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Trivia Corner - Part 2. If you know
of owt that might fit in here, then please let me know. Roadsign Rat Badges Bizarrely, each Boomtown Rat had their own Roadsign Badge. Simon Crowe explains "There was a series of these, the idea of which came from our publicist BP Fallon - one day he announced that we should each have a roadsign badge associated / allocated - i.e. Gerry (Yield rt. Of way) Bob (Stop) Johnnie (Low Bridge ) etc.???????? Weird man." Also see Simon's Badge Like a Virgin On 7th July, 1979 - The Boomtown Rats made a personal appearance in Oxford Street, London, opening the very first Virgin Megastore.  You
Sexy ThingsOn 4/4/79, the Rats performed at the world famous sexy undies shop Fredericks of Hollywood, Hollywood, California. Pink Rats badges were given to those lucky enough to attend. Simon Crowe told us "We did that gig as a sort of novelty thing - they pushed back some of the displays and we set up and played. We had p.a. speakers on the street, as the shop could only hold a relatively small part of our audience!" "Raff
Ravenscroft who played that sax part on Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty Jeremy Thom Designed and supervised production sets for various video shoots, and the Rats World tour in 1979-80.
 King
Henry VIIIWhen the Rats moved to England in 1976 they were on the verge of securing their first record deal. They moved into a house in Chessington, Surrey - bought by the Rats manager. Geldof claimed it was an old mansion which had once been given by Henry VIII to one of his mistresses.
Pouge Gone Mon Frank Murray (Pogues) met up with The Boomtown Rats' lightsman Paul Verner. Verner - who had previously worked with Skid Row, Thin Lizzy and Horslips - knew that The Rats would be off the road for winter, so dispensed with formalities by saying, "Gis a job". The Rats gig at the free Festival in Scunthorpe, on September 1, was Paul Verner's last show with The Boomtown Rats before accepting Frank Murray's promised offer of a job, as The Pogues lighting engineer. In the Shadows Robbie Morfitt (guitarist for Vancouver's 'Econoline Crush') recalls when The Boomtown Rats played at Vancouver's Pacific National Exhibition Gardens in 1981. "Bob Geldof invited some girls up to do shadow dances, I was all of eleven years old when I attended the show. They had these lights beaming off the side of the stage. So you couldn't really see the girls, but you could see their shadows. These girls started rippin' off their clothes. All of a sudden, the band is turning sideways. This is my first concert, and I'm, like, 'I gotta keep coming to these things!" By Jovi on IDLM "I Don't Like Mondays with Bob Geldof was recorded just a couple of days prior to the tenth anniversary of Live Aid, and we liked the cultural significance of it." Warner 'Brothers' up 'in Arms' Warner Brothers' big A&R push was for the Boomtown Rats , who they came very close to landing (in fact, the Rats' reps gave Warners every indication they were, indeed, signing into the WB fold before they scurried off to Columbia). It's known that if Warners had succeeded in signing the Rats, they wouldn't have pursued a deal for another, less renowned British band called Dire Straits.  Would
you Adam and Eve it ?Bass player Adam Clayton turned to Gerry Cott for advice about how to get his band called 'Hype' noticed by the media, and how to get some good gigs. The band changed their name to U2.
 Big
Breakfast
In the early programmes of the Big Breakfast, Bob Geldof did a series of interviews with world celebrities such as the Dalai Lama. Ensign In 1977 Chris Hill and Nigel Grainge formed Ensign Records. Their first signing was The Boomtown Rats. Nigel signed Sinead O'Connor, and The Waterboys. He advised Sinead O'Connor against using the Boomtown Rats manager who was also the manager of Bananarama, but Sinead didn't take his advice.
Chris Hill still organisises (and DJ's at) 'The Caister Soul Weekender' - the world's Longest Running Soul Music Event. The event is held at Vauxhall Holiday Park in Norfolk (and I designed their web site! - Chris Graham). Under The Moon Of Love Showaddywaddy found themselves standing almost alone as survivors of the early seventies. Suddenly they were surrounded on all sides by a host of new, raw, exciting groups - The Sex Pistols, The Stranglers, The Damned, The Clash.... "Those groups never worried us", says Russ. "I especially liked The Boomtown Rats. They were very different to a lot of them. They had something special".  Revenge'Revenge' was a trio formed by Peter Hook, bassist for such legendary enigmas as New Order, Joy Division, and Monaco. Hook was joined by a pair of fellow Manchester musicians. Guitarist Dave Hicks, and Keyboardist / computer whiz Chris "CJ" Jones. CJ worked at Strawberry Studios engineering records by The Boomtown Rats . In July 1978, Kate Bush said: "The good thing about people like the Boomtown Rats is that not only is it really good, but it's really exciting and fun, and maybe my things are sometimes a bit too intricate to become fun. They're more picking pieces out and examining them. There's very little music on my album that will make you want to stamp your feet violently and hit your head against the wall." "In something like the Boomtown Rats, it's the complete energy that knocks you over."  Larry
GoganDJ Larry started in radio straight from school in the 1960's. He was voted Top DJ in one poll or another for 2 - 3 sucessive years. He broadcast the first radio programme on Radio 2. .... and the first song ever played on Radio 2 was "Like Clockwork" by the Boomtown Rats !!! Taking Notes Aparently during the shooting of the video for 'Someone's Looking At You', Bob Geldof got up on Johnny Fingers' piano and began dancing... A few weeks later, the Rats got the bill - seems the piano was on loan from the studio down the hall - the lender was the pianist for the Lawrence Welk Orchestra.  Keep
It Up
The Rats
played "Keep It Up" on BBC1's Kenny Everett Video Show with
Gerry Cott playing an outsized acoustic guitar (of course it wasn't a
prop).  Kinky
Music Bob Geldof
did a cover version of The Kinks 'Sunny Afternoon' for the Ray Davis tribute
album called 'The Ray Davis Songbook'. Pogue-Go The Pogues played at Bay NK Hall,Tokyo, Japan on March 5,1992. Joe Strummer, formerly of the Clash, filled in for Shane MacGowan, who was sidelined from the band's six-show Japan tour for reported "health reasons." Strummer brought piano ace Johnny Fingers on board for a rousing version of "I Fought The Law". All materials
and content on this website © BoomtownRats.co.uk unless otherwise stated.
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SWAP
SHOP
Rats
Episodes - 27.10.79 Judith Hann. Boomtown Rats 02.02.80 Boomtown
Rats 06.04.80 SWAP SHOP STAR AWARDS 1980 Winners: Boomtown Rats,
Sharron Davies, Dick Emery, David Bellamy, Robin Cousins, Grange Hill
05.05.80 MULTI-COLOURED MUSIC SHOW Cliff Richard, Boomtown Rats, Pretenders,
Buggles, Dr Hook, The Selecter, Dollar, The Police, Sad Café
08.11.80 Billy Connolly. Bob Geldof. 06.03.82 Boomtown Rats.
Mike Harding. 
However, the growing UK soul scene also enabled Chris Hill to sign a new
generation of home grown R&B talent. Light of the World, Eddy Grant,
Incognito, Beggar & Co, David Bendeth, Phil Fearon and Black Slate,
all spearheaded the new Britfunk movement whose music exploded through
the growing soul family that had grown up around the clubs, all-dayers,
and now Weekenders.