Not too sure what the rock and roll Hall of Fame is anyway? Its one of those hoary old things you hear about in the rock  world but are never  sure what exactly it is, or who runs it.

I think there is little chance of enough people voting for the Rats to get them selected or enough critics voting for them so we can hang on to them as a cult band for a while!

The writes argues as much for Bob Geldof's work with famine relief/charity which takes away from the music of the Rats per se and that is something which has dogged the group for years. I'd prefer the group to be appreciated solely for their musical output but I doubt the critics of such an institution have heard enough of the Rats material to make that call.

As regards appreciation sometimes the comments beneath a Rats song   on YouTube seem to show a lot of people appreciate the band and say the should be more recognised. Most people seem to say the were one of the better punk/new wave acts with a bit of personality and style.

In Ireland the Rats are not that appreciated by the musical establishment. A lot of the criticism of Mondo Bongo/V Deep to me is lazy and unjustified. Read recently that Nigel Grainge didn't think much of the Rats output since the left Ensign records and again this to me is perplexing. Seems a very black and white judgment to make but I doubt he was listening to the albums after the left Ensign.

What we really need is some brilliant new young band who tell all the music critics that the best band ever was the Boomtown Rats and that's how music should sound!

Most of the 'one hit wonder' references to me seem to come from sites in the US. Mondays was the only real known Rats song, apart from Up All Night, in the States so it's forgivable if a little annoying.

Anybody who make the mistake of underselling the Rats chart successes on this side of the pond is more justifiably guilty of ignorance or bad research. Of course, here too, a lot of younger journalist and music fans will have little idea of the Rats output.

One other mistake I see frequently is that all the hits were between 1977-1980. Again factually incorrect. This 'fact' appeared in the Evening Herald article about Gerry Cott. The band had hits in 1981 and 1982 and continued to make records until 1984/85 which sold, albeit in lesser numbers than at their chart topping peak in the late 1970's. So they had a good ten year stretch of making records and being talked about, rather than a short 3 year career according to one misinformed Irish journalist.

I always wonder how a current teenager would react on say, hearing Rat Trap for the first time, with no prior knowledge of either Bob Geldof or the Boomtown Rats. I'd like to think that they would judge it as being pretty impressive and worth further investigation. The idea of some young kid listening and enjoying a piece of music without any preconceived ideas is quite interesting.

ArrGee wrote:

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Even on fcuking itunes...  http://itunes.apple.com/us/playlist/80s-one-hit-wonders/id40915192

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 And they included Madness on the list - which is, well, madness actually!  But not so annoying as including the Rats obviously.

Its very dispiriting to only hear the same old songs over and over again. A lot of these pop music stations play it very safe, larglely only playing the most well known hits of any band. The whole thing just  comes across as a packaged formula and then the constant ad breaks just kill the whole thing dead.

Probably only BBC 6 Music is one of the few dependable music channels. There are lots of specialist music channels on the Internet but who spends the whole day online?

I have sometimes texted Greg James' afternoon show on Radio 1 (yeah sad, I know, but I have a very dull job and any distraction is worth it) for the " 10 minute takeover", opting for Rat Trap as there just might be the chance it is on their computer (one of the requirements for playing a request!)  But no luck so far

ArrGee wrote:

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. I don't have the time to listen to XFM much apart from when I am in the bathroom or cooking dinner.  BBC 6 Music I tend only to listen to on catch up via the iPlayer through the downloader BTR informed teh forum of.

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 Am very impressed you cook dinner by the way - wonder where I'm going wrong, nobody ever makes it for me

Bet you don't clean the kitchen afterwards though

noelindublin wrote:

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I always wonder how a current teenager would react on say, hearing Rat Trap for the first time, with no prior knowledge of either Bob Geldof or the Boomtown Rats. I'd like to think that they would judge it as being pretty impressive and worth further investigation. The idea of some young kid listening and enjoying a piece of music without any preconceived ideas is quite interesting.

-- Edited by noelindublin on Wednesday 28th of September 2011 02:18:35 PM

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 My kids weren't teenagers when I was playing the Someone's Looking At You DVD a few years back, but they were instantly quite taken with a few tracks. Mondays, Rat Trap and Clockwork I recall being asked to play again. Not sure if it was sound or the videos they wanted, but they clearly enjoyed them in their innocence.

Now they've got all fashion conscious (the kids that is) they wouldn't dream of admitting they like anything I like, but I live in hope that as they get older they'll grudgingly admit the songs are both timeless and brilliant...well most of them.

