KING OF IRISH HEAVY METAL WENT BALLISTIC ON STAGE IN STOCKHOLM

‪All Messed Up Gary Moore live at Stockholm (Wild Frontier)‬‏ - YouTube

This is one of the finest pieces of 80`s heavy rock guitar I know of. ^^^^^^^

Gary Moore died earlier this year while on holiday in Spain, with no fanfare whatsoever. 

In fact I have only known he is no longer alive for about 3 weeks. He was only in his late 50`s. Moore was one of the many guitarists who lined up in the legendary celtic rock group THIN LIZZY in the late 70`s and early 80`s, a band fronted by the unmistakable bass guitarist Phil Lynott, an Irishman himself too. 

Being Irish most probably limited Moore`s appeal his whole career through outside the British isles, his slasher style of clunkified
soft metal was perhaps never quite refined enough for the US market but Moore always had a loyal following in Europe, the link above for ALL MESSED UP is from a performance in Stockholm in the prime of his rock career before his early 90`s blues transformation.

Gary Moore was a beautiful guitar player in every sense of the word but a poor singer, he tried the rock thing, he tried the blues thing, he even had a hand in creating some jazz fusion rock while he was a member of the band COLOSSEUM II in the late 70`s, a band which has received very mixed reviews over the years. 

I cant say what COLOSSEUM II`s output is like because I have never listened to the band. Moore filled in on many occasions in THIN LIZZY but was not a permanent member, except for the album BLACK ROSE in 1979. 

That album remains one of the best THIN LIZZY albums there is, for what it lacks in panache it makes up for in sophistication and finesse. 

His solo career in the early 80`s was a very workmanlike experience to say the least, he didn`t exactly set the charts on fire but he had a few minor hits, mainly in Britain. 

By the time he had recorded RUN FOR COVER in 1985, which is his best rock album and the one containing the song ALL MESSED UP, he had already established a very loyal grassroots following, RUN FOR COVER was the album to make him a stadium superstar.

Another earlier song of his, MURDER IN THE SKY, with all its Metallica like punctuation of riffs, is another classic ballbuster of heavy rock guitar.

Gary Moore in the early 90`s turned his back on heavy rock and he went out in a new direction playing blues, while I do like some of it you would have to qualify that it was always just a bit too cute and lacked some grunt. 

ALL MESSED UP did not lack grunt however, have a listen to it and play some air guitar. Guess what I have in mind with my mum`s ironing board?