Happy Mother’s Day!
What a groundbreaking band Thin Lizzy was at the time. You had a black Irish singer, Phil Lynott, who reminded people of Van Morrison singing and a little of Springsteen in some of his writing…all in a harder rock format. Thin Lizzy revolutionized the dual synchronized guitar attack. Other bands that did the same in the future would use Thin Lizzy as a how-to guide.
The dual guitar is on display here…one playing lead and the other playing the same lead an octave higher. Other bands had two and sometimes three guitarists but they usually didn’t play in unison like Thin Lizzy. It made for a different sound. Now you can use a guitar effect to get close to that on one guitar. Brian May would do it with Queen at times on recordings.
The song was written by Brian Downey, Scott Gorham, and Phil Lynott. It was on the album Bad Reputation released in 1977. The album peaked at #4 in the UK, #39 on the Billboard Album Charts, and #44 in Canada. The album sold very well and went gold.
The song was not a hit but it was played on FM radio stations at the time. It’s one of the songs they are remembered by like Whiskey In A Jar, The Boys Are Back In Town, Jailbreak, and my personal favorite The Cowboy Song.
The members of Thin Lizzy were bassist and singer Phil Lynott, Drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Brian Robertson, and guitarist Scott Gorham. Gary Moore was a member for a few months and also Them’s keyboardist Erix Wrixon but Moore and Wrixon didn’t stay long.
Scott Gorham: “Well, I had the riff down. Phil came up and he says, ‘We need to do an off-time thing with this.’ He started to work with Brian Downey on that, and that’s when they came up with this strange timing that you don’t usually associate with Thin Lizzy. I listened to that and went, ‘Man, that is so fu–ing cool, it’s unbelievable,’ and I jumped in on it. Then it kind of developed itself from there.”
“‘Bad Reputation’ was one of those songs that came together really quickly, as soon as we had that off-timing tagline come in, everything just fell into place, all the harmony guitar work and all that, the lead guitar thing. Phil’s idea from it, from the riff itself, he just thought, you know, something along the lines of, ‘Man, this could give us a really bad reputation. That’s it. That’s what we’re going to call this song.’ And he started writing this song called ‘Bad Reputation.'”
Bad Reputation
You’ve got a bad reputationThat’s the word out on the townIt gives a certain fascinationBut it can only bring you down
You better turn yourself aroundTurn yourself aroundTurn it upside downTurn yourself around
You had bad breaks, well, that’s tough luckYou play too hard, too much rough stuffYou’re too sly, so coldThat bad reputation has made you old
Turn yourself aroundTurn yourself aroundTurn it upside downTurn yourself around
…
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Phil Lynott, Brian Downey, Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham was the best Thin Lizzy Line-up. ‘Bad Reputation’ was a good album but the ‘Live and Dangerous’ album that followed was simply great.
I have heard a lot about that album…I need to check it out.
Live And Dangerous….what a live album and like yourself I love The Cowboy Song. Actually its amazing how many stellar 6 stringers weaved in and out in this band.
Yes it is deke… I need to check that album out.
This song is a cooker, thanks for sharing it, Max.
Great band. I’ve always loved their cool harmony guitar action. I didn’t know this song, but it greatly illustrates their dual guitar attack. It was also rare to see a rock band fronted by a musician of mixed, partially colored heritage. I love these kinds of stories. The color of your skin shouldn’t even be a factor, but it would be naive to think it isn’t.
I agree with you…it shouldn’t matter at all whatsoever.
They helped start that dual guitar lead…which is really cool….and not easy! The Allmans did also a bit when Duane was alive.
Yes the Van and Bruce thing was there when I first heard them but hey were their own band. Like them a lot plus Phil had a great voice. Good cut Max.
You are right the Van and Bruce was strong in Lynott. They weren’t the run of the mill hard rock band.
Agreed. Plus the vocals were very cool. A lot of hard rock bands like to go with the different approach to the singing.
not your typical Irish pub band! I’ve only heard this one a couple of times, not too bad. My brother was quite into them back in that era.
I love this kind of rock at times…they were a little different at the time than the regular hard rock bands.
I don’t think I’ve heard any Thin Lizzy outside the Jail Break album. One of those bands that suffer from the tightening of classic rock playlists.
It makes for a really full sound. ‘Whiskey’ is stellar.
I really came late to the party to appreciate this band and even still I have not given them a serious listen.
It’s kinda like Van fronting a hard rock band at times
Yep I can imagine that but not having listened to them a lot coming from you that comparison carries a lot of weight.
Hella good! I know very little of their music but when I hear this I want to know more. I heard one of their slower ones on SRR and it has grown on me bigtime.
https://youtu.be/6LDopzaVm3I?si=EgUcZmlriyOvZ7Wa
I’m listening to it now…I love the slowness of it…it’s something really different from them. I might have to post this one day….this is awesome! It has a little bit of the early Dylan sound in it.
Max the first time I heard it on SRR I didn’t like it, but as the playlist for the week repeated it started growing on me. Now I love it. I hope you do post it one day. It’s a winner.
I would have never guessed it was them…but yea I love it.
Thin Lizzy’s early albums featured Eric Bell on guitar. They never had the power of duel guitars back then. 🙂
Yea I like this…but I agree…it’s totally different.
Downey’s incredible drumming is what stands out for me on this song.