Boomtown Rats: Not Enough from Their First Album Made the & IL£~«~
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IN THESE TIMES MAR. 21-27.1979 23 ROCK MUSIC BUSINESS Boomtown Rats: not enough from their first album made the & IL£~«~... f*,n, y !?.» laS.S British Top Ten, and their tours were continual sell-outs. Hvsr weridsr why thai new A Tonic for the Troops, the group you jusi Icvs, the one with Rats' second album, was released "can't miss" writer; all ever in Britain early in 1978 and quick- them, flops? While 1 wo^ldr.'t ly became an even larger seller be so vuJg&r as to suggest that than their first. A single taken the way ari act is proraotes is the from the new album, "Rat Trap," most important factor in detsr- had the distinction of bumping mining its SUCCESS, there is little John Travolta off the Number doubt that publicity campaigns, One position in the British charts packaging, and marketing deci- —an event celebrated by the Rats' sions ears play crucial roles. placing an ad in the British rock Boomtown Rats, with Fingers (in pajamas), Roberts and Geldof (on right). Some reck base's become im- press showing the slick Travolta after Tonic came out. Columbia mensely popular without eiabcr- caught in a rat trap (below)—and publicists set up press and radio ate initial backing frors their rec- sold in the neighborhood of one Mercury's idea of good hype interviews in every city in which ord companies. Boston corses im- million copies. the band appeared (including the mediately tc mind, £s does Dfre However, at the same time that ones cited in this article). They Straits (see/JT, Dec. 13, 1,578), the Rats were becoming one of was to send out 25 or 30 also provided complementary on 2. smaller as.d nore artistic Britain's biggest rock groups, tickets to media and record store kvel. Yst a let of bands with sig- they were doing miserably in the dead rats in plastic bags personnel. Full-page advertise- nificant ccKiraercial potential, U.S. According to George Kne- ments in publications like Rolling HO I. J.Q /"ACHs fciOn *Si6JTltp H86C; i.Jt.5 meyer of Mercury Records (the to selected dealers. Stone were run in conjunction careful auo. intense efforts of a band's American label, a subsid- with the tour. Radio spots began record company's publicity and iary of Phonogram), the first popping up regularly on album- marketing dcpa?ttr.snts in crder Boomtown Rats album sold "un- noting that "our album sold Inc., which recently released in oriented FM stations. According to find their audisnee. One such der 10,000 here in the States," more on import in New York America the Rats second album, to Columbia's Stewart, sales fig- band is the Bcorr.town Rats, and sales generally considered to be City than they shipped to the A Tonic for the Troops. (As part ures for the album are not yet an examination c-f their checkered, in the disaster level for a major whole New York State." of their contract settlement with available, but it appears that though brief, recording history company. As could be expected, Mercury Mercury, the Rats gained the Tonic is getting strong airplay may shed some light sn the econ- has a different view of the rela- rights to their first album. They and receiving good critical notices. omics of the rock music industry. Pinch-penny promo. tionship. Knemeyer told IN THESE put two of its strongest tracks on Ultimately, a lot of other fac- The Rats, as they are popularly Band members, now signed with TIMES that "at the time, we were the American version of Tonic.) tors in addition to promotion will known, were formed in Dublin another American record com- approaching them as a New Wave One of the giants of the record- determine the commercial success during the middle of 1976. Tak- pany, feel bitter towards Mer- band, and we did ads in the ing industry, Columbia had the of a rock band. Talent, fortunate- ing their name from a street gang cury for its handling of their first Trouser Press, New York Rock- distribution network capable of ly is still often rewarded. Finding mentioned in Woody Guthris's album. In a conversation with IN er, and several other New Wave both putting albums in stores and a striking pose or gimmick can autobiography, Bound for Glor?, THESE TIMES, keyboard player publications." When asked getting them eye-catching display make the difference, as can be they rapidly became one of lie- Johnnie Fingers and guitarist whether it was correct to call the space. Compared with other rec- seen from groups spanning the land's most popular bands. Mov- Garry Roberts discussed this. Rats a punk band, he admitted ord companies, their