They reissued "I Don't Like Mondays" for the "Loudmouth" compilation, but there is no point now in releasing a single unless there are going to be lots of extra tracks (say three) of stuff no one has got - otherwise the old fans are not going to buy it, without which it will not chart, without which its chances of getting played anywhere are zero.

The Electric Light Orchestra were back in the Top 10 a few weeks ago with "Shine A Little Love" from the famous 1979 "Discovery" album. Pity for them it was released under a "trendy name", and was another of those godawful "remixes" that made it sound nothing like the original. As Jeff Lynne put it, "thanks for the royalties, but that's it."

The best chance is if some of the old Rats songs get used in a popular film & were issued on the back of that - release a single of a song played in any film with Keira Knightly in it, for example, and that's a dead cert for the Top 10!

I've always thought "Sleep" was one that ought to have been a single...

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Originally posted by: ArrGee
"   Trouble is who would play it?  Only Virgin (if at all).  The time for a single would have been prior to the re-releases to raise the profile (Erasure did this a year or so ago).  And aside from Mondays, I don't think any other track would sell. Anyway not sure about the point of fans not buying the same old stuff again and again.  I'm on my sixth copy of Tonic (2 vinyl, 4CD), and bought both the previous Mondays CD singles and Loudmouth despite nothing new being on the singles.  I buy anything! (well except the House of Fire 7" which I regret). I would have liked Fall Down or He Watches It All as a single, or possibly Go Man Go.  Kicks would have been good about 27 years ago!-- Edited by ArrGee at 09:21, 2005-02-23"

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"Anyway not sure about the point of fans not buying the same old stuff again and again"

Well if you want to buy what you already have all over again, no one's stopping you - the point is that no one else will! Simple as that.

Why do you think when they reissued the CDs they made a point of sticking bonus tracks on - it wasn't just out of the goodness of their hearts, it was as an incentive to buy it.

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Originally posted by: ArrGee
"The previous Mondays single did chart, despite the fact that all the tracks were available elsewhere... The Mondays double CD & white vinyl was better value than the Loudmouth CD. 

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You've just answered your own question as to why the reissue of "I Don't Like Mondays" charted - and that was something done in desperation after "Crazy" stiffed & Vertigo were staring at "Loudmouth" being issued to massive disinterest outside of the fanbase Geldof had allowed to dissipate thanks to years of relative inactivity.

With "Rat Trap", "Someone's Looking At You" & "Banana Republic" - their four biggest British hits - available together as a single on the second CD version, it was a massive inducement to the casual buyer or the former fan that only liked the Rats big hits to cough up the readies. Even then, it merely scraped the British Top 40 for one week, and despite a reprise for the video on that week's "Top Of The Pops", it then fell, though it did the trick in generating more interest for the greatest hits package.

That was fifteen years after the original "Mondays" issue - trying to pull the same stunt 10 years later with the same single is unlikely to work, to say nothing of the fact it would increase the perception/NME disinformation of Geldof as a one-trick pony, hardly likely to aid back-catalogue sales as a whole. Considering the very minor return they got from it last time around, why bother? It would be a miracle if it even charted.

To major record companies, singles are generally sold as "loss leaders" for a forthcoming album, and a single that makes a net profit is seen more as a bonus than the end itself. That's why the "Best Of..." was issued (& then reissued) with no single release - the market was such that there was nothing they had a hope of punting out as a single that would stand a chance of either becoming a hit or at least boost the potential album sales.

If an old Rats song gained prominence through a hit movie, etc; that would justify another Boomtown Rats single appearing, but outside that unless Geldof's status as a single increases marketly (& I don't see that happening - whatever else he may claim, his career as a musician has taken a very poor third spot to his role as political agent provocateur and media mogul). As Geldof's not touring again until long after the six reissues, there's even less reason to issue any sort of Boomtown Rats single. Now would have been a good time for a single, with the award & all that, but without him being musically active to supplement the interest and keep the momentum going, it's a non-starter. A shame, but that's the music industry for you.