By 1983, rock band Thin Lizzy were in a severe downward spiral. Although the group and in particular frontman Phil Lynott had maintained a successful profile since their mid-seventies breakthrough, substance abuse problems had taken a firm grip of Lynott and guitarist Scott Gorham, and they had gone through a succession of guitar players since Brian Robertson exited the band several years before.
Lizzy had recruited young hotshot John Sykes (from UK metal band Tygers of Pan Tang) in place of previous guitarist Snowy White, and with him in place they released the 'Thunder and Lightning' album in March 1983. The material was already written before Sykes joined, with the exception of lead-off single 'Cold Sweat'. The resulting record took the band in a far heavier direction; although always considered a hard rock band, they had a crossover appeal to music fans of many flavours which other groups (with the possible exception of Status Quo) never could boast. It therefore came as a shock to those fans when Thin Lizzy announced that the tour in support of the new album would be their last, and that they were to fold after completing their dates. Nobody outside of the Lizzy camp were aware of just how bad things were with Lynott of course, so it appeared a mystifying move to split the band just as they looked to be having a renaissance, with younger bands such as Def Leppard openly citing them as influences.
The band toured the UK and Europe extensively in 1983, and also appeared on television, playing live on Channel 4 'The Tube' and also being featured by the BBC, for their 'Sight and Sound in Concert' series. This series featured live acts appearing on television, but with audio-visual technology in its infancy then, the programme was simulcast on BBC Radio One so that viewers could see the pictures from the television while enjoying stereo sound on FM radio. Lizzy's career came to a halt with a headlining appearance at the Reading Festival, before releasing a live album 'Life'.
With Lizzy dissolved, Lynott put together a new group called Grand Slam which grabbed a few headlines, but quickly petered out. Sykes meanwhile went on to join fellow hard rockers Whitesnake, and gave their career a boost in much the same way he did with Lizzy. Unlike with Lizzy, Whitesnake were able to capitalise on the lift given to them by the dynamic Sykes and their later US success owed much to his input.
Meanwhile, Gorham, who was in almost as bad a shape as Lynott, finally took time out and cleaned himself up, reappearing several years later with a new group, 21 Guns. By the time he did so, Lynott had succumbed to his own demons, passing away in early 1986 at the age of just 36. He had just had yet another career lift, reuniting with old mate Gary Moore for the hit single 'Out In The Fields' and was considering a reformation of Lizzy when he took ill and died.
Although Lynott and Lizzy left us with some great music, and arguably went out on top with the strong 'Thunder and Lightning' album, we are still left wondering what might have been, had Lynott managed to pull back from the brink. An immense talent, much missed still today.
From one of their last TV appearances, from the UK show 'Saturday Stayback' here is 'Cold Sweat':
*2023 Update - replaced video link with better quality version*
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