The Fine Art of Surfacing by the Boomtown Rats was an album that got a lot of play on my stereo back in the 80's. This was just before lead singer, Bob Geldof, starred as the character Pink in the 1982 musical film "The Wall" based on Pink Floyd's 1979 album of the same name. It was waaaay before Band Aid (see January 20th 80's Quest blog post), waaaay before Live Aid, waaaay before the love scandal and deaths of Bob Geldof's wife, television personality Paula Yates, and her lover Michael Hutchence the lead singer of INXS. Before all this happened there was just a fine Irish punk rock band called The Boomtown Rats.
Bob Geldof had been a journalist with famous music publication New Music Express (NME), and became the lead singer of The Boomtown Rats in 1975. Geldof and his fellow band members (Pete Briquette, Gerry Cott, Johnny Fingers, Garry Roberts, Simon Crowe and Paul Martin) were all from Dun Laoghaire, Ireland. The group moved to London in October 1976 and got very involved in the local punk rock scene. They signed with Ensign Records and released their first single, "Looking After No. 1" in 1977. They released 9 singles in a row, and all made it to the UK Top 40. Their self titled album was released on Ensign in the UK, and Mercury Records in the USA.
Their second album was Tonic for the Troops which had 3 hits in the U.K. In 1979 their third album The Fine Art of Surfacing was released. Geldof had been disturbed by a U.S. news story about a 16 year old girl from San Diego, California, Brenda Ann Spencer. One Monday morning Spencer began shooting out a window in her home at Grover Cleveland Elementary school across the street, using a semi automatic .22 caliber rifle her father had purchased for her that past Christmas. She fired 30 rounds, killing 2 and injuring 9 others. She barricaded herself inside her house for 7 hours, and finally surrendered to the police. She showed no remorse for her crime and explained her actions away by saying, "I Don't Like Mondays".
This happened waaaaay before Columbine and waaaaay before school shootings (unfortunately) became more commonplace in the news. At the time it was a terribly odd and disturbing thing, especially her explanation. Geldof wrote the Boomtown Rats song "I Don't Like Mondays" about this event.
Though the song was released in 1979 in the UK, it really did not receive airplay in the US until the 80's. For awhile Spencer's family tried to block the song from being played in the US, and for many years radio stations in San Diego did not play it out of respect for local sensitivities to the crime.
The band released 3 more albums. The release of the band's final album was delayed by their involvement in a charity project started by Geldof called Band Aid. In 1984 after being moved by a news story about famine in Africa, Geldof wrote "Do They Know it's Christmas" with Ultravox's Midge Ure and founded a charity Supergroup called Band Aid to raise money to send aid for the famine. Geldof and Ure went on to organize Live Aid, a huge 16 hour star-studded super concert staged simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. It was one of the most monumental stage shows in history, I remember being mesmerized by it and the incredible line-up of bands. I also remember being very upset because I was scheduled to work my high school job as a cashier on the day it was airing on television. Just the other night, I found this home-made button that I wore to work that day. If I couldn't be home watching the concert...I was going to try and wear my DIY button to promote it to all the stupid shoppers who I felt should run home from the Mall, watch the show, and donate to the cause. I watched the concert on my breaks, and couldn't get home fast enough to watch the rest of the concert all that night on televsion.
Geldof left the Boomtown Rats in 1986. The work with the resulting Band Aid trust occupied the majority of Geldof's time and the band split up. He also launched a solo career and published an autobiography called, "Is That It?"
In 1995 Geldof was in the news again, but this time it was due to his personal life. He had been married to Paula Yates since 1986 (Simon LeBon of Duran Duran had been his best man at the wedding). In the early days of the Boomtown Rats Yates had been a fan who followed the band around obsessively. She went on to be the popular host of the UK music television show "The Tube" and then her show "The Big Breakfast" on which she interviewed personalities in her bed. They had 3 daughters Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches, and Little Pixie.
In 1985 Yates met the lead singer of INXS, Michael Hutchence when she interviewed him on "The Tube". Of that meeting, Yates said on The Best of the Tube, that she had essentially interviewed Hutchence's crotch and that he had invited her back to his hotel room, to which she replied, "Michael, I have a baby." I guess she eventually gave in. She reportedly began obsessively showing up at INXS shows over the ensueing years. Hutchence had split from super model girlfriend Helena Christensen and he and Yates started an affair. She interviewed him again in 1994 on her new show The Big Breakfast and their affair was revealed shortly thereafter.
Yates left Geldof for Hutchence in 1995, and the following year Yates and Hutchence had a daughter together named Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily. The divorce between Geldof and Yates was very contentious and very contentious. A bitter custody battle ensued (eventually Geldof obtained full custody their 3 daughers.)
Hutchence and INXS were on tour for their 1997 Elegantly Wasted album. The final leg of their tour was to begin in Australia in November, but on November 22, 1997 Hutchence (age 37) hanged himself in his room at the Ritz-Carlton in Sydney. At the time the Geldof / Yates custody battle was raging and Yates would be unable to bring the 4 daughters to Australia, as she had originally intended. Hutchence said he was going to phone Geldof "to beg on my knees for Bob to let me see my babies". A guest in the neighboring room heard Hutchence swearing at around 5 am. That was around the time Hutchence was on the phone with Geldof. Geldof characterized Hutchence's call as being abusive and threatening. Hutchences' mother and sister gave an interview saying that on the morning of his death (and on other occasions) Yates had threatened to harm herself and their baby if Hutchence did not marry her. Hutchences' relatives believe this may have triggered his suicide. Bono from U2 wrote a song for Hutchence titled, "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" which became a hit for U2.
Yates's began a downward spiral. She was disputing Hutchence's estate with his family. She was battling grief, addiction, and financial problems. On September 17, 2000 (her daughter Pixie's 10th birthday). Yates (41) was found dead in her London home from an accidental heroin overdose. After her death, and with the approval of Hutchence's parents, Geldof became the legal guardian of Hutchence and Yates daughter Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily. All believed it would be best if she was raised with her half-sisters.
Geldof currently lives in Battersea, South London with his partner, French actress Jeanne Marine. He became an outspoken advocate of father's rights. Geldof serves as an adviser to the ONE Campaign, which was founded by Bono of U2 and works for debt relief for developing countries.
Lyrics:
The silicon chip inside her head
Gets switched to overload
And nobody’s gonna go to school today
She’s gonna make them stay at home
And daddy doesn’t understand it
He always said she was good as gold
And he can see no reasons
'Cos there are no reasons
What reason do you need to be show-ow-ow-ow-own?
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
I wanna shoo-oo-woo-woo-woo-oot the whole day down
The Telex machine is kept so clean
And it types to a waiting world
And mother feels so shocked
Father’s world is rocked
And their thoughts turn to their own little girl
Sweet 16 ain’t that peachy keen
Now that ain’t so neat to admit defeat
They can see no reasons
'Cuz there are no reasons
What reasons do you need?
Oh Oh oh whoa whoa
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
I wanna shoo-oo-oo-woo-woo-oot
The whole day down, down, down, shoot it all down
And all the playing's stopped in the playground now
She wants to play with the toys a while
And school's out early and soon we'll be learning
And the lesson today is how to die
And then the bullhorn crackles
And the captain tackles
(With the problems of the how's and why's)
And he can see no reasons
'Cos there are no reasons
What reason do you need to die, die?
Oh Oh Oh
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like
I don’t like (Tell me why)
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like
I don’t like (Tell me why)
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don't like Mondays
I wanna shoo-oo-oo-woo-woo-woot the whole day down
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