Researching for this blog has been enjoyable. Thanks to the internet I am seeing old familiar music for the first time. There are lots of things I did not see when they first came out: gigs, recordings, news items, TV programmes etc. but now they are all online and I can see them in a short space of time.

Tonight I was watching several videos and listening to mp3s of the Boomtown Rats. They were my No. 1 band when I was at school. I saw them in Carlisle when they played. And seeing them live on Youtube reminds me of those times, the gigs, and the literature. The clothes were not leather, but off beat, stripped, and colorful. The music was not what we call punk today, but a mixture of different styles. And I guess that stayed with me too. I never played any of their songs, when I started playing guitar my musical tastes had moved on, but I think their energy stayed with me. I had lost interest by the time Live aid had come around.

The videos were:

Boomtown Rats – Like Clockwork (Live at Hammersmith Odeon 19)
Joey’s On the Streets Again LIVE The Boomtown Rats 1978
The Boomtown Rats – Peel Session 1977
Boomtown Rats – Rat Trap (Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1978)