publicity de- distance from neo-cartoon char- ing to England in search of a Roberts charges that Mercury that the tag wasn't accurate in partment is both well prepared acters like Kiss or Boney M to larger audience, within a short had few creative ideas. "They're their case, but pointed out that and persistent. the wild-man intellectualism of time they 'were signed by Evjsign OK with somebody like Rod when "their first album was re- The promotional campaign Warren Zevon. Foreigner, Bos- Records (a small label distribut- Stewart, who somebody else has leased, just about any new band Columbia devised for the Rats is ton, and Toto represent big bucks ed by the Phonogram Corpora- broken, who they don't have to out of Britain was being labelled a model of how a company gets bands that have found instantly tion) and released their debut al- do any work on," he says, "but 'punk rock.' Our ads tried to put its bands known. A month be- recognizable, risk-free hit writing bum, Boosntovm Rats. they can't break acts, and that's out that they were much more fore releasing Tonic, Columbia formulas and will undoubtedly The move to En.gb.nrl came at what we needed." than punk rock." In that case, brought Geldof and Fingers to keep trotting them out until their a fortuitous time. The Rats' mus- Fingers is particularly angry why not place ads in broadly- the U.S. for a multi-city promo- fans lose interest. ic, based en equal measures of about a publicity stunt he feels based music publications like tional tour. In San Francisco, for But particularly for a new R&B, hard rcsk, arid the cynical, hurt the band. "Their idea of a Rolling Stone! "At that stage, example, they met with writers, group, promotion often makes ' socially-aware, and intelligent promotional gimmick for our Knemeyer responded, "we had X radio announcers, record store the difference between public lyrics of vocalist Bob Geldof, first album," he says, "was to amount of money to work with, workers, and Columbia person- and critical recognition and being emerged on vinyl just in fee to mail out 25 or 30 dead rats in and the gold or platinum groups nel over beer, wine, and sand- lost among the hundreds of new connect with Britain's burgeon- plastic bags to chosen dealers got priority" (A "gold" album is wiches. Those assembled heard acts that never escape obscurity. ing New Wave movement dur- around the country." He also one that sells over 500,000 units; the forthcoming album, received Leaving aside the worst excesses ing the God Save the Queer, sum- charged that Mercury did a ter- a "platinum" album sells over "bios" about the band and care- of record promotion—the shame- mer of 1977. Two singles taken rible job distributing the album, one million.) fully selected reprints of favor- less hyping of the mediocre, the Knemeyer also cited the diffi- able reviews in the British press, irresponsible use of sexist imag- culty Mercury had in selling the watched a Hard Day's Night- ery, and outright bribery—within Rats. "One of the problems," he inspired videotape of the Rats the context of the modern rock explains, "was that radio used performing "Rat Trap," and got industry it is difficult to argue ats reviewed the equation that if it was New to talk informally with Geldof with the Boomtown Rats' desire Wave it must be bad, and the al- and Fingers. for commercial, as well as critiea! es ("Like Clockwork"), Geldof bum got little airplay." Still, Kne- About a month later the album success. While we may strive ts By Bands approaches his subjects with a meyer said that Mercury spent was released in America and re- develop a system in which must daring and pointed wit not often "20 to 30 grand" on promotional view copies were sent out. As a cal achievement and creativity A Tonic for the Troops dis- found in rock. tours. The Rats did not, however, result of the earlier efforts, re- can be separated from the con- plays the musical growth of the The subject of youthful angst perform in the U.S. while under viewers and radio programmers straints of the marketplace, it is Boomtown Eats since they re- may have been explored by pop contract with Mercury. and DJs would already be fam- important to recognize how far leased their debut album in 1577. writers from Smokey Robinson Both Roberts and Fingers feei iliar with the "product," or at the away that goal is and how little U In particular, the new album is to Johnny Rotten, but Geldof's that Mercury mislabeled them as very least would be able to distin- offers in the abstract to a present- marked by a unique pimctua- treatment of the theme on "Rat a punk rock band.