Rock Groups

Currently listing 110 Rock Groups with many more to come!

As the heavy metal groups of the 70's carved their way across the world, Irish musicians began to experiment themselves. Some, such as Van Morrison's Them and Rory Gallagher's Taste gained international recognition and success, but they had to leave Ireland to "make it." Back home though, it wasn't easy for rock groups to make a living.

In Dublin and Belfast, before the rock bands there were the Beat groups. They played the same gigs, created the same stir, but just went by a different name in the 60's. For more info on The Beat groups, click here to visit Francis Kennedy's excellent Beat Group Archive.

Outside of Dublin, there were few venues for rock groups and any original music was naturally compared to Led Zeppelin, or Deep Purple, the rock gods of the era. Recording was an expensive proposition and few bands had the "bread" to record at Windmill, or one of the handful of Dublin's other professional studios.

Irish rock groups in the early 70's all faced the same dilemma: to be successful they had to leave Ireland. Even though the country had no problem producing world class rock acts, almost all of them were forced to go to England to gain recognition there, before they would be accepted at home.

Horslips broke through initially with their experimental version of Celtic rock. They were possibly the first Irish based rock band to enjoy success in Europe without relocating to London, or the States. While they became huge at home, and toured extensively in the United States and England, super star status eluded them. They came together in 1970 and within a decade had broken up with Johnny Fean and Eamonn Carr forming the Zen Alligators, a short lived rock n' soul band that toured the ballrooms. Recently though, they have made a string of appearances together with talk of a reunion in the works. 

It was probably Thin Lizzy that became the first major Irish rock band to conquer England while still living and playing, in the main, at home in Ireland. Their rocked up Irish folk tune, Whiskey in the Jar, broke in England while the band was still playing small gigs in Irish hotels and secondary schools. I first heard the number when they introduced it at gig in the Imperial Hotel in Sligo in early 1973. However, on February 1, 1973, Phil Lynott, Eric Bell and Brian Downey were onstage at the BBC's Top of The Pops, alongside such international pop icons as Stevie Wonder (singing Superstition), Carly Simon (You're So Vain), and ELO (Roll Over Beethoven). Lizzy had arrived!  

The coming of Lizzy, Gallagher and Horslips, among others, led to an explosion of young rock bands on the fledgling Dublin Rock scene as the seventies progressed. Critics of this era in Irish rock might suggest that one of the downsides of the reporting on the Dublin scene in publications like Spotlight, gave an undue amount of press dedicated "up and coming rock bands" that were no more than "garage bands" (i.e., here today and gone tomorrow). In fact, in 1974, Don O'Connor, founder member of Reform complained saying, "The magazine give a false impression to rock bands around the country...They believe all these groups are the greatest thing going....yet they haven't got the price of a van." Harsh words from one of the era's most successful Irish based rock groups. 

It still wouldn't be until the late seventies that things really began to change. Encouraged by the success of punk and new wave artists, Irish rock groups started coming of age. Local bands realized they could make records "as good," if not better than many of the punk bands in London. Bands like the Boomtown Rats (based in England), The Undertones (Belfast) and Stiff Little Fingers (Belfast) led the charge in 1977-78, taking their places alongside punk contemporaries like the Clash and Sex Pistols.

The introduction of Hot Press in 1979, gave further momentum to Irish rock's development. Hot Press gave alternative music it's own voice and it's own face. In much the same way Rolling Stone helped legitimize rock music a generation earlier, so Hot Press did in Ireland and never looked back. Of course, one of the drawbacks of having its own publication was the continuing problem distinguishing true rock talent with amateur "wannabee" rock bands that literally did little but rehearse, constantly switch members and play the occasional gig. 

However, Irish rock really started making waves at home around this time, and bands started having significant success in Ireland without having to move to England. Arguably, the biggest success enjoyed by a rock group around this time in Ireland was Bagatelle's huge hit, Summer In Dublin, in 1978 which took the country by storm. Not since the days of Thin Lizzy and Horslips, had a group been so successful at home. Although it is difficult to categorize Bagatelle and their leader, Liam O'Reilly as rockers, they were still part of the Hot Press crowd--rock bands at heart. Liam went on to represent Ireland in Eurovision some twelve years later and placed a very respectable 2nd. 

Following on the heels of Bagatelle, groups like The Blades, Mama's Boys, The Lookalikes, Stepaside, Reform, and many others had hit records in Ireland. The irony though, was that with success, they joined their ancestors, the showbands, playing in the ballrooms and dancehalls which dotted the countryside and cities of Ireland.

"This week, Big Tom...next week, Mama's Boys!"

Of course, Irish rock continued to grow in both stature and influence as the eighties rolled on. Sir Bob Geldof's Live Aid concerts in 1985 were truly significant and revolutionized the social impact music could have across in the world...a trend that continues to the present day.

Since this website is dedicated mainly to bands that played in Ireland, up until 1990, a discussion of Ireland's continuing prominence in the world of rock through the 1990's and into the 21st century is beyond the scope of the site. For the moment, we will leave that task to someone else.

Needless to say, when Thin Lizzy took to the stage in the Imperial Hotel in Sligo in the winter of 1972 and played their "upcoming single, Whiskey In The Jar," few in the hall that evening could have ever imagined what would happen next! Long live Irish rock!    

Much more to come!

Click here for Rock Group photo gallery (all the photos in our collection...so far!)

Click on band name (if highlighted) to see photo.