Video Killed The Radio Star - Sky Arts 1

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Video Killed The Radio Star - Sky Arts 1

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Don't think were in for anything startlingly new as this is well worn subject matter. Maybe Geldof himself has to grit his teeth before he begins to speak.

Talking of videos I recently watched the video for Drag Me Down featuring the Rats down the coalmines which got me a little perplexed. The Rats supported the miners during the 1984/85 miners strike-all well and good- but the video was at odds with the subject matter of the song and seemed contrived and forced.

To my mind Drag Me Down is a sort of passionate broken down twisted love song. Could have done with a director who understood the subject matter. It would be more interesting to hear what Geldof has to say about this video more so than Mondays or Rat Trap.The silly dance sequence at the end of the video is a bit embarrassing, giving the idea that miners after a long maybe twelve hour shift had time to do a quick jig or whatever dance the do. Fingers looks slightly bemused and Garry Roberts just strums his guitar possibly feeling a bit out of place.

Maybe if Geldof had gone on a few marches rather than patronised the miners like this then he would be stood in higher regard. The video sort of overplays the dignity of work ethos, the romanticized take on the working classes, the coal not dole solution. Maybe I'm selling Geldof and the band short- its more the lack of though about the subject matter rather than any implied lack of concern about the miners that's the point of the post. Then when you think of it its only a silly pop video anyway and it won't change the world. Not sure but this was probably recorded before Geldof's subsequent involvement with the African charities proving at least he had a caring aspect before has latter day sainthood.

suss · In the Long Grass

Haven't accessed links but based on Noel's post...

Coincidentally I was trawling through my Rats box of bits over the weekend and found myself reading an article from No1 magazine 2/6/84 from which following relates to above. (Mods if this is copyright stuff please feel free to delete).

"...The Boomtown Rats don't like videos. Not expensive ones, anyway. Bob Geldof and Johnny Fingers take a pick-axe to the current crop....

...BG - It's disgustin', I can't believe the money that people spend on videos. We've just done one for 'Drag Me Down' that cost ten grand. It's a joke when people spend three times the budget of their LP on the video for a single....For 'House on Fire' we just took a home video unit while we were on tour. It cost £100 and we shot 24 hours of film, and do you know what? It looked exactly like those Ceylon ones that Duran did!"

There's then a bit about MTV and it coming too late for Rats and contemporaries like The Jam.

...JF "Video broke British bands on a big scale..."

...BG "I hate to sound boring but I think that we've done just about every video possible. We've done videos where there was an alternative story to the song. 'Someone's Looking At You' was a real Apocalypse Now one where Fingers dressed up in black pyjamas to play a VietCong spy. We've also done elaborate videos like 'Diamond Smiles' which had Busby Berkeley dance sequences in it. That was the first time video synthesisers had been used.. Imagination is the important element of any video. It should sum up the atmosphere of the band and the atmosphere of the song."

Re: Drag me Down

...BG "I wanted a visual that fitted in with the idea of people being dragged down. I guess seeing all the trouble on TV gave me the idea of using miners. We asked the NCB if we could use a mine but they said no. So then we asked the NUM. They told us if we crossed a picket line we'd be blacklisted from TV and radio for making a political statement! So we went and did it at Chislehurst Caves. Just to make sure no one thought we were miners we put up a sign 'QUARRY'. In the end it worked fantastically".

ArrGee1991 · Dave

I'm going to veer off topic a little here...

suss wrote:

(Mods if this is copyright stuff please feel free to delete).
I wouldn't worry about that. You can quote as fair use. The main problem with copyright would be to put links to illegal copies of full versions of commercially released songs or just putting articles in their entirety. Needless to say no one has ever contacted this forum with regards copyright issues (maybe cos no one reads it).
http://boomtownrats.activeboard.com/t4149137/copyright-warning/
suss wrote:
We've done videos where there was an alternative story to the song. 'Someone's Looking At You' was a real Apocalypse Now one where Fingers dressed up in black pyjamas to play a VietCong spy.

I wrongly thought that was the Kenny Everett show not the 'official' video http://boomtownrats.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=48603&p=3&topicID=2088587&page=1&sort=

The Kenny Everett effort was far better, though sadly no longer lurking on the internet. The link to it on You Tube has been whacked due to copyright issues. Sadly the original video is not around either.

It's all well and good having copyright, but those with the copyright should make the item commercially available. If they don't make it available I think it should be fair game.

Hence I don't see a problem with downloads of Born To Burn or anything else not on this list http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B000APABW2/?tag=googhydr-21&hvadid=8439286006&ref=pd_sl_3wu314bb1b_b . Nor bootlegged concerts. But the authorities don't.

However, should links to such material exist, forum members should send me a PM to report the offending post, and despite being extremely busy I will go and delete the link, though you have to appreciate how busy I am and it may take a little time to do.

