Video Extracts - Saturday Superstore

17th February 1985

These images have been extracted from video footage
of The Rats on Saturday Superstore TV show.

Saturday Superstore was live every Saturday morning and presented by Mike Read. It was on BBC1 and recorded in London.

I can put an exact date on the show - 17th, Feb, '85, because later that very evening I saw The Rats playing a gig at the Manchester Apollo on the 'Long Grass' tour.

At one point during the Gig that night, Bob said "Did you see us on Saturday Superstore this morning ?" [Crowd:YEAH!] "That Mike Read is a right w*nk*r" [crowd cheered].

The show is interesting because Bob is obviously in a bit of a mood with Fingers. He turns his back on Fingers on a few occasions, and seems keen to answer the questions before Fingers.

Phone 01 811 8055 and ask Fingers and Bob a question.

Katy Smith asks: Where did you get the name of the band...

Caller 2: How do you chose album tracks for singles?

Geldof: It becomes obvious as you go along, my favourite tracks are not the singles.

Caller 2: I thought 'Skin on Skin' would have been a better single
than Charmed Lives...

Geldof: Except Skin on Skin is rather dirty. But then again Charmed Lives wasn't a hit, so we might as well have done.

Atarra Preston asks: What did you want to be when you were young?

Fingers: I wanted to be a film star. Honestly, an umbrella!

Geldof: I wanted to be a nuclear physicist...

Caller [A very young girl]: I want to ask Bob and Johnnie,
do You have any phobias ?

Geldof : I actually can't stand Johnnie
Fingers: Don't laugh!
Fingers: I have a phobia of large open spaces [Fingers now lives in Tokyo].
Mike Read: That's called agoraphobia.
Fingers: Is it ? [in a disinterested tone]
Fingers : I get scared stood in the desert an' that.
Mike Read: It must happen to you a lot ?
Fingers: Yeah it does [said with funny sarcasm at the thought of such a stupid comment by Mike Read]
Geldof to caller: Do you have any phobias ?
Caller : I'm scared of spiders.
Geldof : My girlfriend [Paula Yates] is scared of spiders. When we lived in Clapham, London, I refused to kill a big spider that came out every night. I had to make up a story about spiders having families. You must have a dirty house if you don't have any spiders, cos they are clean. There was a thing on telly the other night about a woman who put a spider in her mouth.
Caller: I ate a spider once.
Fingers: I used to eat earth.
Geldof : OK, Johnnie you know what's for breakfast later on ...
Geldof : I ate a slug once. There's a lot of iron in slugs.

Mike Read, Bob, Fingers, Claire Grogan, Captain Sensible, and some other bloke who looks like Hank Marvin - but probably some gardening expert or something... Combined they make the Saturday Superstore 'Pop Panel'.

After watching the appropriate video, In turn they give their opinions on the new releases.

They decide Hazel O'Conner is going to be a hit... [it didn't even make the charts]. "She's got a hat like mine, so it's erm... OK" says Fingers. Geldof says "She's a nice person and has good teeth, so it'll be a hit."

At one point, Geldof is giving his opinion on watching Dire Straights playing in a pub in front of a dozen people, whilst Fingers is behind him with a very cheeky 'Bob's going on a bit' look on his face. Bob turns to Fingers, who suddenly looks serious. Fingers says "Ah yes, that was Tonic Tour".

Fingers says how he preferred the origional vesion of Tobacco Road, and he has it in his record collection. "The video is OK ya know. I loved the motorbikes."

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