Musical Dublin - Dublin - page 455

Popular Music
Like everywhere else, the '60s introduced Dublin to rock and pop, allowing local bands to
believe they had a future beyond the stages of their local dance hall. Thin Lizzy, formed in
1969, were the most successful of these: led by the imperious Phil Lynott (1949-86), they
dominated the '70s with their brand of Celtic-and-blues-infused rock. Albums like Jail-
break (1976) and Live and Dangerous (1978) are high points of a sterling career.
And then, in 1976, a supernova was born in North Dublin. The
world and her sister have an opinion about U2 and, especially,
their shy, un-opinionated lead singer Bono, but U2 have not only
eclipsed virtually every other band save the Rolling Stones for
mega-stardom and longevity, but have come to represent Dublin
on the international stage in a way that nobody - including James
Joyce and Guinness - have done before. If we had to pick just
one album, it would be the simply magnificent The Joshua Tree
(1987), although Achtung Baby (1991) is quite something too.
Their musical output of late has dipped, as inevitably it would
with a band whose members are comfortably middle-aged: their
last album, No Line on the Horizon (2009), was released to very
mixed reviews.
U2's success cast a long shadow over the city's musical scene in the next couple of dec-
ades, despite the valiant and wonderful efforts of Sinéad O'Connor to bask in her own sun-
light and the singular genius of My Bloody Valentine, who were the true pioneers of the
shoe-gazer alt-rock movement of the late 1980s (1991's Loveless is one of Dublin's
greatest musical moments). But who was going to be the next U2? The answer was
'nobody', or, if you were boy-group impresario Louis Walsh, Boyzone and Westlife, his
two most successful creations of the '90s obsession with anodyne pop.
Infinitely more memorable was the emergence of the dance music scene, a five-year
party fuelled by ecstasy, bottled water and the pounding beat of techno as played by a host
of top-class local DJs and a constant stream of (overpaid) international superstars.

Dublin
Songs
I Don't Like Mondays (1979)
Boomtown Rats
Lay Me Down (2001) The
Frames
One (1991) U2
Raglan Road (1972) Luke
Kelly & The Dubliners
Still in Love with You (1978)
Thin Lizzy