From the very start of my career, I was designing logos, long before I even knew the meaning of the word.
I was out of college and worked in advertising where they were called ‘Nameplates’, the rather grander ‘Logotype’ came later when I moved to a very creative ad agency full of knowledgeable designers and commercial artists.
The very first Thin Lizzy logo was in fact designed by fellow artist and musician Tim Booth, also a close friend of Philip in the early days. Tim was in a band called ‘Dr. Strangely Strange’ and had just signed to Chris Blackwell’s Island Records so Tim was unavailable. The late Frank Murray, the Thin Lizzy manager, then flew over from London to Dublin with Philip to meet me in Neary’s Pub and get me on board.
I was asked by Philip to work with his band, Thin Lizzy, but that was not what amazed and delighted me most.
What I really appreciated was the fact that Philip, being the perfectionist he was, had really done his research on my art and reeled off to me a good number of my published artworks that he had checked out with Peter Fallon and Eamonn Carr of ‘Tara Telephone’.
From poet Eamonn Carr, of the only Irish beat group, ‘Tara Telephone’ and later the drummer for Horslips, Philip was aware of my two poster poems for Peter and Eamonn, published in a limited edition back then, and loved them. He name-checked the cover art I had produced for Tara Telephone for their publications, ‘Capella’, a little book of new poetry, and the poetry broadsheet we produced called ‘The Book of Invasions’.
The very first logo I did for Thin Lizzy, for their new ‘Vagabonds of the Western World’ album was directly based on the Cadillac style logo Tim had created and this was followed by another adaptation making it stronger, on Philip’s instructions. I even added more flashy Cadillac wings too.
The next Thin Lizzy logo was accidentally a better version of the first which I redesigned just for fun, designing it to be more balanced and centered. This was the variant I used for the ‘The Rocker’ poster and Philip loved it too so I went to work on it straightening the top line so the logo was more regular and adaptable.
Then out of the blue, I got a call from Philip, I lived in Dublin and Philip in London.
‘Jim, I love that silvery logo but would you do me a favour? Can you scribble off a rough of that lettering for ‘The Rocker’ and see if you can make it into a Thin Lizzy logo’.
It was as simple as that.
Philip had run ‘The Rocker’ poster by Frank Murray who loved it but, Frank told me later, Philip had spotted a new letterstyle of mine on the poster that he liked a lot and asked me to develop it.
This was typical Philip and typical of our collaborations. He was a creative himself with a great eye who could read the flimsiest of my sketches and see other possibilities in my work that I was not even aware of myself.
At his prompting, I used the first two letters, the T+H of ‘The Rocker’ as my guide and it all flowed from there. Now I pride myself on my artistic independence but working with Philip never felt like a business arrangement, it really was a collaboration and it shows in my best work for the band.
The rest is Lizzy history as this logo became THE Thin Lizzy logo and even today it is still used on all new releases, Lizzy tees, and merchandising.
First Use of THE Thin Lizzy Logo
At this point in time, I was focused on the final artwork for the new Lizzy album ‘Nightlife’ which was a bit of a rushed release but there was no time to delay so the cover artwork was well in production before the new logo was finished.
I had sent a full colour rough of the Nightlife album cover over to Philip, it had that Roger Dean style logo on the cover, and that went into production immediately then Philip asked me to focus on the new logo idea.
Philip was so excited by it that he had it used for the very first time on the back cover of ‘Nightlife’.
The first appearance of my logo on a Lizzy album cover was on the album, ‘Fighting’, an album cover I disliked and still do to this day. I felt it made the band thuggish and kitschy, not dangerous at all but this new Lizzy logo looked damn good so I stayed schtum. But I really was delighted to see it in prominent use and it looked great.
My next Lizzy gig: producing the artwork for ‘JailBreak’, an album destined to be a classic and I knew that from the start. This was a chance to use the new logo with my artwork but it just did not work out that way…
JAILBREAK
Here’s how we worked:
Philip would call me at all hours and he would play the latest unmixed recordings over the phone. The phone was, of course, a landline, no mobiles, so a ropey line could really f**k things up, often Philip would tell me ‘Call you back when I’m in the office’. Then we would try to listen to every track as he valued my opinion.
The standout number was the title track and he wanted something different. He wanted to blow everyone away and make them look at the album so I did a few roughs and off we went on a roll with this one.
We both collected Marvel comics and Philip was hooked on the book ‘War of the Worlds’ by H.G.Wells and the ‘Kilraven’ Marvel comic-based loosely on the H.G.Wells book.
I presumed we would use the new logo as I had intended to have it like a brand name logo on everything since my background was in advertising and marketing where once a logo was agreed it was used universally, often with a print book of usage instructions.
Anyway, Philip loved my letterstyle for the title ‘JailBreak’ and we agreed to use this for the band title lettering too and he was correct as the lettering and the artwork really work well together and have stood the test of time.
The Big Mirror Logo
The one thing that worked beautifully and added lustre to the proper Thin Lizzy logo was when Philip and the band commissioned a glittering mirror mosaic electrified version of my logo for the stage show and I always remember being so damn proud when I saw this magnificent stage version flashing, shimmering in all its glory as a backdrop to a band who strode the stage like music gods….
A few years ago a major book published on the great logos of the world showcased my Thin Lizzy logo and heaped praise on it. My reaction was delight of course and I felt honoured to be included in this world of magnificent logotype design.
Then I thought of Philip and that phone call asking me to have a go at using my letter style for ‘The Rocker’ poster as a Lizzy logo, which, for myself as the artist-designer, raises an interesting question:
Would I have come up with this iconic band logo design without that prompt from the man himself?
The answer is simple and it’s a loud ‘No’.
Yep, the credit for this one has to be shared, for, without Philip and his ability to ‘read’ my work, it certainly would not exist.
Thanks, big man. You were one amazing friend to work with and this logo says it all. Between the two of us, we created a classic that transcends time.
Finally, my own favourite version of the original Thin Lizzy logo is this epic version I created back in 1981 for an album provisionally titled ‘Trouble Boys’.
I worked closely with Philip on this one too and he really loved the finished artwork but the problem was that the record company felt, correctly, that the proposed title track was not a winner.
This pretty flashy, mirrored metallic logo took me weeks of work and it shows. I loved it then and love it now.
As an artist, you seldom get the feeling that what you have created has worth but I knew when this was finished it was one of my very best. I still feel that way despite the singular fact that I never got paid by the record company for any of this work.
They even had the nerve to use it on a ‘Trouble Boys’ single but there ya go…. that’s showbiz.
In the fullness of time who cares, the work speaks for itself and that is all that is important.
-Jim FitzPatrick. 2022
Check out Part 1 of Thin Lizzy The Evolution of a Logo here!