:19:23It was more of an accident really that we fell into
0:19:23 > 0:19:27the whole harmony-guitar thing.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29After that, we kind of went for it.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04Thin Lizzy hit the club circuit, touring Britain non-stop,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07doing small American trips in support of larger acts.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11This was the mid-'70s.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15Live rock music was everywhere. And with this new musical identity,
0:20:15 > 0:20:19and Phil's song writing, the band started to build a following.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23# Why weren't the gypsies warned of the danger?
0:20:26 > 0:20:29# You can laugh and joke with your friends
0:20:29 > 0:20:31# Don't you talk to strangers... #
0:20:31 > 0:20:34But it had been three years since Whiskey,
0:20:34 > 0:20:37and without another hit single, they couldn't survive commercially.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40The record company issued an ultimatum.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42The Jailbreak album, it was make-or-break time.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46The band was still heavily in debt.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50Sleeping two in a bed, in these really grotty little hotels.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54We were told in no uncertain terms that this was it, guys.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59You don't come up with the goods on this one, boom, you're done.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03- # Tonight there's going to be - a jailbreak
0:21:03 > 0:21:05# Somewhere in this town... #
0:21:05 > 0:21:09They were confident the title track could be a hit.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11But the song that would go on to become one
0:21:11 > 0:21:15of the greatest rock anthems ever almost didn't see the light of day.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19I think there was like 15 songs we'd come up with.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22And of which 10 were only going to make it onto the album.
0:21:22 > 0:21:27The manager came down and says, "Let me have a listen to all 15 songs."
0:21:27 > 0:21:30And he goes, "You know, this one here... I actually really like that.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35"It's got kind of a hooky guitar thing going for it. And I love the vocals."
0:21:35 > 0:21:42And we hadn't had that one included on the list. That wasn't one of the ten.
0:21:42 > 0:21:49And he says, "How about you, for me, you record that one and then take out that one there."
0:22:01 > 0:22:04# Guess who just got back today
0:22:04 > 0:22:07# Them wild-eyed boys that had been away
0:22:07 > 0:22:10# Haven't changed hadn't much to say
0:22:10 > 0:22:13# But man, I still think them cats are crazy
0:22:13 > 0:22:15# They were asking if you were around
0:22:15 > 0:22:19# How you was where you could be found
0:22:19 > 0:22:21# Told them you were living downtown
0:22:21 > 0:22:24# Driving all the old men crazy
0:22:24 > 0:22:26# The boys are back in town
0:22:26 > 0:22:29# The boys are back in town
0:22:29 > 0:22:34# I said the boys are back in town
0:22:34 > 0:22:35# The boys are back in town
0:22:36 > 0:22:38# The boys are back in town
0:22:38 > 0:22:40# The boys are back in town
0:22:40 > 0:22:41# The boys are back in town
0:22:41 > 0:22:44# The boys are back in town... #
0:22:46 > 0:22:48The boys are back in town.
0:22:48 > 0:22:54That is, as everyone knows, top five songs about rock'n'roll itself
0:22:54 > 0:22:57ever written, in my view.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59And I would say most other people's.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02Spectacular. You don't have to do another thing in your life.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04# She was cool, she was red hot
0:23:04 > 0:23:06# I mean, she was steaming... #
0:23:06 > 0:23:13That twin-guitar harmonic riff, the changes, some of the chords in there are fantastic passing chords.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15# Man, we just fell about the place
0:23:15 > 0:23:18# If that chick don't wanna know, forget her... #
0:23:18 > 0:23:21It's the sort of laugh, "If the chick don't want to know, forget her."
0:23:21 > 0:23:23It sort of... It's bravado.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25It's macho bravura.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27# The boys are back in town
0:23:27 > 0:23:29# The boys are back in town
0:23:29 > 0:23:32# The boys are back in town
0:23:32 > 0:23:36It can come, like many a good song, in the toilet.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39The boys are back in town, I had the chord sequence.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42And I had about two versions for ages.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44At one stage it was called GI Joe Is Back.
0:23:44 > 0:23:50It took me ages just to think of the boys. I was thinking, "The kids."
0:23:50 > 0:23:53The lads. You know. And somebody says, the boys.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55And I went, that's it, the Boys Are Back In Town.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59# Friday night they'll be dressed to kill
0:23:59 > 0:24:03# Down at Dino's Bar and Grill... #
0:24:03 > 0:24:05For him there was a lot of imagery in America.
0:24:05 > 0:24:11There used to be a programme, an American programme, a detective show called 77 Sunset Strip
0:24:11 > 0:24:18and he was looking for this mythical place called 77 Sunset Strip, which didn't exist.