-- Edited by ArrGee1991 on Thursday 9th of June 2011 09:39:20 AM

noelindublin · Loudmouth

I have never seen the "proper" video for Someones Looking, only the Kenny Everett one. Not convinced by Geldof's liking for an alternative story to the actual song as in the case of the Everett video which features the Rats in a war zone. It just comes across as dressing up in whatever eye catching costume was available with little thought as to what the song was about. Same in the case of Drag Me Down, there is a vague link in that you could say the miners were being dragged down but the song lyrics come across as much more personal and shouldn't be spliced to a political situation. Not sure how the NUM could get the Rats banned from tv if they crossed a picket line? Always though the music itself is the most important thing- it should stand alone and sometimes you don't want images being planted in your head. Sometimes video's put me off a song which I like until I see the awful video.

Interestingly Geldof claims the Rats had £10,000 to spare to make the video. I've got a radio interview from around the same time where he claims that the band was broke and Fingers couldn't pay his electricity bills! The must have had some money to send Garry off on his motorbike to buy copies of In The Long Grass from the chart return shops. Saint Bob probably put him up to this! Luckily Garry wasn't seriously injured when he fell off his bike. I digress.

-- Edited by noelindublin on Thursday 9th of June 2011 12:40:46 PM

-- Edited by noelindublin on Thursday 9th of June 2011 12:42:19 PM

suss · In the Long Grass

Not sure if the Someone's Looking At You DVD of all the promos is the definitive answer but they use the stage set with noughts and crosses for the song in question. I also recall the 'spy' one only featuring on Kenny Everett. Honestly can't remember what TOTP used, band in the BBC studio??

Completely agree the article I quoted doesn't really provide convincing argument about Drag Me Down video, in Bob's 'own' words, 'summing up the atmosphere of the song', but this was a teen mag so doubt over-analysis is worthwhile.

As for the cash, seem to recall a similar piece about how skint the band were at the time in 'Is That It?'. I guess by skint he meant as in making money, as opposed to having the record company stump up 10k.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

I'm pretty certain that the Someones Looking At You stage performance was recorded for The Old Grey whistle Test. I've actually just seen for the first time the Rats perform Someones Looking on the Australian tv pop series Countdown. A good performance in front of a largely teenage audience. Don't know if this has been up on Youtube for long but it never ceases to amaze me what comes up. It is listed as being from 1979- not sure if the Rats appeared more than once but its great to see this and the quality is excellent. Maybe the official video for SLAY will turn up sometime.

As regards Drag Me Down video its important not to take it too seriously. The song is good enough on its own- it is music we are talking about after all- so no point in having great visuals if the song is rubbish. It gives us a snapshot of how the band looked at that time and that's all real fans want- not a Hollywood epic.

Not sure how broke or otherwise the Rats were around 1984. Like a lot of successful bands they probably went through loads of money and found themsleves skint more or less when the hits stopped coming.

The brilliant song by the Jam To Be Someone sums up what it must have been like to be in a band initially successful and then anonymous- There's no more swimming in a guitar shaped pool/no more reporters at my beck and call/no more cocaine its only ground chalk/ no more taxis now we'll have to walk/ but didn't we have a nice time....."

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

suss wrote:
As for the cash, seem to recall a similar piece about how skint the band were at the time in 'Is That It?'. I guess by skint he meant as in making money, as opposed to having the record company stump up 10k.

Always amazed that bands that sold as much as The Rats did could be skint. I would estimate they probably sold in the region of 10 million records worldwide and with concert revenues, and royalties from radio plays they should have been pretty well off. OK, maybe they they spent a load of birds, booze and drugs, but they can't have squandered the rest of it.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Video Killed The Radio Star - Sky Arts 1 - 5th October 2011

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

RE: Video Killed The Radio Star - Sky Arts 1

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Jules wrote:
ArrGee/Suss - Bob and the Rats idea of skint might be somewhat different than ours. Having only 1 million pounds instead of multi millions, rather than being in debt to the tune of £1,000's or whatever. Or earning the minimum wage, or just an empty bank account with 7 days until payday!

The only member of the band to become very wealthy was Bob Geldof- and this was much more to do with his other business enterprises and connections than his musical career.

I don't think any of the others are starving, but I doubt they are super wealthy.

Bobi G · Banana Republic

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4QGGUFOW

An ISO 4 youse

suss · In the Long Grass

Just got back from a very enjoyable week in NYC and it struck me just how many times I (subconsciously) found myself thinking of Rats songs. Several times (much to irritation and embarassment of my sons) I found myself blurting out 'walk, don't walk' at the myriad crossings (even though it's all pictorial with little white light walking men and red "stop" hands nowadays), and Carnegie Hall obviously prompted a quick 'It's Dale Carnegie gone wild', which I sincerely hope was drowned out by commentary on the tour bus.

