The Boomtown Rats (Official Thread)

[JerseyGirl]

The Boomtown Rats were an Irish punk rock band that had a series of Irish and UK hits between 1977 and 1985. They were led by vocalist Bob Geldof.

Biography

All six members were originally from Dún Laoghaire, Ireland. Formed under the name "The Nightlife Thugs," the group agreed on the name change to the "Boomtown Rats" after a gang that Geldof read about in Woody Guthrie's autobiography, Bound for Glory. They became a notable band, but one whose accomplishments were overshadowed by the charity work of frontman Bob Geldof, a former journalist with the NME magazine.

The group moved to London in October 1976, and became associated with the punk rock movement. Signing a recording contract with Ensign Records, they released their debut single, "Lookin' After No. 1", in August 1977. It was the first of nine straight singles to make the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart. Their debut album, The Boomtown Rats, was released in September 1977, on Ensign in the UK and on Mercury Records in the United States, and featured another single, "Mary of the 4th Form". As music journalist, Martin C. Strong noted, "Geldof's moody charisma helped to give the band a distinct identity".

The Rats' second album, A Tonic for the Troops, appeared in June 1978 in the UK. It featured three hit singles, "Like Clockwork", "She's So Modern" and "Rat Trap". A Tonic for the Troops was released in the U.S. on Columbia in February 1979, with two tracks from The Boomtown Rats substituted for tracks on the UK version. Mutt Lange produced "Rat Trap", which became the first rock song by an Irish band to reach #1 in the UK, and the first of any description by an Irish band to top the official chart used by the BBC. (The Bachelors had topped the Record Retailer chart in 1964 with "Diane", but only reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart). In addition, "Rat Trap" was also the first new wave song to claim the number one spot.

In 1979, "I Don't Like Mondays", was released. This was written in response to a school shooting in California carried out by Brenda Ann Spencer, and also reached #1 in the UK. It was a worldwide hit, with the glaring exception being the United States. Fears of lawsuits and charges of bad taste kept radio stations there from playing the record. The unofficial boycott was frontpage news in Variety Magazine, the only time the Boomtown Rats earned such prominent coverage. However, it was included in The Fine Art of Surfacing, the band's third album, and subsequently became the band's only U.S. Billboard Hot 100 entry. The album also contained "Diamond Smiles" and their next Top 10 hit in the UK, "Someone's Looking at You". Geldof and Fingers became the visual and musical focus of the group: Geldof with his articulate, caustic wit – which made him the delight of television talk show presenters and the bitter enemy of music journalists – and Fingers with the striped pyjamas he wore onstage.

In 1980 "Banana Republic" was released, which was their last Top 10 hit, and in the following year the Boomtown Rats' next studio album Mondo Bongo was issued. "Banana Republic" savaged their native Ireland, the "septic isle screaming in the suffering sea".

Studio Albums
The Boomtown Rats (1977)
A Tonic for the Troops (1978)
The Fine Art of Surfacing (1979)
Mondo Bongo (1980)
V Deep (1982)
In the Long Grass (1984)


MORE IN LINK: The Boomtown Rats - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Official Website: Welcome to The Boomtown Rats Official Website

Rat Trap


I Don't Like Mondays


Someone's Looking At You
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[METALPRIEST]

Still love the LIVE AID version of I Don't Like Mondays

 

[LOU/REALM]

You have to admitTHE BOOMTOWN RATS "I Dont like Mondays" is now regarded as a bit of a classic . A moving song if not controvercial.
Not a big fan of Geldof, but I also liked some of the early punk singles eg "Mary of the 4th form "

 

[darklands]

Like Clockwork
Rat Trap
I Don't Like Mondays
Diamond Smiles
Someone's Looking At You

What a run of classic singles - has there been a better run of singles, other than, perhaps, by The Beatles or The Stones? Bob's lyrics (then, not so much of late) and delivery....

 

[Nai Noswad]

Liked their Ensign stuff.

Looking After N0. 1

Mary Of The Fourth Form.

 

[darklands]

Yeah, Nai, I know - that stuff was good too (maybe you're slightly older than me - it was the tracks i listed that i heard on the radio and TOTPs).
Those songs i listed though - the lyrics (specially Rat Trap - "He doesn't like it living here in this town / He says the traps have been sprung long before he was born" - and the whole of the rest of the lyric!) (and Someone's Lookin' at You - "They saw me there in the square when I was shooting my mouth off / About saving some fish / Now could that be construed as some radical's views or some liberals' wish") and Bob's delivery (his attitude shows through) - stood out from most stuff at the time. Difficult to separate the first time i heard Don't Like Mondays from hearing it now (so overplayed, like Bohemian Rhapsody et al) - one of those songs you remember hearing for the first time.