0:24:18 > 0:24:26The actual building that they filmed this detective agency at was Dino's.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29Dean Martin's place. It was just a restaurant.
0:24:29 > 0:24:34And Phil just kind of liked the whole sort of Americanism.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36He put "bar and grill" on the end of it, just
0:24:36 > 0:24:40because it had a little bit more of an American thing going for it.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43So it became Dino's Bar and Grill.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46# Friday night they'll be dressed to kill
0:24:46 > 0:24:48# Down at Dino's Bar and Grill
0:24:48 > 0:24:50# The drink will flow and blood will spill... #
0:24:50 > 0:24:54The Boys Are Back In Town gave Lizzie the breakthrough they needed.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58Having now evolved into a top-10 band, they hit the road
0:24:58 > 0:25:00for another round of relentless touring at home and abroad.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02# Won't be long till summer comes... #
0:25:02 > 0:25:09I didn't think of it at the time, but we were just conditioned to work as much as you could.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13That was a whole idea of putting in the band together, to get as successful as possible.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15We were just always on the road.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20At the time I was convinced we were one of the most hardest-working bands around.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25The problem was, they were partying as hard as they worked.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28The Lizzy boys had always enjoyed a drink.
0:25:28 > 0:25:34But with success came bigger parties and much bigger bar bills.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36Yeah, I think we probably were pretty bad.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41But in a nice way.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45We didn't kill anybody, let's put it that way.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52When Thin Lizzy started, I had a bit of a wild-boy image.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55I was tired of hearing rock'n'roll stars saying how sorry they were
0:25:55 > 0:26:01for themselves, you know, like how they disliked fame and how they were bothered. I jumped at it.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04I was famous. I thought, "Great, the women are after me", you know?
0:26:04 > 0:26:07People want to buy me free drink.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10They want to treat me, they want to take me here, they want to take me there.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15Great. And I really went for it, hook, line and sinker.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21But Phil's party was about to end, just as the band looked set to crack
0:26:21 > 0:26:24America with their best-selling album yet.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31It was about a week of being out on the road in America.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36Phil kind of staggered into the dressing room and lay down on the floor.
0:26:36 > 0:26:37I just looked at him and smiled.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40He goes, "Man, I can't move. I can't get up."
0:26:40 > 0:26:44I think they actually put him in the hospital that night.
0:26:44 > 0:26:50Get up the next day, there's a knock at my door and it's Phil in the mirrored shades.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53He goes, "Man, I've got some bad news."
0:26:53 > 0:26:56"Why, what's up?" And he goes, "I'm really ill."
0:26:56 > 0:26:58They say I've got hepatitis.
0:26:58 > 0:27:03So that was it. Tour over, we were stopped in our tracks.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06I can't tell you how depressed everybody was.
0:27:17 > 0:27:23But within months, Phil and the band were back in the studio recording their second album of 1976.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27The management set up another American tour.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31Phil had been warned to quit boozing and partying for his health.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35But one band member was only too happy to take up where he left off.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40Brian took on this kind of role of hell raiser.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45All I can say is he was young and he liked drinking his whisky and living that role, you know?
0:27:45 > 0:27:47That was a mantle that was kind of put on him.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50And he grasped it, and went with it.
0:27:52 > 0:27:53I did get into a lot of fights.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59It was drinking whisky all the time,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02which doesn't agree with me.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06I mean, I always had a bottle of whisky at the side of the stage.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09I probably had about half a bottle before I went on stage.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12And then drank the whole bottle while I was playing.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18# Come on, Rocky take me to the night
0:28:18 > 0:28:21# The neon streets are shining bright
0:28:23 > 0:28:30But the hell-raising boy wonder was about to come a cropper at the worst possible time for the band.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34That was in the Speakeasy club with Frankie Miller.
0:28:34 > 0:28:39And somebody went to bottle his face and I went, "No, don't do that," and it went straight through.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42And that was the night before I was supposed to go to America on tour.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46I wasn't going to see my friend get bottled.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49And actually, I thought, "He's not going to go through my hand."
0:28:49 > 0:28:51And he did.
0:28:51 > 0:28:56And, hospital time.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59What was your reaction when you first heard what happened?
0:28:59 > 0:29:01What happened?
0:29:01 > 0:29:05Exasperation. I was thinking, "Fuck Robbo and fuck Frankie Miller."
0:29:05 > 0:29:10Why would you get into fights down the Speakeasy, you know what I mean?
