I can't find any awards listed for How To Compost Popular Songs, but Bob has got so many awards that maybe he is getting a bit mixed up. The bit about the medium being the message is interesting, but I would say that we live in an 'information overload' world, just too much music , politics, social chit chat competing for precious time. Bobs right about music having to take a backseat- the cake of life has only so many slices.The micro dominates the macro.

Still he is fantastically articulate as usual and most of what he said rings true. PS Did Sting really deliver milk?. Maybe he was the fastest milkman in Geordieland.

ArrGee wrote:

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noelindublin wrote:

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 I can't find any awards listed for How To Compost Popular Songs

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Maybe it will grow on me!

Geddit!

(I'll get my coat)

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I normally rely on spellchecker to highlight words that might be spelt wrong. Seeing that compost is a valid word it slipped through the net, but well spotted. 

Of course Peat Briqutte had a hand in that album.

Mark L wrote:

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and presumably on the Soft Soil ?!

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 Maybe Geldof's Dig A Ditch might have made the cut onto How To Compost Popular Songs That Will Smell.Or A Rose At Night might grow well in the compost? (This is turning into Gardeners Question Time)

Equating solo success with Rats success again:

https://music.yahoo.com/blogs/music-news/bob-geldof-calls-u-s--return-with-boomtown-rats--cathartic-200737315.html

 "So the Pistols, the Clash, and Elvis [Costello], Ian Dury, the Jam, and the rest of us, we never got away in America. People know us, but there was no way to show America this different look, this different attitude, this different way of doing things. People think the Clash were a huge band in America; truth is, they weren't."

Maybe The Clash weren't huge, but they did have two Platinum albums (London Calling and Combat Rock).  Elvis Costello was also pretty successful with My Aim is True going Platinum and Armed Forces making the top ten.  He played two dates at the Hollywood Bowl earlier this month, so he must be doing OK.  

.http://www.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2014/09/08/elvis-costello-ben-folds-hollywood-bowl-september-5-2014

ArrGee wrote:

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Also what is the sixth record?  Live Target?  FFS!

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Bob Geldof - Live Target CD - Limited Edition of 1000 

Two years later still available from http://www.bobgeldof.com/shop.asp

ArrGee wrote:

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Bob Geldof - Live Target CD - Limited Edition of 1000 

Two years later still available from http://www.bobgeldof.com/shop.asp

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 If you discount the dozen copies Derek bought, how many do you reckon are left?  988 ?  

I don't know what possesses him. I realise solo wise he's possibly more popular elsewhere in Europe,  but if international sales like that are included,  the statement becomes even more incredulous given the Rats EU popularity.

Jules wrote:

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I bought one of those, so 987?

-- Edited by Jules on Thursday 25th of September 2014 04:26:49 PM

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 Yeah me too So we have it down to 986 now ha ha. Not as good a sound as the Rats live cd. And both had been taped in the same place

A couple of hundred would be fairly typical, I'd say .  Possibly up to about 500 ish. 

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2014/09/boomtown_rats_reunite.php

 "I suppose because I'd done OK with my solo stuff--six albums--not in the States, but they'd sold almost as well as the Rats stuff [in the UK]. "

I suppose they are gonna play Don't Believe What You Read on the tour. The more I read these stateside interviews the more I am sure he is taking the p!ss.

ArrGee wrote:

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manatthetop wrote:

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The reason as to why Geldof loves playing Rats gigs is he know for sure he will be playing to a full house. Not the pub crowd he would get a his solo gigs 20.to.50 people. I would love to know how he works out that his solo stuff has out sold the Rats stuff Way back in 2005 he had a wee dig at Gerry Cott regarding this when he went for his life time award Cott saying at the time all the rats should have been with him. I think Bob would like to think that his solo scuff did as good as his Rats songs. So maybe he keeps telling himself this then he thinks it might be true  

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 As much as I'd like to believe Geldof got his Brit for his music, the truth is he got it for Live Aid/Band Aid. I don't see what Cott had to do with that.

To be fair Geldof got a few more than fifty when I saw him. Closer to a thousand.  Probably not truly representative of a typical Geldof gig. Jules would know better.

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 Ur talking hot air here 1st been to alot of geldof solo gigs not more than 2 to 3 hundred. Cott has alot to do with it he was on the 4 best albums the rats done, a life time award is for your over all work not just some sh?t of a song that he and don't forget a wee guy from scotland who in my opinion is always over looked had written 

ArrGee wrote:

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I have only ever been to one Geldof gig which as I wrote probably wasn't representative.

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 Just to back up the assertion it was nearer 1000 for this one. Was one of my handful of BG gigs attended, in London, courtesy of the above quoted. Still the best seat n the house I've had anywhere

Think we all know that a London gig, especially one right on Bob's manor, is always going to attract more than elsewhere with all his friends and contacts as well as the populace.

noelindublin wrote: Maybe someday he will meet a journalist who will have a good command of the facts and can question Geldof on this. Most of the interviewers just seem to let Geldof tell the story he wants to tell. Geldo's solo career has been patchy, with long spells without recording, sometimes due to other interests or life situations that have gotten out of control.

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I can't imagine any journalist caring enough. Even Paul Vallely couldn't be ar$3d with checking basic facts for the autobiography.

ArrGee wrote:

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ArrGee wrote:

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"I made six solo records, which have done as well as the Rats did which is not boasting, it's just they have."

No it's not boasting.  It's lying.  How the fcuk have they done as well?  

I reckon Mondo Bongo would have outsold all his records combined.  Vegetarians aside, most of his albums have just headed straight for the bargain racks a week or two after their release.  

Also what is the sixth record?  Live Target?  FFS!

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Now it's 7!  Give it a couple of years and he will have made more LPs than Bob Dylan.