Subway stations always brought the Wind Chill Factor -Zero lines to mind, and even the Banana Republic shops had me humming that bass over and over again.

Reason for linking to this thread is that I've always preferred videos that portray the song to some extent, with some realism or 'street' shots. Would have loved to have seen Rat Trap acted out in full, even if by actors rather than band.

I always liked Madness videos for that reason, and more narrative songs (i.e. those from better lyricists such as Geldof) lend themselves to being immortalised on film, imho anyway. Even that extremely uncool DLT had what I thought was a really interesting program (mid eighties?) which used to put new film (as opposed to a series of odd totally unrelated but full of effects clips) to the story of the song.

Am I alone in thinking music video could have tapped real life more than it did/does, to make something not only memorable for the song in question but to which most of us could relate, in the way we do (I imagine) with the lyrics?

So many Rats songs would inspire much better videos than they ended up with, to my mind at least.

-- Edited by suss on Sunday 30th of October 2011 08:44:58 PM

diffbrook · House on Fire

I think Banana Republic could have had a more hard hitting video. I could see it being similar to the "Poilce - Invisible Sun", with Police, Army, IRA, Priests from old news reels. Would probably have been banned - but it would have gained the Rats further notoriety and may even have propelled the song to Number 1.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

diffbrook wrote:
I think Banana Republic could have had a more hard hitting video. I could see it being similar to the "Poilce - Invisible Sun", with Police, Army, IRA, Priests from old news reels. Would probably have been banned - but it would have gained the Rats further notoriety and may even have propelled the song to Number 1.

When Banana Republic was released in 1980 the Northern Ireland 'troubles' were in full swing, and people had years of exposure to horrifying sights of murder and mayhem from both sides of the political argument. Northern Ireland was a nightly source of disturbing images on tv at that time so the Rats adding fuel to the fire I don't think would have helped. The song in part is a criticism of those who used violence to achieve their political ends and most likely is aimed at those who supported the IRA-'heroes going cheap these days, price a bullet in the head'.

Re Being banned? The song is anti-terrorist, Bob Geldof never had the slighest support for the IRA. He is generally against all forms of nationalism and has spoken of his distain for glorifying violence over the years.

Wrongly edited explicit footage of 'the troubles' could easily be misinterpreted so again another reason for not just going down the newsreel footage route.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

suss wrote:
Just got back from a very enjoyable week in NYC and it struck me just how many times I (subconsciously) found myself thinking of Rats songs. Several times (much to irritation and embarassment of my sons) I found myself blurting out 'walk, don't walk' at the myriad crossings (even though it's all pictorial with little white light walking men and red "stop" hands nowadays), and Carnegie Hall obviously prompted a quick 'It's Dale Carnegie gone wild', which I sincerely hope was drowned out by commentary on the tour bus.
Subway stations always brought the Wind Chill Factor -Zero lines to mind, and even the Banana Republic shops had me humming that bass over and over again.
Reason for linking to this thread is that I've always preferred videos that portray the song to some extent, with some realism or 'street' shots. Would have loved to have seen Rat Trap acted out in full, even if by actors rather than band.
I always liked Madness videos for that reason, and more narrative songs (i.e. those from better lyricists such as Geldof) lend themselves to being immortalised on film, imho anyway. Even that extremely uncool DLT had what I thought was a really interesting program (mid eighties?) which used to put new film (as opposed to a series of odd totally unrelated but full of effects clips) to the story of the song.
Am I alone in thinking music video could have tapped real life more than it did/does, to make something not only memorable for the song in question but to which most of us could relate, in the way we do (I imagine) with the lyrics?
So many Rats songs would inspire much better videos than they ended up with, to my mind at least.

-- Edited by suss on Sunday 30th of October 2011 08:44:58 PM

Hope you had a good time in NYC and remembered to say hi to Mick. Did you feel like the first man who set foot in America, looked around and thought 'What the fcuk is this!?'

Not sure of the idea of using actors to act out Rat Trap. I was watching the Rat Trap video a few weeks ago and think its pretty ok. All the Rats come from good middle class backgrounds in the wealthier suburbs of south Dublin so it might be a bit artificial for them to be seen hanging around high rise blocks.

I give primacy to the music and lyrics. I can easily imagine a Billy and Judy in my head and the Italian cafe so don't really need an explicit video to show those images. Music, like prose fiction works largely on the imagination so often the visual accompaniment is a letdown and a distraction or 'off' in some weird way.Don't think the 'Hurray Henrys' interlude in Diamond Smiles trumped how you or I or anyone else could imagine that scenario. My main point is that all videos have their limitations.

