Slotting in somewhere between the Sex Pistols and Springsteen, the early Boomtown Rats rocked and rocked smartly. Though Bob Gedof surely got his knighthood for his activism not his song-writing, you can see how those two attention-catching skills fed each other, even if you take pile-drivingly selfish "Lookin' After Number One" literally.
Thanks to Marky Dread for Ratting me out. (Also visit the dormant-yet-dangerous PVAc to 4.1 khz for more Rat-ness.)
Agora Hall, Cleveland, Ohio May 1 1979 link is in the comments
Speaking of comments, leave us a comment with your take on The Boomtown Rats and/or Sir Bob.
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COMMENTS ARE THE CURRENCY OF THE BLOGOSPHERE - PLEASE LEAVE A LITTLE SOMETHING BEHIND.
http://www.mediafire.com/?okt3ljgfod3
Fine post from a fine band, great musicians, brilliant front man, totally underrated. Don't believe the punk purists it's all bullshit. Great rock n' roll is all that has ever counted.
ReplyDeleteOh, hell yes, hell yes.....May 1 1979 was my 17th birthday and I was at this Rats show in Cleveland! Hell yes, hell yes....has it been 31 years? Nah, it was just a few weeks ago right?
ReplyDeleteGoddamn.
So great. I heard of the Boomtown Rats, but didn't know much about them. Great post. Plus I grew up in Akron. Sweet. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHello Jeffen
ReplyDeleteThe Boomtown Rats played The Commodore Ballroom on this North American tour.I believe March 1979.I was bouncing on the Commodore's springy floor.Later in the year they played The Gardens.I am not sure but I think The Young Canadians may have opened the March 1979 show.
Cheers
Doug
The Rats certainly knew how to rock the place - I just wish they'd left it at that though.
ReplyDeleteI'd have much rather remembered 'Smelly Bob' the front-man than 'Sanctimonious Bob' with his head up his ass almost as far as Bono... and that's almost far enough to see daylight at the other end.
See this is what I don't get a musician is sitting at home watching millions of people dying, the images disturb him like it would any decent human being so he decides to get up off his backside and do something about it. He's not a politician just a simple minded musician and he does what he can he makes a pop record and gets a huge concert together and makes some serious money for charity. He then gets completely slagged off and called "sanctimonious" for his efforts. Total bullshit, the guy made some good music and did some great things for charity. Of course it's not too cool to mention the Band Aid single is it, but it proved beyond doubt the power music can have. It's not important if you like the record or not or even if you like Geldof it what it stands for that counts. Too many people with that shite purist attitude who find it easy too slag off an artists latter work because they only want 1-2-3-4 bollocks!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteMarky
ReplyDelete"Great rock n' roll is all that has ever counted."
A motto we should all stand by.
Big Scott
It's all one big yesterday! (Glad you saw this show, lucky man!)
Todd
Some killer bands from your hometown!
Doug
You saw the Rats with Art Bergmann opening? My jealousy is intense.
Richard
There's no question that Bob's out-sized personality can rub MANY people the wrong way.
Marky
Thanks for saying it all, and saying it well.
pd
Welcome.
Thank you very much for the post.
ReplyDeletehttp://boomtownrats.activeboard.com/forum.spark
ReplyDeleteGreat band, massively under rated and under appreciated. Had more to do with kick starting New Wave in popular conscious than either The Jam or The Clash yet totally ignored now.
If only I could get that mediafire link to work! Grrrrrr.
betin
ReplyDeleteYou're most welcome.
argee
First off love you BR blog, I'm already a subscriber. Secondly, the Rats role in music history has been downplayed but that's gonna change. Finally, I hope you got past the Mediafire outage, all links should be good again.