0:29:10 > 0:29:13There was no way they'd get home anyway till five or six.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16People used to leave the Speakeasy at four in the morning.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19Robbo probably had a flight at 10 the next morning.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25They were saying I was pissed as a fart and all this, right?
0:29:25 > 0:29:27No, Frankie was.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30I was totally sober at the time.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32But I shouldn't have been out at that time.
0:29:32 > 0:29:36I should have been home packing.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39Getting ready to leave in the morning, you know?
0:29:39 > 0:29:42But I wasn't, so there we go.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53Robbo wasn't invited to rejoin the band.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56It did have an effect on the band in America, no doubt about it.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59Obviously the promoters in America thought that was crazy,
0:29:59 > 0:30:02getting into a fight the night before a major American tour.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09We were on such a great run at that point,
0:30:09 > 0:30:13mentally, physically, playing-wise, everything.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17I mean, we just knew that was going to be the tour that was going to break us.
0:30:17 > 0:30:22It's kind of hard to get all the stars all lined up again,
0:30:22 > 0:30:28to get that kind of exact feeling again.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31This one hurt, and it hurt real bad.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38In 1977, with Robbo now out of the band,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41Gary Moore was invited back to take his place,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44for a hastily-arranged US tour supporting Queen.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Lizzy had rarely played to such huge audiences.
0:30:47 > 0:30:52So being on the road with one of the world's biggest bands was a revelation.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55We started to learn what it was like touring at this level.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58Seeing Freddie work the audience.
0:30:58 > 0:31:00He realised if you have fans out there,
0:31:00 > 0:31:04and if you do ask them to clap, they will do it.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09I've never known anyone enjoy being a rock star so much.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13Unless Philip got into a pair of leather trousers in the morning,
0:31:13 > 0:31:16and walked out the door - or in the afternoon, should I say -
0:31:16 > 0:31:18and walked out the door and there was limousine...
0:31:18 > 0:31:20That's what life was, isn't it?
0:31:22 > 0:31:27He got wrapped up in this suit that you should wear as a rock star.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29You know, when you were sitting chatting to him,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32he's this really quietly spoken character.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35And then when he'd go on stage, he'd step into this suit, zip it up
0:31:35 > 0:31:37and he was the Rocker.
0:31:40 > 0:31:45Now all they needed was a hit album to match their growing rock-star status.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47And for 1977's Bad Reputation,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50they went to the man they knew could deliver it.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54Tony Visconti was already a legendary producer,
0:31:54 > 0:31:58who'd helped turn David Bowie and T-Rex into huge stars.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00But if the Lizzy boys were intimidated
0:32:00 > 0:32:04by meeting such a big name, they certainly didn't show it.
0:32:04 > 0:32:10I saw them from my first floor window and opened the door, let them in.
0:32:10 > 0:32:12And they were drunk. They were just drunk!
0:32:12 > 0:32:15It was about 3pm in the afternoon.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17I invited them up to my front room.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20My then wife, Mary Hopkin, was about to offer them tea.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23She saw the state they were in and said,
0:32:23 > 0:32:24"Forget the tea, forget about it!"
0:32:24 > 0:32:28She just disappeared up in the bedroom somewhere.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32# You've got a bad reputation
0:32:33 > 0:32:36# That's the word out on the town...
0:32:36 > 0:32:38They were looking for a new sound.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42All you have to do is compare the production values of Bad Reputation
0:32:42 > 0:32:44to the previous one.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46We were getting into a full-blown choir,
0:32:46 > 0:32:51synthesised sounds, and they wanted anything I could throw at them.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55They really wanted their guitars to sound different, especially the bass.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58We used these things like phasing and flanging on the bass.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02And then my wife, Mary Hopkin, came with our kids.
0:33:02 > 0:33:07And as Mary was right there, she was elected to come into the studio
0:33:07 > 0:33:14and sing this beautiful, beautiful choir arrangement on Dear Lord.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16And I'll never forget that.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18The band thought they were in heaven.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20TRACK PLAYS
0:33:28 > 0:33:31All of a sudden, Brian Downey's drums were sounding great.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33I was getting good guitar sounds.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36Phil was singing and playing great bass.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39It was all coming together for us.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45By now, Gary Moore had left for a second time,
0:33:45 > 0:33:48leaving Scott to record all the guitar parts himself.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51Feeling some of the old magic was missing,
0:33:51 > 0:33:53he convinced Phil to invite Robbo back in.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56But the angry young Scotsman was still licking his wounds,
0:33:56 > 0:33:59and wasn't going to make life easy for anyone.
