There are a lot of ways for bands from overseas to make their mark in the U.S. Some of the standbys are relentless touring, hitting all the late-night talk shows and morning teams, or just putting out a killer album that is undeniable no matter where you’re from.
And then there’s the stunt Sir Bob Geldof said his label pulled in the 1970s when they were trying to blow his band The Boomtown Rats up stateside. Appearing on the BBC’s The One Show this week, Geldof revealed that his label had a very gross idea for promoting the “I Don’t Like Mondays” band with U.S. radio stations. “1,000 dead actual rats, which were ordered from the sanitation department of New York City,” Geldof, 68, explained.
The rodents were sent out from Chicago to 1,000 DJs across the nation, who likely didn’t really flinch, or get enticed to play the Rats’ music because, as Geldof joked, they were “busy playing disco in the middle of the ’70s.”And that, he said, was basically the end of the band’s chances in the U.S. “On Monday morning there was this dump on the desk of 1,000 DJs and it was a rat in formaldehyde, in plastic,” he said with a chuckle.
The group released its first album in 36 years, Citizens of Boomtown, in March.
Check out the Geldof clip below.
