The Boomtown Rats
| The Boomtown Rats | |
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 The Boomtown Rats at Knott's Berry Farm in 1981 |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | County Dublin, Ireland |
| Genres | New wave, Punk rock, Post-punk |
| Years active | 1975–1986 |
| Labels | Mulligan, Ensign, Mercury |
| Associated acts | Band Aid, USA for Africa, Live Aid, Live 8 |
| Website | www.boomtownrats.co.uk |
| Past members | |
| Pete Briquette Gerry Cott Johnny Fingers Bob Geldof Garry Roberts Simon Crowe Paul Martin David McHale (saxophone player and 'unofficial 7th member'[1] |
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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.[2]
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[edit] Biography
All six members were originally from Dún Laoghaire, Ireland.[2] 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.[2] 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.[3]
The group moved to London in October 1976, and became associated with the punk rock movement.[2] Signing a recording contract with Ensign Records, they released their debut single, "Lookin' After No. 1", in August 1977.[2] It was the first of nine straight singles to make the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart.[2][4] 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".[2] Music journalist Martin C. Strong commented, "Geldof's moody charisma helped to give the band a distinct identity".[3]
The Rats' second album, A Tonic for the Troops, appeared in June 1978 in the UK.[2] 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.[2] Mutt Lange produced[4] "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.[4][5]
In 1979, "I Don't Like Mondays", was released.[2] This was written in response to a school shooting in California carried out by Brenda Ann Spencer, and also reached #1 in the UK.[4] It was a worldwide hit, with the glaring exception being the United States.[6] Fears of lawsuits and charges of bad taste kept radio stations there from playing the record.[6] The unofficial boycott was frontpage news in Variety Magazine, the only time the Boomtown Rats earned such prominent coverage.[6] 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.[2] The album also contained "Diamond Smiles" and their next Top 10 hit in the UK, "Someone's Looking at You".[2] 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.[7]
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.[2] "Banana Republic" savaged their native Ireland, the "septic isle screaming in the suffering sea".[7]
[edit] Cott's departure
At this point, guitarist Gerry Cott left the group. According to Bob Geldof's autobiography, Is That It?, Cott had grown disillusioned with the band's growing laziness in the studio and their greater reggae emphasis, in addition to being bullied by the rest of the band for his dissension. He resigned the day before the end of their 1981 world tour, only hours after the rest of the band had decided to sack him for refusing to join the rest of the band and road crew for a drink to celebrate Simon Crowe's birthday.
Cott had a short-lived solo career, releasing two UK singles, "The Ballad of the Lone Ranger" and "Pioneers" and the 1984 Canadian single "Alphabet Town".
[edit] V Deep
They continued as a quintet with the band's fifth album, V Deep, being released in February 1982.[2] The first single was "Never In A Million Years" which did not sell well, whilst the follow-up "House on Fire" made number 24 in the UK Singles Chart.
By 1984, they were touring universities after becoming unable to fund the "guarantee" required to book mainstream concert halls, having fallen victim to a demand from Inland Revenue for unpaid tax.
In January 1985, the band's sixth and final album In the Long Grass was released, although delayed by the band's involvement with Band Aid (on which they all played); and, the band performed at Live Aid's charity performance.[2] Two singles, "Tonight" and "Drag Me Down" reached the lower rungs of the UK Singles Chart, whilst "A Hold Of Me" failed to chart.
[edit] "Dave" became "Rain" in the U.S.
"Dave" was re-recorded as "Rain" for the U.S. market. The song was about the band's saxophone player and schooldays friend Dr David McHale (died 2009), who had suffered a breakdown after his girlfriend was found dead in a public toilet next to an empty heroin bag.[8] The 'Rain' metaphor in the altered lyrics name-checked Duran Duran's earlier song "Hold Back The Rain", where Geldof's friend Simon Le Bon pleaded with an unnamed band member to cease dabbling with narcotics.
[edit] Boomtown Rats split
After this, the band was mothballed whilst Geldof wound up his affairs with the Band Aid Trust, during which time he succeeded in getting them a one-album deal with Vertigo Records. However, both Crowe and Fingers refused to rejoin the Boomtown Rats full time, preferring to pursue their own band, Gung Ho.
The band's final performance came at Self Aid, a 1986 concert featuring many Irish rock stars, to raise awareness of unemployment in Ireland.[7] Their penultimate performance, "Joey's On the Street Again", was 12 minutes long with an extended bridge, during which time Geldof ran amongst the crowd. Following this performance, Geldof addressed the crowd, saying, "It's been a great ten years; rest in peace". The band then performed "Looking After No.1".
Following the band's break-up, Geldof launched a solo career with Pete Briquette continuing to work alongside him. Garry Roberts co-wrote songs for Kirsty McColl before going to work first in insurance, and then in boiler maintenance.
After Gung Ho split, Fingers became a highly successful music producer in Japan, as well as being part of the Japanese band Greengate. Simon Crowe is in the West Country-based Celtic instrumental band Jiggerypipery and has also run a clock making business.
In 2005 the band's albums were all remastered and re-released and a 'Best Of' compilation was released, along with two DVDs. Briquette mixed the live DVD and Francesco Cameli mixed the extra tracks for the re-release of the Boomtown Rats albums at Sphere Studios in London.
[edit] The Rats
In 2008 Roberts and Crowe re-formed as 'The Rats', playing their favourite Boomtown Rats songs. The band was fronted by Peter Barton, who has a long history, stretching from the 1980s, of latterly fronting former famous acts, including The Animals, The Hollies and Lieutenant Pigeon.[9] Darren Beale played lead guitar, whilst saxophone player Andy Hamilton, who had toured and recorded with The Boomtown Rats, including at Live Aid, played as a guest at some gigs.
Both Cott and Fingers were invited to rejoin the band when circumstances allow. Cott attended the Boomtown Rats' second gig (at The 100 Club on Oxford Street, London). Fingers meanwhile works for the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, but plans to join the band on stage when he is in the UK.
On 21 June 2009, Geldof, Roberts, and Briquette got together in Dublin to play "Dave", at the wake for the Boomtown Rats' backing saxophonist Dave McHale, who had died of cancer. "Dave" was a song Geldof wrote for McHale in 1983, after McHale's girlfriend died from a heroin overdose.[10]
On 20 September 2011, Gerry Cott guested with Geldof, Briquette and the rest of Geldof's band at The Cadogan Hall, London. They played three Boomtown Rats songs together prior to the encores. Cott returned to the stage for the final encore playing on two Geldof solo songs.[11]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio Albums
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[edit] UK Top 40 Singles
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[edit] See also
- List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
- List of artists who reached number one in Ireland
- List of artists who reached number one on the Australian singles chart
- List of New Wave bands and artists
- List of musicians in the first wave of punk music
- List of Peel sessions
- List of acts who appeared on American Bandstand
- Music of Ireland
- List of Irish people
[edit] References
- ^ "McHale "7th Member"". Boomtownrats.co.uk. http://www.boomtownrats.co.uk/the-news/111-david-mchale.html. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Biography by William Ruhlmann". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3745/biography. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
- ^ a b Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 105–106. ISBN 1-84195-017-3.
- ^ a b c d Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 71. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 193. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
- ^ a b c Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 198. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
- ^ a b c Roberts, David (1998). Guinness Rockopedia (1st ed.). London: Guinness Publishing Ltd.. p. 55. ISBN 0-85112-072-5.
- ^ Bob Geldof – Is That It? (1985) ISBN 0-330-44292-9
- ^ UK (21 September 2008). "Peter Barton , Gratis muziek, tourneedata, foto's, video's". Myspace.com. http://www.myspace.com/peterbartonram. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
- ^ "accessed July 2009". Hotpress.com. http://www.hotpress.com/archive/5545105.html. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
- ^ "accessed September 2011". thisislondon.co.uk. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/music/review-23989296-bob-geldof-cadogan-hall---review.do. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
- Liner Notes to The Boomtown Rats' Greatest Hits
[edit] External links
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