0:33:59 > 0:34:00When it was time for Brian's solos,
0:34:00 > 0:34:05he'd be sitting either in the studio apart from us,
0:34:05 > 0:34:09and he'd have a bottle of Courvoisier in his hand, be drinking.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12And Phil said, "Are you going to do your solo, Brian?"
0:34:12 > 0:34:14Or I would say, "It's time for the solo."
0:34:14 > 0:34:17And he'd say, "Yep", something like that. "OK," you know.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19And...
0:34:19 > 0:34:20couldn't talk to him.
0:34:20 > 0:34:26So he'd march out to the studio, pick up his guitar, and just shred like...
0:34:26 > 0:34:28Play beautifully.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30And we'd go, "Wow!"
0:34:30 > 0:34:33We'd clap - press the talkback button and clap and all that.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35He wouldn't even look up and acknowledge us.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38I would say, "Come and listen to it,"
0:34:38 > 0:34:42and he would either walk through to the next room where he was hanging out,
0:34:42 > 0:34:45or wouldn't come in the control room at all.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47I'd go, "Brian, do you want to hear this?" "No."
0:34:49 > 0:34:54Maybe I was feeling a little bit angry.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56Er...
0:34:56 > 0:34:58And being a bit stroppy again.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00You know, "I'm not doing that."
0:35:00 > 0:35:04I mean, I sat in the hotel and I wouldn't go out with any of them.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08You know? I'd finish recording and I'd go back to my room.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10What, cos you felt stabbed in the back or...?
0:35:10 > 0:35:15No, it was because I was just being a little git, basically.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19Despite Robbo's behaviour,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22Bad Reputation became Lizzy's highest-charting album to date,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25going gold in just four weeks.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27A leap forward in song writing and production,
0:35:27 > 0:35:30it delivered fan-pleasing rock songs,
0:35:30 > 0:35:33alongside surprises like the pop classic, Dancing in the Moonlight.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36# I always get chocolate stains on my pants... #
0:35:36 > 0:35:40He was just an unbelievably great man for lyrics.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42"Chocolate stains on my pants"?
0:35:42 > 0:35:46We used to go to these flea pits, we used to call them - the Star cinema in Crumlin.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50You'd sit down on these seats, you'd come out of there destroyed
0:35:50 > 0:35:52with chewing gum on your trousers and all sorts.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55I think that's where that line came from.
0:35:57 > 0:36:03# It's three o'clock in the morning and I'm on the streets again
0:36:04 > 0:36:10# I disobeyed another warning I should have been in by ten
0:36:10 > 0:36:14# Now I won't get out until Sunday
0:36:14 > 0:36:16# I'll have to say Hey, I stayed with friends... #
0:36:16 > 0:36:19It was fairly lightweight.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21It was a real pop song.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24If someone who couldn't sing as good as Phil sang that,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27if someone who was just twee sang Dancing In The Moonlight,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30it probably would have come off very saccharine or very silly.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33# The last bus heads home... #
0:36:49 > 0:36:54At a time when Britain was in the grip of punk, the young rockers were more popular than ever.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57With Robbo now back in the band full-time,
0:36:57 > 0:37:03Lizzy were selling out huge concert halls and headlining festivals with crowds of 40,000 people.
0:37:05 > 0:37:10# Dancing in the moonlight It's got me in its spotlight... #
0:37:10 > 0:37:13They were brilliant live.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17I mean, he really knew how to work a stage and get an audience by the scruff of the neck.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20# Dancing in the moonlight
0:37:20 > 0:37:21# Dancing in the moonlight... #
0:37:21 > 0:37:25At their best Thin Lizzy were the best live band in the world.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27Nobody could touch them.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30They knew that Phil was a great frontman.
0:37:30 > 0:37:31And Scott knew he looked good.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33Phil knew Scott looked good.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36Robbo said so arrogantly, he thought everybody looked good.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40And Downey, who's a complete muso, Downey knows everything.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43# On this long hot summer night
0:37:43 > 0:37:45# It's so goddamn hot! #
0:38:01 > 0:38:07The problem was that they'd never been able to capture the energy of their live performances on an album.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11The live-album genre really wasn't that big at the time.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14You know, Peter Frampton, yeah.
0:38:14 > 0:38:21I think he was the first that I'd known about that actually had a huge successful live album.
0:38:21 > 0:38:22And...
0:38:22 > 0:38:26quite honestly we thought we could do a better one.
0:38:26 > 0:38:28CHEERING # Baby, baby, baby
0:38:28 > 0:38:30- AUDIENCE:- # Baby, baby, baby
0:38:30 > 0:38:31# B-b-b, b-b-b, baby... #
0:38:31 > 0:38:36For Live And Dangerous, they went back to Tony Visconti for the second time in a year.
