They never became the biggest band in the world and, dispassionately, one could argue that the best of their repertoire could be spread across two CDs at the most.

But, for close to 40 years now, since the band first emerged out of Ireland with a still-stunning debut album, through a succession of hit singles that began with 1972?s ?Whiskey In The Jar? and went onto encompass such classic-rock mainstays as ?Jailbreak,? ?The Boys Are Back In Town? and ?Dancing In The Moonlight,? Thin Lizzy has been firmly lodged in the rock ?n? roll psyche, a hard-rock band whose appeal is apparent even to people who normally hate hard rock.

Part of Thin Lizzy?s magic was its music, of course. But, equally entrancing was frontman Phil Lynott, a portrait of louche elegance who embodied each and every one of the qualities for which we most value rock ?n? roll ? an outlaw, a scoundrel, a poet, a visionary, an artist. No matter that his life ended with the same sordid crash that took too many of our ?live fast, die young? heroes, nor that his personal life reads like the ugliest page in the annals of excess.