I'm basing that on fact I now don't mind admitting to my old man that some country and western is ok 

ArrGee1991 wrote:

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Lisa wrote:

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Bet you don't clean the kitchen afterwards though

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 Bet I do.  I tend to clear up most evenings as it saves me giving the kids baths and  I can listen to the radio in relative peace.  Mostly BBC Radio 5 for Danny Baker on Saturday morning and the football phone in the evenings.   My wife does most of the cooking during the week as I don't get in early enough, so I tend to do the weekend shift.

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 OK I'm impressed!  A real domestic god - or even another saint in our midst!   Mind you, do you even clear up everything that's exploded over the back of the cooker/on the ceiling - cos that's what really gets me!  Though of course it's different when I do it .......

Lisa wrote:

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suss wrote:

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I'm basing that on fact I now don't mind admitting to my old man that some country and western is ok 

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 So I'm guessing a Dolly Parton CD (DVD?) is on your Xmas wish list??

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 Only if no one can get hold of the new Westlife CD for him.

Lisa wrote:

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do you even clear up everything that's exploded over the back of the cooker/on the ceiling - cos that's what really gets me!  Though of course it's different when I do it .......

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 You should go on Come Dine With Me

Our kitchen is on its last legs. The ceiling is wrecked thanks to a leaking tank, never mind the splodge of bolognese that somehow made it to the ceiling above the dining table.  I'm constantly fixing the draws, doors and lights.  Even the floor (Amtico) needs to be repaired when it lifts, again thanks to the leaking tank. 

Next year it gets demolished. 

But we have to fix the bedrooms up first as the ceiling came down after heavy rain in August

Lisa wrote:

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How about DIY SOS for you?

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That would be great.  Started loft extension in April and six months later, we are about to start on two of the first floor bedrooms.  Hoping to get all ceilings and carpets replaced along with plastering, redecoration and re-wiring by Christmas.  Kitchen along with demolition of separating wall just has to wait until next year.  And when that is all done and I am totally skint, there is the upstairs bathroom...

If only we'd moved house a year ago

Any chance you've got a scan of the whole page? I just want to see what date it was when she said that 

ArrGee wrote:

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ArrGee wrote:

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One of the things that always irks me is when the Rats are referred to as "One-Hit Wonders". 

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And the other thing that irks me is when The Rats are refered to as an Nothern Irish band with Banana Republic supposedly written about the troubles.

I have just edited another unreliable wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Northern_Ireland_Troubles_in_popular_culture which said it.  Doubtless some uninformed ar$£hole will revert the changes as they always do when I correct them, citing some dubious reference to justify their erroneous entry. 

Last time I did it some w@nker cited the, ahem, highly respected Smash Hits as the verifiable reference whilst an widely available audio recording that contradicted it was not an acceptable verifiable source because it hadn't been written down in any respected journal!   Fcuk me, with that approach, they'll be using the Sun's page three girl's comments to document the 21st Century...

 

http://www.bloggerheads.com/page-3/

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 Maybe I missed something but I always thought the song Banana Republic touches on the ambiguity towards violence that was fairly prevalent in Ireland in the seventies, admittedly by a minority of people so the 'Troubles' in Northern Ireland is part of the subject matter, rather than the whole theme of the song.

The line about 'Heroes going cheap these days' surely is a reference to those who joined paramilitary organisations in the guise of 'freedon fighters' and were responsible for hundreds of murders, never mind intimidation and control of the communities the purported to represent.

The lines 'The purple and the pinstripes (Politicians and clergy) mutely shake their heads/ A silence  shrieking volumes/ A violence worse than they condemn.... is a condemnation of politicians and clergy who by their silence and ambiguity showed tacit support for the men of violence. Paradoxically the men of violence often ensured that nobody spoke out again them if they valued their lives.

The lines 'Take your hand and lead you/ Up the garden path/let me stand aside here/ And watch you pass...I always read as those in Ireland who secretly encouraged youngsters to get involved in paramilitary organisations (On both the Nationalist and Unionist sides) but who themselves stayed in the background and pretended to have played no part.

Geldof says that the Irish national anthem A Soldiers Song begs too many questions and answers.

The song is partially about the Rats view of Ireland when they were not allowed to play at the Phoenix Park in May 1980- how they were glad to be home but equally treated as too much trouble to hold a concert. Most of it, to me, seems to be about the relationship between Ireland North and South at a very dark time in Ireland's history. It can be said then, to be about Northern Ireland troubles, through the prism of somebody not too impressed with a pervasive sense of ambiguity to violence which was a marked feature of life certainly in the Republic in the late seventies or early eighties.

If the song has some other themes or is about something completely different I would like to be informed.