0:38:36 > 0:38:41But by doing so, they would unwittingly create one of rock's great controversies.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43# B-b-b, b-b-b, baby... #
0:38:43 > 0:38:45I'm going to go down on record
0:38:45 > 0:38:48as saying it was not my choice to do this.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53Phil said, like on the first song he goes, "I made a mistake on the bass.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56"I have to fix it. I was singing at the same time."
0:38:56 > 0:38:58I said, "OK, Phil."
0:38:58 > 0:39:01We listened to it. There's the mistake, it's certainly there.
0:39:01 > 0:39:06So Phil replays that entire track, and we don't need the live bass anymore.
0:39:06 > 0:39:12Then when Scott and Brian Robertson came to the studio to hear it, they said, "That's not fair,
0:39:12 > 0:39:15"if you let Phil fix his parts. We made a couple of mistakes."
0:39:15 > 0:39:21So to remedy this I had Scott and Brian replay their live parts.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25I used some of the original sound, but mostly the overdubbed parts.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28So the blend was say,
0:39:28 > 0:39:3330% live guitar and 70% in the balance, you know.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36And it sounded fantastic.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40Within the first couple of tracks, we established a sound
0:39:40 > 0:39:43that now we had to follow through with the rest of the album.
0:39:59 > 0:40:04All these rumours going around that it's not a live album, it's not true. There's only...
0:40:04 > 0:40:08As far as I remember, all the drum tracks,
0:40:08 > 0:40:11from start to finish the drums are live on that album.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15There's not one extra overdub on the drums. There's nothing.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18Everything is just completely live.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22And as far as I know, there's a couple of overdubs on guitar.
0:40:22 > 0:40:27But nothing major. There's only little parts here and there.
0:40:27 > 0:40:32I didn't touch any of my guitars on the whole album.
0:40:32 > 0:40:36The only thing I overdubbed was a couple of backing vocals.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40I don't know where Tony Visconti got 75% from.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45But... And certain people have said that was overdubbed and dah-dah-dah.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49And it wasn't. So...fuck them.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04There is a big dispute about what came from where.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07Who gives a shit? It sounds great.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10You know? And Visconti is the man who pulled that together.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21I have the distinction
0:41:21 > 0:41:25of Bono from U2 coming to me, when I worked with him later, saying,
0:41:25 > 0:41:28"That was the most fantastic live album I've ever heard.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30"It was a primer for us.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32"That was our textbook for U2.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35"We wouldn't be U2 unless we'd heard Live And Dangerous."
0:41:39 > 0:41:42Still consistently voted one of the best live albums ever,
0:41:42 > 0:41:47Live And Dangerous catapulted the band into the big league.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51Thin Lizzy was now a massive rock machine. But despite the success,
0:41:51 > 0:41:57once again, all was not well between Robbo and the rest of the band.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01It was just the way that we were at the time.
0:42:01 > 0:42:06I was sort of in a certain frame of mind, and Phil was in another frame of mind.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09Scott was in another frame of mind, so...
0:42:10 > 0:42:14I kind of wanted to move on a bit, you know.
0:42:14 > 0:42:15So...
0:42:15 > 0:42:18And I guess me and Phil were...
0:42:18 > 0:42:21like that, so...
0:42:21 > 0:42:24It wasn't working that well at the time.
0:42:24 > 0:42:31I kept telling Brian to, "Shut the fuck up, man, just do the gig, man.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33"You don't need to do this, you know."
0:42:33 > 0:42:38And then it just got to a point that I just... We...
0:42:38 > 0:42:42just couldn't defend it any longer and so unfortunately he had to go.
0:42:44 > 0:42:51Even with Robbo gone, this time for good, things were still looking bright for Lizzy.
0:42:51 > 0:42:57By 1979, Philip was heading for a showbiz marriage, to Leslie Crowther's daughter, Caroline.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00Gary Moore was back in the band to record Black Rose.
0:43:00 > 0:43:05This would become the highest charting studio album of their career.
0:43:05 > 0:43:11We chose Paris to make this album, and we picked EMI Studios.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15EMI Studios was used by The Rolling Stones.
0:43:15 > 0:43:19By this time, Phil had grown as a songwriter.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21He always was a great songwriter.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23But now he was fine-tuning.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26The title track is a beautiful piece.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29I would call it Celtic music by a rock band.