The video is always an add on and not the main product. The fact that the music for the most part was excellent is enough for me. We hardly ever remember or even know who directed the videos anyway and normally don't care too much either.

-- Edited by noelindublin on Monday 31st of October 2011 02:15:25 PM

-- Edited by noelindublin on Monday 31st of October 2011 02:16:13 PM

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

suss wrote:
Just got back from a very enjoyable week in NYC and it struck me just how many times I (subconsciously) found myself thinking of Rats songs...
Reason for linking to this thread is that I've always preferred videos that portray the song to some extent, with some realism or 'street' shots. Would have loved to have seen Rat Trap acted out in full, even if by actors rather than band.
Am I alone in thinking music video could have tapped real life more than it did/does, to make something not only memorable for the song in question but to which most of us could relate, in the way we do (I imagine) with the lyrics?
So many Rats songs would inspire much better videos than they ended up with, to my mind at least.

I find myself doing similar when in Dublin.

In retrospect, Mondays excepted, the Rats videos aren't very good and producing something like a mini-drama would have been better.

I don't remember videos from that era. There weren't many programs that showed videos in the late seventies. TOTP was mostly mimed stage performances and there was no MTV.

Things seem to have come full circle, as bands don't seem to bother too much with promos these days.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

ArrGee wrote:
suss wrote:
Just got back from a very enjoyable week in NYC and it struck me just how many times I (subconsciously) found myself thinking of Rats songs...
Reason for linking to this thread is that I've always preferred videos that portray the song to some extent, with some realism or 'street' shots. Would have loved to have seen Rat Trap acted out in full, even if by actors rather than band.
Am I alone in thinking music video could have tapped real life more than it did/does, to make something not only memorable for the song in question but to which most of us could relate, in the way we do (I imagine) with the lyrics?
So many Rats songs would inspire much better videos than they ended up with, to my mind at least.
I find myself doing similar when in Dublin.
In retrospect, Mondays excepted, the Rats videos aren't very good and producing something like a mini-drama would have been better.
I don't remember videos from that era. There weren't many programs that showed videos in the late seventies. TOTP was mostly mimed stage performances and there was no MTV.
Things seem to have come full circle, as bands don't seem to bother too much with promos these days.

Geldof's home turf is more Dun Laoghaire/Blackrock commuter belt rather than strickly Dublin city, but I take your point. Geldof's solo track The House At The Top of The World is a more authentic 'local track' for Geldof as it retraces childhood and adolescent memories and names exciting things like the Leopardstown duel carraigeway- Ireland's first Duel carraigeway- 'people were always getting killed'.

Wind Chill Factor always reminds me of the London tube and the winds that howl through the elevator shafts in winter- we are, and will be waiting a long time for a Dublin subway.

I think Dublin to Bob Geldof is a place largely set in his adolescent and young adulthood memory rather than a place he can really relate to nowadays, seeing as he doesn't live here.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

noelindublin wrote:
ArrGee wrote:
I find myself doing similar when in Dublin.
Geldof's home turf is more Dun Laoghaire/Blackrock commuter belt rather than strickly Dublin city, but I take your point...
...I think Dublin to Bob Geldof is a place largely set in his adolescent and young adulthood memory rather than a place he can really relate to nowadays, seeing as he doesn't live here.

Rat Trap, Joey, Neon Heart, Kicks all seem to be urban, whereas Normal People and Never Bite the Hand that Feeds seem more suburban. Also it's more about thinking of the Rats playing Morans.

By the time they made Surfacing, the Rats were more like a London band. Interestingly, Pulp made a similar transformation, when everything up to Babies is rooted in Sheffield, whereas post Common People, they became London-centric.

Whenever I have been in Dun Loaghaire itself, I don't even think of the Rats at all. Not even the famous B-side.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

I always associate the Rats with Dun Laoghaire. Sandycove is an area of DL, of 'smallish flat' fame.

Mood Mambo deals with Geldof's experiences in Blackrock college, which is very near Dun Laoghaire- ' I spoke to Fr Murphy and he swore he wouldn't tell/But some of those boys are gonna go to hell'

Walking Back To Happiness sees Geldof and his father walking on the East Pier in Dun Laoghiare 'Pointing at those ships/ Where do the go/ Where do they go/ Eastward Ho Eastward Ho'

In the days before cheap flights, Dun Laoghaire was one of the main exit points to Britain by ferry-'Theres only one way out of Dun Laoghaire/ That's off the mailboat piery' 'Who cares about Dun Laoghaire anyway?' The band put on spoof working class Dublin accents in that song- their real accents are much more refined, judging by listening to Simon Crowe and Gary Roberts interviews.

I totally agree about your Pulp Sheffield/london comparison. The did write a song called Mile End after all.

