Tony hates the Rats

[Alias]

Anyone else see the programme on Factory that's been on TV a couple of times in the last weeks?
In it Tony Wilson was talking about the credibility of his So It Goes TV show back in the '70's, the only show case at the time for punk. I had to laugh when he said something along the lines of,

"People go on about the 30 odd bands that I had on the show, but
what's more important to me was the 350 bands I wouldn't have on
the show- Boomtown Rats? Fuck off!"

I read this, and thought of that-


Sleeve Notes from the remastered CD release
THE BOOMTOWN RATS by CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY

"Boomtown Rats: the band's name says it all. Parasites amid prosperity, rodents on the make in the sewers of power, a great band name from an era of great band names.As much as Clash or Damned or Sex Pistols - or Stranglers, Buzzcocks and Lurkers - the name forever tags the band as part of the class of '77, when the barbarians finally arrived at the gates of an increasingly stratified and stultifying Rock City.

Freshly arrived from Ireland and ready to make some noise and cause some trouble, like they had back home, the Rats didn't conform precisely to the notional orthodoxies of punk, but then neither did many other bands at the forefront of what those who were scared of the uncompromising term 'punk' later bowdlerised to New Wave. You weren't allowed to have long hair! The Ramones did. Guitar solos verboten! The defence calls Television. Facial hair a capital offence! Two members of The Stranglers are in mortal danger. Age police on the prowl for wrinklies on the run! Cells await Ian Dury, Knox from The Vibrators and most of The Stranglers...."