I was already a Springsteen devotee, and Phil LynottвЂ™s blue-collar-beat-poet imagery and vocal cadence fit the BossвЂ™ mold. I spent my allowance on a CD of Dedication, and in one spin, I was hooked. Oh where oh where was a guitar-driven classic rock band I could dig into and love and call my very own, a band I could actually discover for myself since their material wasnвЂ™t beaten into my brain by Fox 102.3? (As great as Led Zep were and are, IвЂ™ve truthfully never quite recovered, and IвЂ™d put quite a few bands above them on my list of favorites, including Thin Lizzy.) Between that and the month of Zeptember and Get The Led Out every day in the 5 PM drive-time, I was already jaded and worn out on these New Yardbirds. Most of my friends and classmates were just falling into that eternal adolescent male obsession with the mighty Zep, talking endlessly about the merits of their dadвЂ™s cassettes of Houses Of The Holy or Physical Graffiti as though they were the first awkward pimply boys to ever discover Page and Plant. I remember the reviewer saying something like вЂњWhen everyone else was worshiping Led Zeppelin, I was listening to Thin Lizzy,вЂќ and I was instantly intrigued. I was maybe 13 when I read a review of Dedication: The Very Best Of Thin Lizzy in RIP magazine.

Thankfully, I found out pretty quickly that I was wrong. вЂњFree Bird,вЂќ of course, and вЂњWalk This WayвЂќ and вЂњSister ChristianвЂќ and вЂњMore Than A FeelingвЂќ and вЂњTake The Money And RunвЂќ and вЂњSlow RideвЂќ and, if I was lucky, вЂњRunning With The DevilвЂќ or вЂњBohemian RhapsodyвЂќ or вЂњRoundaboutвЂќ or вЂњZiggy StardustвЂќ or вЂњDream Police.вЂќ If youвЂ™d asked me back then, IвЂ™d have told you Thin Lizzy had one song, вЂњThe Boys Are Back In Town,вЂќ and that it was вЂ“ and by extension, I assumed, they were вЂ“ beer commercial rock, maybe like Bad Company with two guitarists or Edgar Winter Group without the noodly keyboards. As a suburban kid raised on the one classic rock radio station in a mid-sized southern American city, I was bombarded daily with the same 45 songs on a never-ending shuffle.

Thin lizzy fight or fall