Smoke bombs! Remember the smell those things made? Smelled like…. rock and roll (also greasy hair, denim, and sweat).

A few things came to mind watching this:

1) Why is it in black and white? England wasn’t that primitive in 1973.
2) Noel Edmonds was always an annoying twat, wasn’t he?
3) But how great was Phil Lynott?
4) Fantastic pair of dancing dollies at 2:31, and keep an eye out for the lad in the starry jumper behind them who may be the worst dancer I’ve ever seen. Hope he wasn’t trying to pull.
5) “Telly’s on the blink again!” (my Grandad)

I had to go in to work on Sunday and as I was all alone in the office I indulged in a secret act so shameful I would have been mortified if anyone saw me. I was working away with iTunes playing in the background but when this tune came on I turned the volume up to 11 and completely, um, rocked out to it.

Download: Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To…) – Queen (mp3)

There was much vigorous nodding of the head, biting of the lower lip, air-guitaring, and even playing of the drums on my desk.

Promise you won’t tell anyone.

I’m feeling lazy, time to get out the cardboard guitar.

We used to call blokes like this a Grebo which is mangled slang for a greasy biker type (though its meaning seems to have expanded since I were a lad). I don’t know if there was a slang term for a female Grebo though, a Grebette maybe?

Download: The Rocker – Thin Lizzy (mp3)

There were only three kids in my school Sixth Form who were into Metal and dressed like the above picture. You didn’t have to wear a uniform by that age so they’d come in denim jackets with “Zojo” embroidered on the back, I don’t think you were allowed to have your hair longer than shoulder length so they were limited in that area. There may have been other, younger headbangers at school hiding beneath their uniforms with “Deep Purple 4 Ever” scrawled on their sports bags but I never knew them. To us, Heavy Metal was something liked by either your out-of-date older brother or kids unlucky enough to live in backward towns north of London where they still wore flares and smoked Woodbines. Motorhead and Thin Lizzy were about the only socially acceptable metal/hard rock acts (early, Bon Scott-era AC/DC were good fun too), but to declare a love for Saxon or Judas Priest and dress like that was like announcing you had no interest in ever having sex with a girl.

But there were times when a bit of big, dumb riffage with loud guitars did sound really good, like this headbanger which hit the charts in 1977. This should clear the Bay City Rollers out of your head.

Download: Black Betty – Ram Jam (mp3)

The second concert I ever went to was Thin Lizzy at the Hammersmith Odeon in what I guess must have been late 1978 because their current album was “Live & Dangerous” (which is the one I would tell anyone to buy if they only wanted one Thin Lizzy album) and Gary Moore was occupying the lead guitarist slot. It remains the only “hard rock” gig I’ve ever been too and I remember being startled at how loud it was – it made my jaw hurt – but the mate I went with had seen Motorhead and Ted Nugent at the same venue and thought it was nothing (“you think this is loud? Ha!”) By that time I was well aware that heavy metal was about as duff and retrograde as you could get in the late 70s (and the terrible clothes!) and was faintly amused to find myself getting caught up in the atmosphere, excitedly pumping my fist in the air and vigorously nodding my head along with all the other greasy long-hairs in the audience. Even today, when I play heavier Thin Lizzy tracks like “The Rocker” I can’t stop myself from playing a little air guitar with my fingers while nodding my head and pulling the eyes-closed, white-man-overbite expression. Oh, the shame.

But trendy or not, Lizzy were yards better than your average hard rock outfit with a lead singer who oozed charisma and Irish charm and wrote romantic, lyrical songs about vagabonds, cowboys and bikers heavily influenced by Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen. It’s usually cringe-inducing when hard rockers get all soppy and sing ballads, wailing over crashing power chords about how their sweet lovin’ woman left them, but “Still In Love With You” is a beauty in any genre, especially in this live version. A sad torch song as deep as the deepest Southern Soul ballad which Phil Lynott sings delicately without a hint of hard rock chest-thumping. The blazing twin guitar solos by Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham are pretty wonderful too and I usually hate guitar solos.

Though this was credited to Lynott apparently the song was mostly written by Gary Moore when he had a short spell with the group in the early 70s. Nice one Gary, though at the gig I had a feeling Phil didn’t appreciate you trying to hog the spotlight by showing off with the solos a bit too much.

Download: Still In Love With You – Thin Lizzy (mp3)
Buy: “Live and Dangerous” (album)