Everyone knows of Live Aid at this point, whether it’s from the scene in Bohemian Rhapsody or because your parents told you about the biggest gig in the history of music. Ever since hearing of Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof in Bohemian Rhapsody, I have become fascinated by his story and the music of his punk/new wave band The Boomtown Rats. Most famous for their 1979 hit about a school shooting, “I Don’t Like Mondays”, here are 5 of my favorite Rats songs that you should definitely check out.
- Diamond Smiles, The Fine Art of Surfacing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cevFCSvvepc
Probably my favorite of all the Rats’ songs, this song is peak Geldof storytelling. Inspired by a news clipping he saw, very similar to the impetus for “Mondays”, Geldof sings about a girl named Diamond, a socialite who feels invisible and eventually takes her own life. The song is not as depressing as the lyrics portray, the music itself is fun and upbeat and the video pairs well with the music rather than the lyrics.
2. Rat Trap, A Tonic for the Troops
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhXwyxDFmdw
Very punk in attitude, this song discusses the dead end opportunities that faced many young people living in Ireland, where the band is from, in the late 1970s. Before becoming a rock star, singer Bob Geldof held a myriad of odds and ends jobs such as teaching English in Spain, writing about music in Canada, and cleaning up waste in a meat-packing factory. The main character in the story, Billy, represents a real person Geldof worked with in the meat factory who felt immobilized by his situation. The song became the first single from an Irish band to reach number one on the English charts, knocking off John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John from their place.
3. She’s Gonna Do You In, The Boomtown Rats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EKJ3BiR-AQ
Despite not thinking of themselves as a punk band, this song exudes punk energy. It’s short, clocking in at 3 minutes and 55 seconds, but it packs a punch. The live performance clip I first heard this track in gives you even more of an idea of the kind of high-energy hard-rocking show that the Rats put on in their early days of performing.
4. She’s So Modern, A Tonic for the Troops
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NajmzegSZAU
Another short song, it’s Geldof’s best attempt at capturing the energy of the time. The lyrics aren’t particularly thought-provoking, but they’re fun and that’s all this song really needs to be—fun. I also love a good referencing the name of the album, which we get around 2:05 in this track.
5. Someone’s Looking At You, The Fine Art of Surfacing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DcS4bwEUD4
Finally, we end this list with the third single from the Rats’ most popular album. Possibly about becoming a public figure following the success of their first two albums, Geldof makes his first reference in music to his famous activism with the lyric “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”. This is possibly referring to a protest Geldof attended concerning Greenpeace, which he worries about in this lyric that the media may take his involvement in the protest the wrong way. Of course everyone knows him now for his activism, but as a younger man, he just wanted to be a rock star and play music with his band.