Dustin the Turkey represents the more working class element of Dublin. Part of the reason the Rats weren't taken too seriously in Ireland is that the were all middle class, educated rather than being from the inner city of Dublin. Certain people viewed them with some suspition, just as in the Uk sometimes bands must profess a strict working class background to be taken seriously.

U2 came from a strongly middle class background as well, and it never hindered them.

Finally Geldof and the other Rats bought a lot of their records at Murrays Music Centre in DL. Gerry Cott mentions Murrays in his website. The band actually formed in Glasthule which is basically a part of Dun Laoghaire. Sorry don't mean to be pedantic about all this!

-- Edited by noelindublin on Monday 31st of October 2011 04:11:00 PM

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

noelindublin wrote:
Certain people viewed them with some suspition, just as in the Uk sometimes bands must profess a strict working class background to be taken seriously.

Being middle class never hurt The Clash (nor The Jam for that matter).

Apparently the majority of hit makers in the UK these days went to private school (like Geldof http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackrock_College#Alumni).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1335880/Public-school-singers-pop-charts-60-acts-privately-educated.html

noelindublin · Loudmouth

When I say middle class I really mean that the Rats didn't live in council estates or tower blocks which a certain part of the Dublin music press may have viewed with suspicion during the emergence of punk rock. Shouldn't make too much of a deal about 'class' or background as these terms are very loose sometimes and wealth is all relative.

I love that line in one of the Libertines songs about 'being in a class of our own, my love'.

Amusingly the Blackrock college lists Bob as being one of their 'Old Rockmen'. How apt.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

noelindublin wrote:
When I say middle class I really mean that the Rats didn't live in council estates or tower blocks which a certain part of the Dublin music press may have viewed with suspicion during the emergence of punk rock. Shouldn't make too much of a deal about 'class' or background as these terms are very loose sometimes and wealth is all relative.

Reading Joseph O'Connor, the impression I got was The Rats were as near as damnit the Irish Pistols!

"the mankiest shower of louse-ridden, no-good, low-down bowsies ever to plug in a Marshall, ram up the volume and hammer out a three-chord trick, was a year-old band called The Boomtown Rats"

http://www.josephoconnorauthor.com/erm-banana-republic-reflections-on-a-suburban-irish-childhood.html

I always (perhaps mistakenly) thought the Rats were more accepted by the Irish music press (well, Hot Press) than the UK music press (only Melody Maker of the major papers showed any appreciation, Sounds and particularly NME were quite anti).

suss · In the Long Grass

noelindublin wrote: Hope you had a good time in NYC and remembered to say hi to Mick. Did you feel like the first man who set foot in America, looked around and thought 'What the fcuk is this!?'
Not sure of the idea of using actors to act out Rat Trap. I was watching the Rat Trap video a few weeks ago and think its pretty ok. All the Rats come from good middle class backgrounds in the wealthier suburbs of south Dublin so it might be a bit artificial for them to be seen hanging around high rise blocks.
I give primacy to the music and lyrics. I can easily imagine a Billy and Judy in my head and the Italian cafe so don't really need an explicit video to show those images. Music, like prose fiction works largely on the imagination so often the visual accompaniment is a letdown and a distraction or 'off' in some weird way.Don't think the 'Hurray Henrys' interlude in Diamond Smiles trumped how you or I or anyone else could imagine that scenario. My main point is that all videos have their limitations.

Fantastic week thanks Noel, and oddly enough the Say Hi song never even occurred to me while I was there, even though it's probably the most pertinent!

Agree that Rat Trap video is one of the better ones, just always thought the song lent itself to a 5 minute story on film. As for actors, I guess I meant Billy and Judy protagonists with band playing around them scene by scene. Not sure how many listeners/viewers/fans at the time were class conscious. I think that's something we pick up on as we get older (hence 'mature' journos being more scathing possibly than we teenagers who couldn't care less), and question a band's credentials for singing about stuff they couldn't really relate to. I just knew they were from Dun Laoghaire and possibly the name Blackrock. Fairly sure I never thought any more about it in 78, but definitely did think about 5 lamp boys and Italian cafes etc etc. Maybe it is best left in the imagination - just always liked the idea of capturing my imaginings (or something close) on celluloid.

Funnily enough Diamond Smiles is probably the closest to the type of video I'm describing. I quite liked video on that one, but then its failure to break top 10 might be a good counter argument to mine smile .

On reflection it may just be the early tracks that are suited to what I'm describing, such as Joey and Neon Heart as you mention. The first album could easily be the soundtrack to a feature film in its own right. Tonic is more diverse in content, but Living in an Island deserves a featurette, and there is (was?) a great video for Eva Braun on YouTube where the author captures perfectly the subject matter with period film.

