Rat Trap

Last updated

"Rat Trap"
Rat Trap (single).jpg
Single by The Boomtown Rats
from the album A Tonic for the Troops
B-side "So Strange" [1]
Released6 October 1978 (1978-10-06) [2]
Genre New wave [3]
Length4:55
Label
Songwriter(s) Bob Geldof [1]
Producer(s) Robert John "Mutt" Lange [1]
The Boomtown Rats singles chronology
"Like Clockwork"
(1978)		"Rat Trap"
(1978)		"I Don't Like Mondays"
(1979)

"Rat Trap" is a single by The Boomtown Rats which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in November 1978, [4] the first single by a punk or new wave act to do so. [5] It was written by Bob Geldof, [6] and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. [1] It replaced "Summer Nights", a hit single for John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John from the soundtrack of Grease , at number one in the UK chart after the latter's seven-week reign. [7]

Contents

Song

It is a rock song, telling the tale of a boy called Billy who feels the depressing town he lives in is a "rat trap".

When the band performed the song on Top of the Pops (which is also mentioned in the song) as the UK new number one, the band members began by tearing up pictures of Travolta and Newton-John to emphasise the fact that the pair - who had spent a total of 16 weeks out of the preceding 22 at the top of the charts - had been deposed. Geldof mimed the saxophone part on a candelabra, a jest he explained in his autobiography Is That It?: "The Musicians' Union had forbidden me to play saxophone on the video, as obviously I hadn't done so on the record. But I saw a candelabra on the piano at the shoot and I put a mouthpiece in the central candle holder and played it. The impact of video came home when during the next few British gigs kids pulled out candelabras from nowhere and began playing them during the sax solo in 'Rat Trap'". [8]

In the music video, which was directed by David Mallet, various members of the band are seen reading copies of the novel Rat Trap by the Welsh author Craig Thomas, although the book has no connection to the song. The lyric about "pus and grime..." was changed to "blood and tears pour down the drains and the sewers", although Geldof mumbled the line anyway. [9]

One of the more popular Boomtown Rats songs, it was performed by them at Live Aid and is still performed by Geldof to this day. During the Live Aid performance, Geldof's microphone went dead (apparently from the cable being damaged), causing Simon Crowe's harmony vocals to become the only audible voice on the last half of the song. This performance was not included on the DVD. In 1996 Geldof recorded a self-mocking cover version of the song with Dustin The Turkey which reached number one in Ireland.

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Geldof</span> Irish singer-songwriter and political activist (born 1951)

Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part of the punk rock movement. The band had UK number one hits with his co-compositions "Rat Trap" and "I Don't Like Mondays". Geldof starred as Pink in Pink Floyd's 1982 film Pink Floyd – The Wall. As a fundraiser, Geldof organised the charity supergroup Band Aid and the concerts Live Aid and Live 8, and co-wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas?", one of the best-selling singles to date.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Boomtown Rats</span> Irish rock band

The Boomtown Rats are an Irish new wave band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including "Like Clockwork", "Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Republic". The original line-up comprised six musicians; five from Dún Laoghaire in County Dublin; Gerry Cott, Simon Crowe (drums), Johnnie Fingers (keyboards), Bob Geldof (vocals) and Garry Roberts, plus Fingers' cousin Pete Briquette (bass). The Boomtown Rats broke up in 1986, but reformed in 2013, without Fingers or Cott. Garry Roberts died in 2022. The band's fame and notability have been overshadowed by the charity work of frontman Bob Geldof, a former journalist with the New Musical Express.

<i>The Boomtown Rats</i> (album) 1977 studio album by The Boomtown Rats

The Boomtown Rats is the debut album by Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats, released in September 1977. It included the Rats' first hit single, "Lookin' After No. 1", as well as the subsequent single, "Mary of the 4th Form". The album peaked at No. 18 in the UK Albums Chart in 1977.

<i>A Tonic for the Troops</i> 1978 studio album by the Boomtown Rats

A Tonic for the Troops is the second album by Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, released in June 1978.

<i>The Fine Art of Surfacing</i> 1979 studio album by the Boomtown Rats

The Fine Art of Surfacing is the third album by Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, released in June 1979. The album peaked at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart in 1979.

<i>V Deep</i> 1982 studio album by the Boomtown Rats

V Deep is the Boomtown Rats's fifth album, and the first to be released as a five-piece band, following the departure of guitarist Gerry Cott. It includes the minor hit single "House on Fire".

<i>Mondo Bongo</i> 1980 studio album by the Boomtown Rats

Mondo Bongo was the Boomtown Rats' fourth album. It peaked at No. 6 in the UK Albums Chart in February 1981, and No. 116 in the US Billboard 200. This is the band's last album to be recorded as six-piece band, as the guitarist Gerry Cott left the band shortly after the album's release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pete Briquette</span> Musical artist

Patrick Martin Cusack, known by the stage name Pete Briquette, is an Irish bassist, record producer and composer. He is a member of the Boomtown Rats and has also played in Bob Geldof's band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Don't Like Mondays</span> 1979 single by the Boomtown Rats

"I Don't Like Mondays" is a song by Irish new wave group the Boomtown Rats about the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego. It was released in 1979 as the lead single from their third album, The Fine Art of Surfacing. The song was a number-one single in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks during the summer of 1979, and ranks as the sixth-biggest hit of the UK in 1979. Written by Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers, the piano ballad was the band's second single to reach number one on the UK chart.

