10 Hard Rock Musicians That Died Too Soon
7. Phil Lynott - Thin Lizzy
In the grand scheme of hard rock music, songwriting never seemed to be a strong detail. As long as you had a couple of decent riffs to get the crowd headbanging, bands could normally get by for the first half of their career. On the other side of the spectrum, Thin Lizzy was brought to life by one of hard rock's greatest poets.
Frontman Phil Lynott was truly gifted in his songwriting abilities, as each song he composed contained easily digestible short stories that took you to different sides of the Earth. While one minute you'd be in the middle of a fierce rumble on "Jailbreak," the next you would be mounting a horse and preparing to joust on "Emerald." Even with all of his gifts, the band were never able to conjure up the same level of fame that classic acts like Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd could.
As the band continued to deliver one great album after another, Lynott's ongoing relationship with heroin led to him becoming a shell of the man that he once was. Shortly after the tour for the band's album Thunder and Lightning, Phil passed away from complications from his addiction. Given that the man's best work came out in the 70's, we can only speculate how great Lynott could have been if his stories were given the music video treatment.