Getting back to fact that generally only singles got promo videos, Mary and She's So Modern could easily have been subject driven, and likewise Elephant's Graveyard. Agree that Banana Republic might have proved too controversial, although it annoys me that bands such as Clash would have got away with it as 'edgy', whereas Rats would have been crucified by the press for self same approach.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Watching the Rat Trap video a few weeks back it struck me just how charismatic and expressive Bob Geldof was in that video.

Re Class consciousness- in Ireland Geldof, Gary and Simon all went to fairly exclusive schools so they were perceived as being not exactly the 'punk proletariat' by certain elements in Ireland who might have wanted bands with some sort of socialist/political message. This is just a minor factor and most people would not be bothered either way, once they think the music is sincere and honest.

Back in the late seventies there was little outlet even for bands who did make videos, most people experienced the music on radio, or TOTP and the songs made their impact on their musical merit.

Around the mid eighties with Duran Duran down in Rio the video became more important than the song- good looking guys in exotic locations covered over the dross factor of the music. People were fed escapism like Wham's Club Tropicana. Anybody looking for good music at that stage were going underground to John Peel and for all their faults the NME, Melody Maker and the alternative music press and fanzines.

Mark L · Loudmouth

As regards SLAY, I have a performance on vhs which is introduced by Mike Read, where Bob seems wrapped in black plastic bin liner and is sitting on swivel office type chair cutting himself out of it, looking consumed with paranoia as befits the song subject, with 20 or so tv sets flickering in the background and ends up 'dancing' on top of a grand piano Fingers is playing. Does anyone recall what this was from as I have recorded something else over the rest of whatever programme it was. It doesn't look like TOTP or Superstore.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Mark L wrote:
As regards SLAY, I have a performance on vhs which is introduced by Mike Read, where Bob seems wrapped in black plastic bin liner and is sitting on swivel office type chair cutting himself out of it, looking consumed with paranoia as befits the song subject, with 20 or so tv sets flickering in the background and ends up 'dancing' on top of a grand piano Fingers is playing. Does anyone recall what this was from as I have recorded something else over the rest of whatever programme it was. It doesn't look like TOTP or Superstore.

May have been from the Multi Coloured Music Show from 1980 as the Rats are listed as performing Someone's Looking At You on that show.
Here is a link to the website where I got this info from. All these tv shows just confuse me!
http://www.saturdaymornings.co.uk/features/spinoffs.shtml
Boomtown Rats Co.Uk gives the same apperance, and lists the date as 5 May 1980.
http://www.cyberspace7.btinternet.co.uk/trivia2.htm

-- Edited by noelindublin on Sunday 6th of November 2011 01:52:44 PM

-- Edited by noelindublin on Sunday 6th of November 2011 01:53:22 PM

Mark L · Loudmouth

It could be Noel, it's just that at the end Mike Read is holding a microphone and says, 'is it me or is Bob looking nervous in that or what?' and yet it clearly isn't TOTP. It just doesn't look like the demeanour or set of MCSS .

Not that I would have much idea how to put it up on You Tube, but would it be legal to do that?

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Tech matters normally make my eyes glaze over but vhs can be transferred to a computer for uploading.

There are lots of 'how to ' type video's on YouTube and also by googling something like 'Vhs to computer' or Vhs to YouTube should throw up lots of hopefully helpful information.

I've not sure but you know those really fuzzy video's than appear on YT- I always think it is because they are from Vhs tape rather than a digital dvd copy. It may partly be due to the condition of the vhs tape as well.

A few people have the ORS show from 1984 on videotape so that would be nice to see, but from my untutored eye the video tape picture quality sometimes leaves a lot to be desired.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmvDivbr3Ic

-- Edited by noelindublin on Sunday 6th of November 2011 04:41:21 PM

Laibach · Someone's Looking At You

I have one episode of the Multi Coloured Music Show, not the one with the Rats unfortunatly, it is a compilation of promo videos and performances from Multi Coloured Swap Shop presented by Noel Edmonds, I don't think Mike Read had any involvement with Swap Shop. I do have a vague recollection of that performance but can't remember which programme it was.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

The Rats made a few appearances on regional television, various Granada and Tyne-Tees programmes which I've noted, but it's unlikely these will ever see the light of day, or are they even still extant.

Can't help thinking that some jobsworth somewhere in tv land more than once got a hold of some 'old'....

cassettes/celluloid and threw it out to make more room in the office, thinking once they have been seen who would want to watch them again?. It happened even at the BBC with a lot of classic programmes from the sixties and seventies-some missing episodes are like gold dust and are like a collectors holy grail, hoping a copy will turn up in an attic sometime.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Mark L wrote:
As regards SLAY, I have a performance on vhs which is introduced by Mike Read, where Bob seems wrapped in black plastic bin liner and is sitting on swivel office type chair cutting himself out of it, looking consumed with paranoia as befits the song subject, with 20 or so tv sets flickering in the background and ends up 'dancing' on top of a grand piano Fingers is playing. Does anyone recall what this was from as I have recorded something else over the rest of whatever programme it was. It doesn't look like TOTP or Superstore.