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 He says the Rats had '14 hits' in the BBC Cambridgeshire interview. I make it 11 and possibility 12 as Mondays rerelease got to no 38 in the nineties.

Wouldn't make an issue of whether he thinks he's done 6 or 7 solo albums. If he was always correct about the figures he'd be a bloody accountant . As they say 'don't sweat the small stuff '.

Noel wrote:

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If he was always correct about the figures he'd be a bloody accountant . As they say 'don't sweat the small stuff '.

Fcuk me, you have never worked with accountants, have you?  In fact, given his creativity with numbers e.g. 5 * 1 = 7 sounds like he should have been working at Andersens.

Mark L wrote:

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 What is a hit? Top 40? Top 50? Drag me Down is then a hit. Top 75? Include Tonight for starters.

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Up All Night was top 40 in Germany.  According to Geldof, they thought it was all about them.

14 in top 75 in UK is spot on.  No embellishment there.  Had the latest single made top 100 that would have been a hit.

Mark L wrote:

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ArrGee wrote:

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Mark L wrote:

What is a hit? Top 40? Top 50? Drag me Down is then a hit. Top 75? Include Tonight for starters.

We've all embellished our CVs..... have we not? 

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I cant say I have embellished my CV.  When I did my outplacement after redundancy about 12 years ago, I was advised to.  However, I already had a new job lined up. I have tended to get work through people I have previously worked with or for. So my CV and the interview rarely matter.  Dont think I have updated my CV for 8 years. 

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 When I was changing jobs in the 80s, I was told to plug/be vague with any gaps in my employment history, of which there was just one small one. Gaps look crap I was told. I also had a mundane summer job in a factory but once I had finished talking up my duties, I had 'overseen a production process' etc etc.

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Never had a gap of any significance since 1984.  April 1990 - August 1990 when I went travelling a bit before starting a new job and three months before I started current job 8 years ago.  In both cases time off was longer than it should have been due to administration on employers part.  Most often ended on Friday, started on Monday or had next role lined up post vacation.  

My current job is likely to be the last time I work for anyone.  I am planning a 12 year gap.  I doubt I will be employable after that. 

Noel wrote:

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ArrGee wrote:

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Mark L wrote:

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 What is a hit? Top 40? Top 50? Drag me Down is then a hit. Top 75? Include Tonight for starters.

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Up All Night was top 40 in Germany.  According to Geldof, they thought it was all about them.

14 in top 75 in UK is spot on.  No embellishment there.  Had the latest single made top 100 that would have been a hit.

 

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 I was counting top 40 hits. Always remember House on Fire being classed as a 'minor hit' and that scraped into the top twenty for about a week. Outside the top 40 you're dealing with miniscule hits but technically I suppose they are hits if whatever chart lists a top 60 or 75 or upwards.

J***s don't quote me but he might have said 14 top 30 hits. I'll have to listen to the interview again.

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Noel wrote:

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ArrGee wrote:

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Mark L wrote:

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 What is a hit? Top 40? Top 50? Drag me Down is then a hit. Top 75? Include Tonight for starters.

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Up All Night was top 40 in Germany.  According to Geldof, they thought it was all about them.

14 in top 75 in UK is spot on.  No embellishment there.  Had the latest single made top 100 that would have been a hit.

 

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 I was counting top 40 hits. Always remember House on Fire being classed as a 'minor hit' and that scraped into the top twenty for about a week. Outside the top 40 you're dealing with miniscule hits but technically I suppose they are hits if whatever chart lists a top 60 or 75 or upwards.

J****s don't quote me but he might have said 14 top 30 hits. I'll have to listen to the interview again.

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 House on Fire peaked at 24 in the UK Noel. What number did it reach in R of I? 

Mark L wrote:

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 House on Fire peaked at 24 in the UK

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Top ten in France

House On Fire

France 10 - May 1982 (1 week)

Like Clockwork was #4

Like Clockwork

France 4 - Aug 1978 (5 weeks)

Banana Republic #2

Banana Republic

France 2 - Dec 1980 (2 weeks)

Mark L wrote:

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Interesting that singles generally did better in Ireland, except Rat Trap and then suddenly, apart from House on Fire, everything after Guilty failed to chart?

It is often said that Mondays was number one in 32 countries, but little evidence of this can be found. 

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Irish charts were only top 30. https://www.ukmix.org/forum/chart-discussion/chart-analysis/32808-irish-singles-charts-1976-1978/page4

Also Irish charts are a bit unreliable and were infiltrated by the likes of Brendan Shine (aka Brendan Sh!te). 

https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-history-of-the-official-irish-charts__23351/

Irish charts still only top 50 these days.

ArrGee wrote:

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Mark L wrote:

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Pretty much feel the same Arrgee, I hope for some healthy early retirement time before old age potentially wreaks havoc! Few people, if any, say on their death bed they wished they'd spent more time at work.... 

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 Had I been a movie, rock or soccer star, I may have wished I spent more time working, but even a superstar software developer like me has to admit another day seems like 3 hours too long

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Though I haven't done any serious software development for well over 4 years now.  I just tell the offshore development team what to do. So now I work about one hour every morning.  These days I am kept cos of what I know rather than who I know. Everyone I knew has been made redundant...

Mark L wrote:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGc8u52bJe8

Great interview, Chris stays remarkably quiet during it. However, the buying spree story in which Garry had a motorbike accident had always centred around Drag me Down, but now it revolves around Dave, with Simon and Garry being sent off on motorbikes with a grand each.

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 I think he just forgot the song they were plugging. Dave was the ticket in the record which meant all the sales were deemed not to count for chart purposes.

I wonder what chart position Dave would have reached had the ticket ploy not been instigated?