0:43:38 > 0:43:43Phil finally got his wish to record an album with Gary Moore.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46I think that was one of the things he really wanted to do, was,
0:43:46 > 0:43:50"Before I leave this earth, I will record an album with Gary Moore."
0:43:50 > 0:43:52You know. And that was basically Black Rose.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10# There are people that will investigate you... #
0:44:10 > 0:44:16But the band Gary joined in the studio was very different from the one he'd left just a year before.
0:44:16 > 0:44:21Black Rose was the beginning of the end.
0:44:21 > 0:44:25Things were going really, really well, but there was a certain point in the album
0:44:25 > 0:44:29where Phil thought he could relax a little bit, and he was drinking a lot.
0:44:29 > 0:44:34He would chop out copious lines of cocaine.
0:44:34 > 0:44:39There were three days where Phil was stuck in his hotel room in his bed.
0:44:39 > 0:44:41He couldn't leave his bed, he was so sick.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44Obviously this wasn't the flu or a head cold.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46This was something serious.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50I knew then, after that, I couldn't work with him anymore. It was too...
0:44:50 > 0:44:51It was too hurtful for me.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53I mean, I would just feel
0:44:53 > 0:44:58that, "I can't watch this guy kill himself." He was killing himself.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01# I've got to give it up
0:45:06 > 0:45:09# I've got to give it up... #
0:45:10 > 0:45:13There were drug dealers all over the place.
0:45:13 > 0:45:18Tony Visconti says to me, he told me that if you listen
0:45:18 > 0:45:22to the Black Rose album, you'll hear Phil's voice is very...
0:45:22 > 0:45:27Like he has a head cold, because he was taking so much coke at the time.
0:45:30 > 0:45:35# I've got to give it up
0:45:35 > 0:45:37# That stuff... #
0:45:37 > 0:45:43Paris was probably the wrong city for Thin Lizzy to go and hang out in.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47I mean, we literally used to get the drug dealers pounding on the door trying to get in.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51And we let them in. Before then, it was all kind of recreational.
0:45:51 > 0:45:53Now all of a sudden it starts to get serious.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56You know, the smack starts to come in.
0:45:56 > 0:45:58And, "Hey, we haven't tried this yet!
0:45:58 > 0:46:01"Let's try a little bit of this!"
0:46:04 > 0:46:07Halfway through a US tour to promote the album,
0:46:07 > 0:46:12Gary Moore packed his bags and left Thin Lizzy for the third and final time.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15The right-hand side of the stage needed filling once more.
0:46:15 > 0:46:20This time, Lizzy chose a guitarist no-one could have anticipated.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28# Falling and falling I'm choking and calling... #
0:46:28 > 0:46:35Midge Ure had left Visage and was just about to join Ultravox, when Phil the rocker came calling.
0:46:35 > 0:46:40I was in the studio and I got a phone call from Philip.
0:46:40 > 0:46:44saying, "I'm in Arkansas in the middle of a tour with Lizzy,
0:46:44 > 0:46:50"and we're opening up for Journey and you know, special guests, and it's huge stadiums and whatever.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54"And Gary Moore is not in the band anymore. Can you come out and finish the tour?"
0:46:54 > 0:46:58Now why he asked me to come out and do it, I'll never know,
0:46:58 > 0:47:02because I'm not a twiddly-diddly whizz-kid guitarist like Lizzy has.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04I'm fairly standard.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06In fact, I could probably...
0:47:06 > 0:47:10I think I hail myself as the worst guitarist Lizzy ever had!
0:47:10 > 0:47:14But he invited me out because I think he saw there was an association with...
0:47:14 > 0:47:18Maybe I was cool, or the band I was in was cool, or the music that I was playing was cool.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21And Phil wanted to integrate this into Lizzy.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24His management company sent over a bunch of cassettes
0:47:24 > 0:47:27and said, "Learn these and we'll fly you out tomorrow."
0:47:27 > 0:47:31I'd never been to America. I'd never been anywhere. And I thought, great.
0:47:31 > 0:47:36So I got home from the studio that night, packing my bags, I thought, well, I've got the set list and I've
0:47:36 > 0:47:38got the cassettes, I'll take my big ghetto blaster, because it
0:47:38 > 0:47:43was before Walkmans, and I'll learn the songs on the plane.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45And, of course, they sent me out on Concorde.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49And halfway through the second song, learning it, the plane landed.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52So I turned up completely unprepared.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54I hadn't learned any of the set.
0:47:54 > 0:47:59So the first night in New Orleans, when I finally got there, I spent
0:47:59 > 0:48:06the evening with Scott, the two of us with two guitars, desperately trying to learn all these harmony parts.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10And then the next night I was on stage for 45 minutes.
