House on Fire on Razzmatazz

Mark L · Loudmouth

House on Fire on Razzmatazz

Mike menzies · V Deep

Great post mark I remember this im19 again

Mike menzies · V Deep

Gary looks cool in his zoot suit

Mark L · Loudmouth

Cheers Mike. Great interview, in which the Wall is nicely summed up. I thought his hair was shaved off for the film, but evidently not. It was a mistake not to lift a third single from Mondo Bongo, like Go Man Go or Hurt Hurts, in mid 81 as it inevitably meant the trail went cold and other acts filled the void and I therefore dont blame the interviewer for opining the Rats had been uneasily quiet although I suspect he had meant to say unusually quiet.

Mike menzies · V Deep

They should've released go man go I have Irish single o f it I feel it was a very catchy tune and I think would have done ok

Mark L · Loudmouth

Not sure how Go Man Go did on the Irish charts, but Im sure I read somewhere that perhaps unsurprisingly all the Rats U.K. top 40 hits apart from Rat Trap, scored higher placings on the Irish singles chart. Mondays couldnt be bettered of course.

Mike menzies · V Deep

Yeh I love go man go it is a great song they could've released something different to charmed lives ( like skin on skin) I have 12inch single of this with talking in code as beside great it was a promo in the usa

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Mark L wrote:
Not sure how Go Man Go did on the Irish charts, but Im sure I read somewhere that perhaps unsurprisingly all the Rats U.K. top 40 hits apart from Rat Trap, scored higher placings on the Irish singles chart. Mondays couldnt be bettered of course.

Attached image is Diamond Smiles Irish chart peak at No 3, December 1979. Original source RTE Guide. Will look up other songs. Both Rat Trap and Mondays reached No 1. I'm pretty sure most of the well known songs went Top 10, less sure about Million Years, House on Fire, Dave, Drag Me Down but will check. I've found a full Irish chart listing from 1979-81, hopefully can fill in the gaps for mid eighties releases.

-- Edited by noelindublin on Friday 24th of September 2021 08:28:11 PM

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Mark L wrote:
Not sure how Go Man Go did on the Irish charts, but Im sure I read somewhere that perhaps unsurprisingly all the Rats U.K. top 40 hits apart from Rat Trap, scored higher placings on the Irish singles chart. Mondays couldnt be bettered of course.

When was Go Man Go released in Ireland? Presumably after Banana Republic some time. I actually don't ever remember hearing this on the radio in Ireland and I used to listen to RTE radio 2 back then. More likely to have been played by some of the late night DJ's, possibly Mark Cagney and a few more who liked the Rats, good music and tented to play current album tracks and less obvious stuff. Gerry Cott got some decent airplay with his singles, again mainly at night /evening.

Good to see this rare clip, though the very obviously miming is a bit naff and the other players mixed in with the band make it appear too crowded. House on Fire is a good record that I tend to enjoy by just hearing the audio.

-- Edited by noelindublin on Friday 24th of September 2021 09:06:16 PM

-- Edited by noelindublin on Friday 24th of September 2021 09:08:50 PM

Mark L · Loudmouth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boomtown_Rats_discography

Unsure exactly how accurate this Wikipedia page is re Irish chart positions (although the U.K. entries appear correct) but this suggests Rat Trap in 78 reached number 2. I believe it was number 1 in 1996 (Geldof and Dustin).

It seems none of the Grass singles charted at all in Eire, but overall natively the Rats ended up with 8 top ten singles, whereas 5 were achieved in the U.K. Everything that did chart in Eire was a top 20 hit, with much more realistic highest positions for Graveyard (7) and House on Fire (19).

Go Man Go was released in 81 in Eire on WEA records (IR18824) after Graveyard but before Million Years. Both singles failed to chart, which is surprising given the second paragraph above, as is the absence of any chart placing in Eire for the Grass singles. If Drag me Down managed 50 in the U.K. then it strikes me 35 or higher in Eire would have been consistent with preceding better singles performance natively, for this 84 gem.

Mike menzies · V Deep

I struggle with some of the figures I think a lot on forum know my views on this subject still think some not counted correctly or sold at non chart shops where I know for a fact crazy by bob geldof was outselling most of other stuff in this particular shop so as I say I don't take much heed of these things just know they made some Fab singles