<i>Loudmouth – The Best of Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats</i> 1994 greatest hits album by The Boomtown Rats

Loudmouth – The Best of Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats is a 1994 greatest hits compilation album from Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats, consisting mostly of Boomtown Rats material but also some of Geldof's solo work. It peaked at No. 10 in the UK Albums Chart in July 1994.

<i>In the Long Grass</i> 1984 studio album by The Boomtown Rats

In the Long Grass was the sixth studio album by The Boomtown Rats, released in 1984 in the UK and 1985 in the US. It was the band's last studio material for well over three decades until 2020's Citizens of Boomtown.

"Someone's Looking at You" was the third and final single from The Boomtown Rats' album The Fine Art of Surfacing. It peaked at number two on the Irish Singles Chart and number 4 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banana Republic (song)</span> 1980 single by The Boomtown Rats

"Banana Republic" was the first single from The Boomtown Rats' album Mondo Bongo. It peaked at number three in the UK Singles Chart.

"Like Clockwork" is a single by The Boomtown Rats. It was the band's first to reach the Top Ten in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at No. 6.

"She's So Modern" is a song by The Boomtown Rats. It was the first single taken from the band's second album A Tonic for the Troops, whose title comes from a line in this song: "Charlie ain't no Nazi, she just likes to wear her leather boots, 'cos it's exciting for the veterans and it's a tonic for the troops". The single continued the Rats' high-energy post-punk/new wave sound that had typified earlier releases, but its fame would later be eclipsed by that of the band's more ballad-like global hit "I Don't Like Mondays". It has been described as "harmlessly smirking bubblegum a la The Knack".

"Mary of the 4th Form" is the second single by The Boomtown Rats. It was the first song taken from the band's first album The Boomtown Rats but the single is a different, re-recorded version from that on the album and 19 seconds longer. On French and Dutch releases of the single, "Do the Rat" was the A-side. The song's theme, of a teacher's sexual attraction to a pubescent girl, who behaves in an overtly sexual manner, was resonated in the Police song "Don't Stand So Close to Me".

"Lookin' After No. 1" is the first single by The Boomtown Rats. It appears on their first album The Boomtown Rats. The single was released in August 1977 after the band had performed a five-date tour supporting Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. "Lookin' After No. 1" was the first so-called new wave single to be playlisted by the BBC and the Boomtown Rats subsequently became the first New Wave band to be offered an appearance on Top of the Pops, performing the song. The song reached number 2 on the Irish Singles Chart and spent nine weeks in the UK Singles Chart reaching a peak of number 11. Different covers were produced for releases in the Netherlands and Japan. Reviewer David Clancy described the song as having a "breakneck sneering selfishness".

<i>The Vegetarians of Love</i> 1990 studio album by Bob Geldof

The Vegetarians of Love is the second solo studio album by Bob Geldof, released in July 1990. 'The Vegetarians of Love' was also the name of the band of musicians with whom Geldof recorded the album. It includes Pete Briquette from Geldof's previous band, The Boomtown Rats, who also co-wrote one track. Another notable co-writer was David A. Stewart of Eurythmics. The album was produced by Rupert Hine, who also played on it.

<i>Back to Boomtown: Classic Rats Hits</i> 2013 greatest hits album by The Boomtown Rats

Back to Boomtown: Classic Rats Hits is the fifth greatest hits album by Irish band The Boomtown Rats. It was released by Virgin EMI on 9 September 2013. The album was announced in June 2013 along with news of the band's UK and Ireland tour. Back to Boomtown: Classic Rats Hits is the first album to be released since The Boomtown Rats reunited and the band's first greatest hits album since 2003's The Best of The Boomtown Rats. The album contains fourteen of the group's singles, as well as two new tracks, "The Boomtown Rats" and "Back To Boomtown". The digital version of the album features two additional songs. Following its release, Back to Boomtown: Classic Rats Hits debuted at number thirty-five on the Irish Albums Chart.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Boomtown Rats, The - Rat Trap (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 1978. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  2. ↑ "Boomtown Rats singles".
  3. ↑ Stanley, Bob (13 September 2013). "Cranked Up Really High: Punk Rock". Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop. Faber & Faber. p. 449. ISBN   978-0-571-28198-5.
  4. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2002), The Virgin encyclopedia of 70s music (3rd ed.), Virgin Publishing, p. 45, ISBN   1852279478.
  5. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 71. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  6. ↑ "Bob Geldof". bobgeldof.com. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  7. ↑ Pegg, Nicholas (2006), The complete David Bowie (6th ed.), Reynolds & Hearn, p. 76, ISBN   1905287151.
  8. ↑ Geldof, Bob; Vallely, Paul (2005). Is That It?. Pan Books. p. 171. ISBN   0-330-44292-9.
  9. ↑ "Boomtown Rats - Rat Trap [totp2]". YouTube. BBC. 1:15 minutes in. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "Mr Alan Holmes". musicteachers.co.uk. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.