In 1991, five years after the death of Phil Lynott, the late Bill Graham wrote in Hot Press of Philo's enduring legacy. Over ten years later his words are as relevant as ever.
There may have been many Phil Lynotts but any Dubliner must always come back to one memory that will forever celebrate and redeem him . The sight of Lynott and Thin Lizzy that 1977 night in Dalymount Park when he and his band were momentarily kings of the city and we all left beneath the blessing of the floodlights, internally singing 'Dancing in the Moonlight'.
For it is no exaggeration to say he was our Elvis Presley, the man who validated rock for a generation of Irishmen and women. genuinely he was our first star in an intimate way Van Morrisson's seventies exile prevented.But Lynott wasn't just our first Irish star by the accident of birth and the fact of his elevation. Philip Lynott also represented both our values and aspirations.
Our values in his tolerance, his mischievous good-humour, his genuine efforts at accessibility and cagey playfulness especially typical of Dubliners who took nothing for granted. And our aspirations - when he was sharp - in his style and class and the fact that he was the most masculinely sexual of any Irish star before or since at a time when we were struggling to escape the prison of our repressions.
Besides being a Dub, Lynott knew the value of self-depreciation in this town. Moreover he knew how to merge his stardom with our aspirations. Lynott let us in on his secrets. Even if it may have been a game he thought he controlled, he knew how to share his art and make it ours.
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