0:48:12 > 0:48:18# I am just a cowboy, lonesome on the trail...
0:48:20 > 0:48:25The most complicated part was every song had the harmony guitar part in it.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29And trying to remember which harmony guitar part went in which song...
0:48:29 > 0:48:30It was almost like...
0:48:30 > 0:48:33You know those jigsaws you get of the sea?
0:48:33 > 0:48:38Or the sky? You could put any bits in any bit of the jigsaw!
0:48:38 > 0:48:42It was a bit like that. You could put any harmony guitar part in any Thin Lizzy song.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46And it kind of in your head sounded all right, until you heard what Scott
0:48:46 > 0:48:49was playing and realised you were playing the wrong one.
0:48:57 > 0:48:58It really was Spinal Tap.
0:48:58 > 0:49:05It was hotel suites and limos to and from the airport, and hanging about the airport for hours, and
0:49:05 > 0:49:08then getting on a flight that took 20 minutes to get to the next city.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12Then you'd get picked up by another limo and back into another hotel.
0:49:12 > 0:49:16By the time it took you to do all that, you could have driven between the cities.
0:49:16 > 0:49:18I was bored after a week.
0:49:18 > 0:49:24You had to hang about an airport AGAIN because it was perceived that's what a big band did.
0:49:34 > 0:49:36Oh! Crap!
0:49:38 > 0:49:41The worst guitarist Lizzy ever had.
0:49:44 > 0:49:49When Midge Ure left at the end of the tour, Lizzy's revolving door never stopped turning.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53Three guitarists came and went in four years.
0:49:53 > 0:49:58Ex-Pink Floyd player Snowy Wight and John Sykes from the Tygers Of Pan Tang were just two to grace
0:49:58 > 0:50:03the Lizzy line-up, who by now were starting to sound more like a full-blown heavy-metal band.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15Every few months we had a different guitar player playing.
0:50:15 > 0:50:17That's what happened.
0:50:17 > 0:50:22You know, it was a bit strange, so many guitar players coming through the ranks.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24You know,
0:50:24 > 0:50:27that was just the way it was.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31Guys leave and other people join.
0:50:33 > 0:50:40By the early '80s, Thin Lizzy was still releasing album after album and touring as hard as ever,
0:50:40 > 0:50:44all the while living life to the max, especially Phil and Scott,
0:50:44 > 0:50:48now in the grip of serious drug habits.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51# He knows this all too well...
0:50:51 > 0:50:56The frightening thing about heroin is that it is very enjoyable to take.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00It cuts off reality.
0:51:00 > 0:51:04If you've got a lot of problems and you want to just...
0:51:04 > 0:51:06So it's very easy to...
0:51:06 > 0:51:10It would be so easy for me to just jump up on television and say,
0:51:10 > 0:51:13"Hey, this is the pits. Don't do it."
0:51:13 > 0:51:20The thing that's never put across on television very well is how enjoyable it can be.
0:51:20 > 0:51:29Now, I never got to the stage where I became so addicted that my body craved,
0:51:29 > 0:51:35like, physically for it, but mentally that battle will continue for the rest of my life.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43I think it did destroy the band, no doubt about it.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48It destroyed the band completely. When heroin gets in, it affects your
0:51:48 > 0:51:52ability to play rather than anything else. I personally
0:51:52 > 0:51:55physically after I tried it couldn't play.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59I learned after about four or five weeks of being on it
0:51:59 > 0:52:01that this was not for me and just stopped.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03I've never taken it since, you know.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10By 1983, it was becoming increasingly clear that the rock'n'roll
0:52:10 > 0:52:17lifestyle they had pursued and that some band members had embraced had begun to catch up with them.
0:52:17 > 0:52:22By the end of that year, Scott finally got out and hasn't looked back since.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25Golf kind of saved my life.
0:52:25 > 0:52:30When you take drugs as heavily as we did and then you stop, there's a
0:52:30 > 0:52:34massive hole in your life and you're always trying to fill that hole.
0:52:36 > 0:52:42It's amazing how just trying to hit that stinking little white ball with this tiny little club
0:52:42 > 0:52:48is just all-encompassing. That's all you want to concentrate on doing.
0:52:48 > 0:52:54I'd say kind of crunch time for me came when we were playing some massive festival.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57I remember not wanting to go up on the stage.
0:52:57 > 0:52:59I was absolutely out of my box.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02You know, I started to think about that.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05My whole life you work yourself into these positions,
0:53:05 > 0:53:08to get into this position you've always wanted to be in,
0:53:08 > 0:53:11and now you don't want to do it because you're not stoned enough.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14I thought this just ain't right.
