In Ireland, rock music essentially began with the so-called “showbands” in the early-’60s. Individual pioneers like Van Morrison, Henry McCullough of Wings and the Joe Cocker’s Grease Band and the groundbreaking guitarist Rory Gallagher all rose to initial fame playing covers in local clubs and dancehalls.
By the early ’70s, groups began tentatively melding rock with overt Celtic influences – and then building critical momentum without necessarily leaving Ireland. Ironically enough, that finally built a platform for international success.
Into the late-’70s and early-’80s, Irish rock bands were breaking through in the U.K., America and across the world. They could become platinum-selling superstars without pulling up their roots. This burgeoning sense of grounded tradition would spawn generation after generation of important bands.
The Four Most Important Irish Rock Bands
Ireland was now officially on the rock map. That opened up exciting new vistas in the late-’80s and early-’90s, as bands began making music that had little to do with what had come before. A wildly divergent, mature brand of rock emerged that shook off the shackles of the past, storied though it might have been. The very idea of “Irish rock” suddenly knew no bounds.
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Over the years, a quartet of bands came to embody Ireland’s amazing musical journey. Each contributed in their own unique ways. Here’s a look back at the ‘Big 4’ of Irish rock bands:
No. 4. My Bloody Valentine
They rose to fame as a dreamy but still quite loud alternative to edgy early-’90s grunge. But My Bloody Valentine had already issued two groundbreaking ’80s-era EPs and a U.K. indie chart-topping album before the arrival of 1991’s masterpiece Loveless. That hurtled the group to the Top 10 in Ireland and and the U.K. Just as importantly, their pioneering shoegaze sound directly impacted the musical direction of bands as diverse (and, yes, loud) as Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead.
Formed in Dublin in 1983, the Kevin Shields-led My Bloody Valentine then seemed on course to become one of rock’s most memorable disappearing acts. That is, until MBV somehow arrived some 22 years later. The widely acclaimed 2013 LP simultaneously restored their blissfully noisy crown while giving new meaning to the oft-used rock-crit term “long-awaited.” They nearly cracked the Irish Top 40 again, too.
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No. 3. The Pogues
Don’t tell anyone, but this quintessentially Irish group actually formed in 1982 … in England? But Irish-bred, politically charged Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan then set about combining his own snotty punk influences with Celtic folk, and a unique new synthesis was born. Quite fittingly, they took their name from an Irish phrase meaning, “kiss my arse.” They notched five U.K. Top 20 albums, beginning with 1985’s Elvis Costello-produced Rum Sodomy and the Lash.
In the late-’80s the Pogues scored seven Top 10 hit singles in their native Ireland, capped by 1987’s consecutive chart-topping “Irish Rover” and “Fairytale of New York,” the latter of which became a timeless holiday classic. Unfortunately, MacGowan would leave the Pogues in the early ’90s while battling substance abuse and ill health, though the Pogues released two more albums without him. They reunited a few times before a final turn in 2001 and MacGowan’s death in 2023.
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READ MORE: The Very Best Songs by the Pogues
No. 2. U2
They formed in 1976 in Dublin, initially banging out fervent post-punk songs. But U2 had dreams as big as frontman Bono’s emotional narratives and the Edge’s soaring guitar riffs – maybe bigger. They began building out a fervent fanbase, first in Ireland and then the world. U2’s musical path diverged from their gritty roots, but a long period of reinvention in the ’80s and ’90s brought still more fans to their music.
Consistent early-’80s Top 20 hitmakers in Ireland, U2 was suddenly rattling off U.K. chart-topping albums by 1983. The Joshua Tree then heralded five straight U.S. No. 1s. They crisscrossed the globe with some of the most imaginative stage setups ever attempted. For all of their wildly divergent musical explorations, however, the lineup never changed. The same four who’d once played local clubs would sell more than 150 million records worldwide, while claiming more Grammy Awards than any band ever had.
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No. 1. Thin Lizzy
There may have been bigger bands, but none that so completely embodied Irish rock. Thin Lizzy did things their own way. The lineup included members from both sides of “The Troubles,” with Protestant and Catholic backgrounds. They rose to initial local fame with a traditional song, rather than an original, as “Whiskey in the Jar” topped the singles charts in their native country. This canny blending of the old and the new made them ageless. Unusually, they then broke through on the American and the U.K. album charts at the same time.
Jailbreak became a gold-selling Top 20 hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and “The Boys Are Back in Town” remains an ageless No. 12 radio favorite in the states. Thin Lizzy found the rest of their chart successes in the U.K., however, where they released six more Top 40 albums, including including three Top 10 hits. Groundbreaking frontman Phil Lynott was dead by 1986, at just 36. Thin Lizzy attempted to continue without him, but their legend – at home and everywhere else – was already firmly in place.
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