I’ve heard of this band a lot and liked I Don’t Like Mondays but I never knew much about them. CB sent me a few links and I really like what I’ve heard. I hear a good mixture of Pub Rock, New Wave, and Punk. They kept that edge of punk and had a great sound. The more I hear from this UK late seventies era the more I like it. With this band, the sound they had on recordings was huge.
They are an Irish rock band that formed in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, Ireland, in 1975. They were formed by Bob Geldof, Garry Roberts, Gerry Cott, Pete Briquette, Johnnie Fingers, and Simon Crowe. They were influenced by pub rock and punk and they played their first gig in 1975. Originally, they used the name The Nightlife Thugs. The name “The Boomtown Rats” comes from a gang of down-and-out boys from Woody Guthrie’s autobiography Bound for Glory.
This song was on their album The Fine Art of Surfacing. It was the follow-up single to their biggest hit, “I Don’t Like Mondays.” Bob Geldof said he wrote the lyrics as a critique of superficiality, wealth, and the emptiness of high society life. The song has dynamics that build up from the start.
The songs on this album sound so fresh and alive. That could be because they were produced by Robert John Mutt Lange who would soon produce AC/DC’s Back In Black. The song peaked at #13 in the UK in 1979. The album peaked at #7 in the UK, #10 in New Zealand, #6 in Canada, and #73 on the Billboard Album Charts.
They disbanded in 1986 following a charity concert in Ireland. Most of the band members moved on to solo projects or new bands. They reformed in 2013 going on tour again and released a new best of album Back to Boomtown : Classic Rats Hits which includes two new recorded songs.
Diamon Smiles
“Traffic’s wild tonight”Diamond smiles her cocktail smile.Tonight she’s in heavy disquise.She looks at her wrist to clock the passing time.
“Weather’s mild tonight”She wonders do they notice her eyes,She wonders will her glamour survive,And can they see she’s going down a third time.
Everybody tries,It’s Dale Carnegie gone wild,But Barbara Cartland’s childlong ago perfected the motionless glide.
In the low voltage noise,Diamond seems so sure and so poisedShe shimmers for the bright young boys,And laugh’s “Love is for others, but me it destroys”
The girl in the cakeJumped out too soon by mistake,Somebody said the whole things half bakedAnd Diamond lifts her glass and says “cheers”
She stands to the sideThere’s no more to this than meets the eye,Everybody drinks Martini dry,And talks about clothes and the latest styles.
They said she did itWith grace.They said she did itWith style.They said she did it allBefore she diedOh NoI remember Diamond’s smile
Nobody saw her go,They said they should have noticed‘cos her dress was cut so low.Well it only goes to showHa, ha, how many real men any of us know.
She went up the stairs,Stood up on the vanity chair,Tied her lame belt around the chandelier,And went out kicking at the perfumed air.
They said she did itWith grace.They said she did itWith style.They said she did it allBefore she diedOh NoI remember Diamond’s smile
…
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 