0:53:14 > 0:53:21I remember Phil turning over and looking at me, and he just had this
0:53:21 > 0:53:24horribly depressed look on his face.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27He was sweating anyway, but it actually looked like
0:53:27 > 0:53:30tears were coming down because the pain was so bad.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33I thought, "Oh, man, you know.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35"This is wrong.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38"We've got to fix this."
0:53:38 > 0:53:42The solution was a farewell tour seen by over 100,000 fans.
0:53:42 > 0:53:48Then the journey that had started in Dublin 14 years before just came to an end.
0:53:48 > 0:53:55At the last gig, literally at the airport, we just said, "See you, guys.
0:53:55 > 0:54:00"Bye." We got on different planes and that was it.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03Just went our separate ways and that was it.
0:54:03 > 0:54:10No talk of, you know, seeing you in six months and reconsider.
0:54:10 > 0:54:11Nothing like that.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13That was the end of that.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24The pop singer Phil Lynott died in hospital in Salisbury this afternoon.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28The 35-year-old Irish singer had been taken to hospital from a clinic
0:54:28 > 0:54:31specialising in drug and alcohol addiction.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34Doctors say he died of pneumonia and heart failure.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54# I think I'm gonna
0:54:54 > 0:54:56# Fall to pieces
0:54:58 > 0:55:01# If I don't find something else to do
0:55:04 > 0:55:08# The sadness, it never ceases
0:55:10 > 0:55:13# Oh, I'm still in love with you...
0:55:15 > 0:55:18I do know that that band was his whole life.
0:55:18 > 0:55:24He invested a lot of his life into that band, as we all did.
0:55:24 > 0:55:29But, for Phil, it was something way deeper.
0:55:31 > 0:55:36He just, just loved Thin Lizzy and he just loved that band.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38# Is this the end?
0:55:40 > 0:55:42# Still in love with you...
0:55:48 > 0:55:52I just wish Philip was alive. I just wish he was alive,
0:55:52 > 0:55:56you know, because they would have been kings, you know.
0:55:56 > 0:56:01It's not just me imagining they were superb. They were.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04Look at the guitar players they used.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08They were the equivalent of an Irish Yardbirds or John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.
0:56:08 > 0:56:12It was like an academy of great musicians.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15You only play with great people if you're great.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23Lizzy built a bridge from Ireland over to the UK
0:56:23 > 0:56:29and then on to the rest of the world, and that bridge has been used by many, many Irish bands.
0:56:29 > 0:56:35I think there's no doubt that U2 owe a huge debt of gratitude. They paved the way.
0:56:35 > 0:56:41When you're in Dublin, you don't see many statues of rock stars.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49For some reason, for some magical reason, their music was completely timeless.
0:56:49 > 0:56:53You see people in blogs saying favourite bands
0:56:53 > 0:56:59and they'll list bands from this year and then somewhere among them will be Thin Lizzy.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01They're totally timeless.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03# Still in love with you...
0:57:12 > 0:57:15I think if the original line-up
0:57:15 > 0:57:19of Scott and Brian had stayed together and kept at it,
0:57:19 > 0:57:25I think they would eventually have become one of the biggest bands in the world, you know.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33Can you see a day when the three of you would play again?
0:57:36 > 0:57:37- Um...- No!
0:57:40 > 0:57:43Well, we're trying.
0:57:43 > 0:57:45You know, I'll go that far.
0:57:45 > 0:57:50We're trying right now. You'll see a Thin Lizzy tour, absolutely.
0:57:50 > 0:57:54We're trying to get as many of the original guys back up there as possible, you know.
0:57:54 > 0:58:00And get back to the sound, the Thin Lizzy sound.
0:58:00 > 0:58:05One last question, harping back to the fact Lizzy had been in existence
0:58:05 > 0:58:07for 13 years and all those albums,
0:58:07 > 0:58:11tracks and songs that you've recorded, is there any one song
0:58:11 > 0:58:15or one album that in 20 years' time you would look back and say, "Yes!
0:58:15 > 0:58:16"I created that."
0:58:21 > 0:58:25Duke Ellington had a great answer to that question.
0:58:25 > 0:58:28He used to say, "My favourite song is the next one."
0:58:28 > 0:58:32And hopefully that will be my answer in 20 years' time, you know.
0:58:32 > 0:58:33Right, thanks a lot, Phil.
0:58:52 > 0:58:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:54 > 0:58:57E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk