PHOTO OF THE CURRENT LINE-UP OF THE BOOMTOWN RATS (L-R Bob Geldof, Simon Crowe, Pete Briquette, Alan Dunn, Darren Beale)
THE BOOMTOWN RATS
NEW ANTHOLOGY:
‘THE FIRST 50 YEARS: SONGS OF BOOMTOWN GLORY’
to be released on 19th SEPTEMBER ’25
PREORDER THE ALBUM here
The Boomtown Rats, “the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world… from Dún Laoghaire!”, as Geldof indisputably proclaims at the top of every live Rats gig, celebrate an extraordinary rock’n’roll birthday this year with the release of The First 50 Years: Songs Of Boomtown Glory – which will be available on the Universal Music Recordings label on 19th September, shortly before the band hits the road for their ‘Happy Birthday Boomtown’ tour.
Long before Live Aid hero, Sir Bob and ‘conscience of the world’ Bob, there was a band called The Boomtown Rats fronted by a scrawny, Jagger-lipped, mouthy Paddy called Bob Geldof along with his mates Pete Briquette on bass, Simon Crowe on drums, Garry Roberts on guitar, Johnny Fingers on piano and Gerry Cott on guitar.
Ireland in the mid-70s was a poor, grey, joyless place mired in murder and political and financial corruption and dominated spiritually and socially by a dogmatic and suffocating Catholic church; a country that offered no future to its young. The Boomtown Rats, named after Woody Guthrie’s childhood gang and taken from Bound for Glory, the dustbowl poet’s classic autobiography, arrived like an irritating swarm of biting, stinging mosquitoes at a quiet Sunday picnic, playing high-octane garage rock, singing of their country through their still unclouded, uncompromised eyes, and, like their namesake, of injustice, and the dispossessed, goading and overtly publically challenging the status quo and in so doing…”helped call a new country into being.” (Prof Eoin Devereux, Limerick University)
We knew nothing of this in the UK but when The Rats arrived in London at the height of the punk explosion and found similar social conditions to those they had just left in Ireland (27% inflation, high unemployment, societal discontent) they fitted neatly in and were, thanks to their well drilled live sound and the considerable charm of their motormouth singer, an overnight sensation. Their debut single ‘Looking After No. 1’, taken from their 1977 debut album ‘The Boomtown Rats’ crashed into the UK charts and was a sensation on their first TV appearance on the Marc Bolan show followed by a breakout performance on Top Of The Pops.
Their second album, A Tonic for the Troops (1978) featured the UK No. 1 hit ‘Rat Trap,’ a powerful, lowlife narrative song, written by Geldof when he was working in an abattoir (“…the only job I could get”), speaking to the hopelessness of an already doomed young couple that became the first UK chart-topping single by an Irish rock group and the first ‘new wave’ No 1. The album also included sophisticated songs like ‘(I Never Loved) Eva Braun’, ‘Me And Howard Hughes’ (Paul McCartney approached Bob at an awards show and asked ‘Who wrote that one?’ ‘Me’ responded Geldof. Macca:‘That’s a really good one that, Lar’ A Beatle had bestowed his benediction. It doesn’t get higher.) and two other top ten smash singles in ‘She’s So Modern’ and ‘Like Clockwork,’ and garnering the band an extraordinary hat trick Album Of The Year in NME, Melody Maker and the ITV Music Awards.
The Boomtown Rats’ biggest international success came in 1979 with the release of ‘I Don’t Like Mondays,’ a haunting ballad inspired by a tragic school shooting in San Diego, California. When 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer was asked why she opened fire on an elementary school, killing two adults and injuring several children, she reportedly said, “I don’t like Mondays.” Geldof turned this chilling quote into ‘one of the greatest songs on the uselessness of violence’ (Hot Press) that topped the UK Singles Chart and became a global smash, hitting No 1 in 32 countries. It was however banned in the US, the record company having been threatened with lawsuits, refused to distribute the song despite it being a massive radio hit. “Finally Geldof had written about us – like Neil Young and Springsteen – but we refused to listen” said Paul Rappaport, Columbia Records Vice President.
Horrified by TV images of famine in Ethiopia, Geldof and Midge Ure wrote the 1984 Bandaid song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”. The track brought together the UK’s biggest contemporary music stars, as well as his fellow Rats, and was the fastest selling single in chart history. Live Aid “The Greatest Rock Concert Ever” (many sources) held on July 13, 1985, simultaneously in London and Philadelphia, raised $160 million ($480 million in today’s money) for famine relief. Geldof then organised the distribution of the funds and utilised the political lobby thereof over the past 40 years. He was later knighted and has been nominated 8 times for the Nobel Peace Prize (“always the bridesmaid, never the bride!”) and received numerous humanitarian honours.
Whilst all this activity necessitated a hiatus with the Rats, Geldof was only doing what their namesake and their songs had always suggested. He had taken the Rats inspiration and music and applied its sentiment to the real world with real action. Initially like their peers in the UK and despite being momentarily banned in their home country, they had helped articulate a different Ireland….a better version of itself, and have lasted long enough to see that come into being and be celebrated and acknowledged for it. The Boomtown Rats were central participants in the Cultural Revolution that was Punk/New Wave and its demand for change, and were one of its major success stories and one of its greatest rock bands. They have written many classics and a few standards and with full encouragement by his fellow bandmates Geldof co-wrote the biggest selling single and organised the biggest concert ever, which famously culminated in the Rats playing the Xmas song behind Bowie, Bono, Elton, George, Pete Townsend, Macca and….Bob.
The Boomtown Rats have released seven 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), and Citizens Of Boomtown (2020). They are regarded as one of the most influential and socially conscious bands to emerge from the late 1970s punk explosion, a group whose impact went well beyond the music charts, inspiring a whole new generation of Irish bands including U2 (Bono: “Literally I can trace my life to pre-BG and post BG. The Rats are an amazing band.”), Sinead O’Connor (‘Geldof taught me to be free with my voice…”), the Undertones and to the present in the poetics and attitudes of Fontaines DC and the sheer bolshiness of Kneecap.
In its gatefold sleeve, The First 50 Years – Songs Of Boomtown Glory is a one-stop shop of these words and melodies. It is the very best of the Boomtown Rats – all tracks are selected by an online fan poll and the band themselves – from their first single Lookin’ After No 1 to their most recent glorious, eponymous anthem ‘The Boomtown Rats’. Released to coincide with their 50th anniversary tour, The First 50 Years – Songs Of Boomtown Glory is a fabulous celebration of one of the most singular, unmistakeable, literally world-changing rock bands ever. Definitely the greatest Rock’n’Roll band In The World…(from Dun Laoghaire!) and maybe a few other places as well….
The Boomtown Rats ’The First 50 Years: Tales Of Boomtown Glory’ will be available from 19th September on DSPs and as a 24 track double vinyl LP, and 27-track double CD. The track listings are below:
Disc: 1
1 Looking After No. 1
2 K.I.S.S
3 Me And Howard Hughes
4 Here’s A Postcard
5 Dave
6 Drag Me Down
7 Rat Trap
8 Someone’s Looking At You
9 Banana Republic
10 Keep It Up (CD/Digital only)
11 Diamond Smiles
12 When The Night Comes
13 Mary Of The Fourth Form
Disc: 2
1 There’s No Tomorrow Like Today
2 The Elephant’s Graveyard
3 She’s So Modern
4 (I Never Loved) Eva Braun
5 Trash Glam Baby
6 House On Fire (CD/Digital only)
7 The Boomtown Rats!
8 Tonight (CD/Digital only)
9 Like Clockwork
10 Neon Heart
11 Up All Night
12 Monster Monkeys
13 I Don’t Like Mondays
14 Joey’s On The Street Again
2LP
Side One
- Lookin’ After No. 1
- K.I.S.S.
- Me And Howard Hughes
- Here’s A Postcard
- Dave
- Drag Me Down
Side Two
- Rat Trap
- Someone’s Looking At You
- Banana Republic
- Diamond Smiles
- When The Night Comes
- Mary Of The Fourth Form
Side Three
- There’s No Tomorrow Like Today
2 The Elephant’s Graveyard
- She’s So Modern
- (I Never Loved) Eva Braun
- Trash Glam Baby
- The Boomtown Rats
Side Four
- Like Clockwork
- Neon Heart
- Up All Night
- Monster Monkeys
- I Don’t Like Mondays
- Joey’s On The Street Again
It may seem unlikely after 50 years, but The Boomtown Rats are still fighting the good fight because their music still has intent and purpose and has not lost an ounce of its relevance in today’s febrile world.
To celebrate 50 years as a band The Boomtown Rats have announced a ‘Happy Birthday Boomtown’ UK tour. The full list of shows is:
OCTOBER
10 NOTTINGHAM Royal Concert Hall
11 BIRMINGHAM Symphony Hall
17 ABERDEEN Music Hall
18 GLASGOW Barrowlands
24 SHEFFIELD City Hall
25 CAMBRIDGE Corn Exchange
31 LONDON Eventim Apollo
NOVEMBER
01 SOUTHAMPTON O2 Guildhall
07 MANCHESTER Bridgewater Hall
08 GATESHEAD Glasshouse
14 YORK Barbican
15 LIVERPOOL Olympia
Tickets are available here: https://www.theboomtownratsofficial.com/live
THE BOOMTOWN RATS
‘THE FIRST 50 YEARS: SONGS OF BOOMTOWN GLORY’
to be released on 19th SEPTEMBER ’25 – PREORDER THE ALBUM here
