Thin Lizzy Singer Would Have Objected to GOP Using Band's Music, Mom Says

Rolling Stone – Tue, Sep 4, 2012 2:15 PM EDT

Thin Lizzy singer Philip Lynott would have objected to Republicans using his music as part of their campaign, his mother said in an interview with Hot Press. Philomena Lynott said her son, who died in 1986, would have disagreed with Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan on issues including gay marriage and taxes. Lynott co-founded Thin Lizzy and wrote the band's 1976 hit "The Boys Are Back in Town," which played as Ryan took the stage last week at the Republican National Convention to accept his party's nomination for vice president. 

"As far as I am concerned, Mitt Romney's opposition to gay marriage and to civil unions for gays makes him anti-gay – which is not something that Philip would have supported," Philomena Lynott said. "He had some wonderful gay friends, as indeed I do, and they deserve equal treatment in every respect, whether in Ireland or the United States."

Lynott – the best selling author of My Boy, which chronicles difficult times she and her son endured in the U.K. during the 1950s – also noted that her son would have opposed the Republicans' "policy of taxing the poor and offering tax cuts to the rich, which Paul Ryan is advocating." She added, "There is certainly no way that I would want the Lynott name to be associated with any of those ideas."

"There is nothing I can do about it except express my views," Philomena continued, "but I do want to be clear that I would not want Philip's music to be used in any way that could hurt a single person, and this is the effect of what happened with Paul Ryan using and abusing my son's music in that way. A lot of fans and musicians are very angry about it and I can fully understand why." 

This is not the first time the Republican ticket has been called out for using rock tunes during the campaign: Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider last month criticized Ryan for using "We're Not Gonna Take It" as intro music before a rally in Pennsylvania. Ryan also recently described himself as a fan of Rage Against the Machine, which prompted an exclusive Rolling Stone op-ed in response from guitarist Tom Morello.

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