I’ve been a bit quiet lately for a wide range of reasons. Nothing serious just a bit of a reboot trying to make sense of the world. That and that recurring feeling that I’ve nothing new to say. A simple 1979 top 20 on Twitter has allowed me to dive into an incredible year for music that was transitional for me in my musical education. The older brother I’ve often talked of bringing incredible records from The Jam, Blondie and others into the house while I was enjoying Racey and The Dooleys.
Anyway, enough of that. I was trying to get my list down to 20 when I Don’t Like Mondays popped up. A song I’ve not really thought about for years. It shook me to my core. I sat in my car transfixed and quite honestly surprised at the effect it had on me. I can only assume that it triggered something of the despair at news from Ukraine and The Middle East and the senseless loss life. Tell me why? Is a question I’ve asked many times recently. Geldof’s delivery accentuating it all over that remarkably sparse production. What a song it is. It certainly caught me off guard.
1979 was an amazing year for me. I was at university in Birmingham and had no record player. There must have been at least twenty stone cold classis albums released that year plus dozens of singles. I ‘owned’ none but went to a gig one, two or, sometimes, three times in a week. I followed The Beat to Coventry, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Leicester, for example. I was a cross-genre person and also loved Disco and Funk, so would be tripping the light fantastic after watching The Clash.
I always disagreed with Hepworth over 1971. 1979 is much better and there was a lot more going on in the world as well. Somebody should write a book about it all.
Absolutely right. 1971 was a bit too “hairy”. Even trad rock had yet ro reach it’s imperial stadium style. And in 1970, there were a variety of alternatives. In 1979 you have all that past, an established middle, but also the future; Sparks were, as ever, totally on it: I think the future was this.
Our old friend Lenny Law posted this. It’s a hell of a chart…
I count 17 great songs that I’d want to hear again. That’s quite a deep squad to pick from.
We did that magnificent year in detail here;
259 comments but most of the clips are gone. So has the playlist you put together, dai.
I think they show up if one waits long enough.
I never deleted the Spotify playlist, but my daughter may have done so!
I liked the Boomtown Rats but not quite enough to buy a record. I’m not an expert but they seemed to me to be a really good, competent band along the lines of The Blockheads. Like The Blockheads, they work best when a charismatic leader comes with ideas and songs for them to work with. In the case of Geldof I really think he needed someone to partner with. I felt that their success rested too much on his songwriting shoulders. Like Morrissey, his lyrics are along the same lines each time and hitting the sweet spot is sporadic when he is the only one doing the heavy lifting. He has written some classics like IDLM but songs like that don’t come along every 10 minutes. The songs became a little same-y although Banana Republic was a good left turn and came off well. Geldof found fame and fortune outside of writing good pop songs but I do wonder if he’d met a Johnny Marr-type figure who could ratchet the band up a few notches and throw in some How Soon is Now?-type magic, we might have heard some astonishing stuff. His solo venture after Live Aid could have cashed in on the enormous goodwill but his songs just weren’t that memorable. Again, I think he needed a partner to work some magic and turn his demo songs into great things.
You’re right of course. Hearing IDLM yesterday morning completely floored me. You’d be happy just having that on your CV. I think I also heard it correctly yesterday which is bonkers. I’d always heard it as “Tell me why I don’t like Mondays?” When of course it is actually “Tell me why?” “I don’t like Mondays”. With everything else on the news etc it seemed to make a difference.
What are you talking about? The Blockheads were a fantastic band.
😀
Sensational
No. That was the Alex Harvey Band 😉
Quite. The Blockheads had the requisite attitude of the time but my God they could swing. The East End boys Steely Dan!
I know they were. And with an inspired leader/songwriter, I agree, they were fantastic. That’s what I was saying
Yes indeed Tiggs.
The Boomtown Rats are a better band than perhaps they are remembered / given credit for.
First album was Stones-esque urgent New Wave (with a little bit of Springsteen thrown in)
Tonic For The Troops had more ambition and contained the single that is noted as “the first new wave Number 1” or “the song that knocked John Revolting and Olivia Neutron Bomb off the top spot”.
Fine Art Of Surfacing (containing Mondays) is probably their best album.
Mondo Bongo is a funny thing – it’s not a great album, but does have some very good songs on it.
The last 2 albums (V Deep and In The Long Grass) could stake a claim for inclusion in the “Game Over” thread
The Citizens Of Boomtown doc from a couple of years ago is worth a watch
Yep, I have the first 3 and, because it was gratis (my friend’s uncle worked at Mercury at the time), ITLG.
The only one ever I play is Greatest Hits.
Another Boomtown Rats fan here, though I think that the sledging the band received in the music press did influence me in the end. Tonic for the Troops is a top punk album and a song such as I never loved Eva Braun is far ahead of what some of the others were up to.
@kalamo
Good point about that Eva Braun song. Would have liked to have been present at the band meeting when Sir Bob brought it along…
Bob Geldof was well known in my sixth form as a prize tosser. He’s always been keen to pontificate pretentiously in his gobby style. Quite unbearable. Just check his Word In Your Ear performance. He made his band hard to love. His qualities were useful with Live Aid though. It’s often the lead singer that spoils it.
I didn’t think ‘Just give us your money’ would work as well as it did. It seemed afterwards that he had outgrown his band.
I think that by that point the band was a busted flush. He talks in his excellent autobiography how their latest song ‘Dave’, which he considered one of the best things they’d ever done, was sinking without trace. So he was spending his days moping about at home feeling very sorry for himself, when like many of us, he watched a news report by Michael Burke, of a “Biblical famine, now, in the 20th century”
And the rest, as they say…
His first thought was to get his fellow Rat people into the studio to record a song – then he realised that would probably not have an impact, so phoned up Midge Ure instead.
Simon Crowe and Pete Briquette did get their photos on the back cover of the Live Aid single
(most people probably said “who are they?” when they saw the picture)
It still tickles me that there was a pop star called Pete Briquette..
Took me a few years until I noticed … sadly it’s a stage name.
Could’ve had a new career in nominatvely determined barbecue fuel
Pete was part 〽️ of Tricky’s live band and went by the same name. Do you have peat briquettes – solid fuel – outside Ireland.He plays on the Maxinquaye album.
The b side of the single was a reprise of the tune with the Band Aid choir saying their names one-by-one. One of the rats said their name in a really “phew! Yeah man! rock n roll” type way if you know what I mean*.
*Don’t worry if you don’t.
I am sure it is an age thing, 72 & 73 are my favourite years but 1979 was a great year, which is why I bought the Now Yearbook 1979. Four CDs totalling 85 songs, current available from Amazon for £6.79 which I think is a bargain.
Ooh, that’s a good shout!
Have it, also the 1970s 12 inch set, much of which is from 1979
1979 was the best year for music IMO.
The Now That’s What I Call Music series have great 3 CD retro as a year based product and a follow up 2 CD addendum.
It is part of the Now Yearbook series.
I’ve just got the 1973 one and it’s blimmin’ fantastic!