There was supposed to be a video for Someones Looking at You, which is not the more well known Kenny Everett one with the band dressed up as soldiers in a warzone.

I am not sure if the performance introduced by Mike Read was the official video, or a live tv programme with the band in the studio with Geldof on his swivel chair looking paranoid.

It is a bit strange that an official video for a hit by a well known band would vanish off the face of the earth. There is also the in concert footage of the song live which may have been the official video-I'm a bit lost as to whether they had a studio bound video ie not Kenny Everett or the live Rainbow Finsbury Park footage?

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

noelindublin wrote:
It is a bit strange that an official video for a hit by a well known band would vanish off the face of the earth.

All sorts of footage Rats related seems to be lost in archives. And there are precious few demos out there.

I suspect the main reason is no one with access to the material bothered to keep it. And now thirty odd years down the line, I doubt anyone who had anything would know where to find it.

Mark L · Loudmouth

As has been mentioned elsewhere, someone has kindly put the SLAY performance up on You Tube; it was shown twice on TOTP when the song was at 45 and later at 8.

Have just dug out some old VHS recordings (I was never going to take this week off and really do Christmas shopping!) and Drag me Down got played on Razzmatazz and Chegger's plays pop. They are both studio performances and even though one was on ITV and one BBC1, the camera arrangements are virtually the same at the start of the song. They take take the form of Geldof (in archetypal dirty raincoat?) and Crowe standing together both miming 'de de de de' etc with a shot change at the end of each of the 4 opening lines. Must have been a singer/band idea/preference but both times, it is an effective attention grabber, which was a theme I found with all of their videos/performances.

Often the hooks weren't just in the songs but in the visuals.....

do the rat · The Elephant's Graveyard

Just in case anyone missed bob and the rats on video killed the radio star its shown again tonight on sky arts 1 at 9pm(9.1.12).

Mark L · Loudmouth

Good show this; just given it another airing from the Sky planner. Didn't realise til the other night, David Mallet produced a lot of Queen's videos too. David thinks the Diamond Smiles video quite good but Geldof says he can't stand it. David says 'this is because you don't like the track' which Geldof agrees could have been better recorded.

Now that it's a 6 minute ep at every gig, who would have guessed? !

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Mark L wrote:
David says 'this is because you don't like the track' which Geldof agrees could have been better recorded.
Now that it's a 6 minute ep at every gig, who would have guessed?

I don't think Diamond Smiles is that good, Geldof didn't seem to think much of it according to this show, it didn't sell well as a single yet it gets aired at every concert!

It not awful, but they have umpteen better songs they could play.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

ArrGee wrote:
Mark L wrote:
David says 'this is because you don't like the track' which Geldof agrees could have been better recorded.
Now that it's a 6 minute ep at every gig, who would have guessed?
I don't think Diamond Smiles is that good, Geldof didn't seem to think much of it according to this show, it didn't sell well as a single yet it gets aired at every concert!
It not awful, but they have umpteen better songs they could play.

How did it 'not sell well?' It got to no 13 in late 1979, back when selling singles meant something. A strike/dispute at the BBC prevented the song appearing on TOTP when it was destined to go much further. It would have gotten into the top 10, and even top 5 if the band have given a memorable performance in the studio. Geldof at that time was well capable of coming up with something on TOTP to ensure the song got that bit further.

I love the record, but can take or leave the elongated live version. The reason they play it was it got to no 13, so it's not that unreasonable of them. Another reason Geldof plays the song at his solo band shows is how the tragic subject matter has overspilled into his personal life-at least two of his close personal relations could be said to have done it all before they died. All the more remarkable that a song about a suicide could be a hit single.

-- Edited by noelindublin on Tuesday 18th of November 2014 01:37:30 PM

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

noelindublin wrote:
ArrGee wrote:
Mark L wrote:
David says 'this is because you don't like the track' which Geldof agrees could have been better recorded.
Now that it's a 6 minute ep at every gig, who would have guessed?
I don't think Diamond Smiles is that good, Geldof didn't seem to think much of it according to this show, it didn't sell well as a single yet it gets aired at every concert!
It not awful, but they have umpteen better songs they could play.
How did it 'not sell well?' It got to no 13 in late 1979

