Pop/Rock Music of Ireland

The 1960s saw the appearance of the major Irish rock ensembles and musicians such as Van Morrison, Emmet Spiceland, Them, Skid Row, Eire Apparent, Dr. Strangely, mellow Candle, Taste, Rory Gallagher and Thin Lizzy.

source of picture: musicscene.ie 

In 1970, Dana put Ireland on the pop music map by winning the Eurovision with her song kinds of everything. She went to number one in the United Kingdom and across the Europe and smooth the way for several Irish musicians. Gilbert O’Sullivan went to the top of the charts in the year 1972 with a cord of hits and the all-sister line-up of the Nolans gained international chart success in the late 1970s. Chris de Burgh achieved the international commendation with his 1986 hit, Lady in red.

The groups who formed during the appearance of the punk rock in the mid-late 1970s include U2, Virgin Prunes, The Undertone, Aslan, Gavin Friday, The Boomtown Rats and Stiff Little Fingers. Later in the 80s and 90s Irish punk fractured into the original patterns of alternative rock that included that petrol Emotion, My Bloody valentine and Ash. The Pogues mix punk with the traditional Irish songs. In the 1990s pop ensembles such as B*Witched, Boyzone, The Corrs, The Cranberries and Westlife appeared. In the same year, Ireland also contributed a subgenre of folk metal called Celtic metal with exponents of the genre including the Cruaxchan, primordial, Wauylander and Geasa.

Other musicians well known as popular music artists include Jack L, Declan O’Rourke, Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club, Paddy Casey, Damien Rice, Eleanor McEvoy, Damien Dempsey, Phil Coulter, Dolores Keane, Frances Black, Sharon Shannon, Mary Black, Wright Finbar, Maura O’Connell, The Frames, Niall Horan and Stockton’s Wing etc.