10 Hard Rock & Metal Bands With No Original Members Left

There's no getting around that Thin Lizzy was, by and large, an extension of vocalist Phil Lynott. From the first few albums onward, Lynott's delicate way of weaving in complex narratives and story structures into his songs was the main draw of Lizzy's sound, with Brian Downey and Eric Bell rounding out the original lineup as a trio. However, time can play tricks on these Irish lads.

Across the years, Lizzy always had a bit of a revolving door when it came time to guitar players before hitting a groove with the guitar duo of Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson. On the other hand, even that pair got a little tiresome, with blues legend Gary Moore replacing Robertson in his downtime before John Sykes was brought into the picture before being folded into Whitesnake. While everything seemed fine with Phil upfront, most of the magic was gone by the mid-'80s when Lynott died of pneumonia after a long battle with addiction.

Though the classic iteration of Lizzy pretty much ended that day, Gorham is still continuing on the musical legacy left by Lynott, bringing Scott Travis of Judas Priest behind the kit and Ricky Warwick being brought in to deliver the songs like Lynott could back in the day. Whereas other acts try to make new material and coax off of name recognition, this latest version of Lizzy feels more like a celebration of Lynott's contributions to rock than just royalty checks.