Number 13 as a follow up to two number ones is not selling well as it was the lead single off the album (Mondays was out long before). Especially when the next single made #4

noelindublin · Loudmouth

ArrGee wrote:
noelindublin wrote:
ArrGee wrote:
Mark L wrote:
David says 'this is because you don't like the track' which Geldof agrees could have been better recorded.
Now that it's a 6 minute ep at every gig, who would have guessed?
I don't think Diamond Smiles is that good, Geldof didn't seem to think much of it according to this show, it didn't sell well as a single yet it gets aired at every concert!
It not awful, but they have umpteen better songs they could play.
How did it 'not sell well?' It got to no 13 in late 1979
Number 13 as a follow up to two number ones is not selling well as it was the lead single off the album (Mondays was out long before). Especially when the next single made #4

Without that BBC strike it would have made the top 10 I believe. What band can realistically hope to keep having successive top 5 hits, (unless you are One Direction or the latest boy band wonder? Yes, relative to Mondays/Rat Trap/Someones Looking At You you could say it 'didn't sell' but it was still a sizeable hit, again the subject matter makes it all the more remarkable.

No matter who you are getting to no 13 in 1979 was still an impressive feat, and I doubt if the band felt they had some divine right to always have big chart hits. Most hit albums will spew a range of hit single placings, some obviously doing a lot better than the others on the same album.

-- Edited by noelindublin on Tuesday 18th of November 2014 03:01:08 PM

Mark L · Loudmouth

Arguably the lack of TOTP was a handicap but it applied to all eligible acts that week so was there a Rats only disadvantage?

I think on balance it would have gone higher though.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Mark L wrote:
Arguably the lack of TOTP was a handicap but it applied to all eligible acts that week so was there a Rats only disadvantage?

Of course not. But interestingly, Union City Blue the second single off Eat To The Beat met a similar fate and also peaked at #13 which given how big Blondie were at the time was a bit surprising. Still they didn't let that setback affect them cos their next three singles hit #1 and then Rapture was #5. Sadly all downhill then until they came back in 1999 with another #1.

http://www.officialcharts.com/archive-chart/_/1/1979-12-08/

Mark L · Loudmouth

I like Blondie but Island of Lost Souls was their Elephants Graveyard, should have gone higher.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Mark L wrote:
I like Blondie but Island of Lost Souls was their Elephants Graveyard, should have gone higher.

The Hunter was their V Deep

Ignoring the fact it wasn't their best effort by a long way, it should definitely have been higher given the opposition on the week it peaked at #11.

GOODY TWO SHOES - ADAM ANT
HOUSE OF FUN - MADNESS
TORCH - SOFT CELL
THE LOOK OF LOVE - ABC
FANTASY ISLAND - TIGHT FIT
HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF - DURAN DURAN
MAMA USED TO SAY - JUNIOR
ONLY YOU - YAZOO
I'VE NEVER BEEN TO ME - CHARLENE
3 X 3 (EP) - GENESIS

Shame on all those who bought Tight Fit (and Junior and Charlene and Genecide(sic)). And Goody Two Shoes ain't exactly Adam Ant's finest.

But that said Blondie were higher than Club Country by the Associates (which peaked at #13 the same week).

Mark L · Loudmouth

Quite agree. Never really felt Torch was worthy of 3 either.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Chart positions make no sense at all. Take the LP chart. This was one of the Rats peaks in July 1978 ...

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER - OST
20 GOLDEN GREATS - HOLLIES
THE KICK INSIDE - KATE BUSH
SOME GIRLS - ROLLING STONES
STREET LEGAL - BOB DYLAN
LIVE AND DANGEROUS - THIN LIZZY
JEFF WAYNE'S MUSICAL VERSION OF WAR OF THE WORLDS
TONIC FOR THE TROOPS - BOOMTOWN RATS
GREASE - OST
OCTAVE - MOODY BLUES

The Moody Blues and Jeff Wayne? WTF?

Also The Hollies 20 Golden Greats? That's out by about 18 (He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother and The Air That I Breathe are pretty good, but the rest is sh!te)

But the weirdest thing is that A Tonic for the Troops was above Grease which given You're The One That I Want was halfway through its reign at the top of the singles chart makes absolutely no sense.

Otherwise, I suppose it's not too bad. I wonder if there was any other occasion, pre-Borezone/Westsh!te/B*Sh!tted when two Dublin acts were in the UK top ten albums.

Also as an aside, it's well worth noting the lack of Punk/New Wave acts in the album charts. The Jam, The Stranglers and The Clash all peaked higher in 1978 but all of them were on the charts for less than half the time The Rats were. The Rats were in the top 20 for longer than any of their respective albums were in the charts and even Surfacing hung around for about six months in 1979/1980.

Parallel Lines and Never Mind The B0ll0cks did shift far more units, but A Tonic for the Troops has a pretty decent claim to have been the third biggest selling UK Punk/New Wave in the seventies.

http://boomtownrats.activeboard.com/t18728786/30-years-since-a-tonic-for-the-troops-was-released/