Before Bob Geldof initiated the Live Aid global event, he headed the Irish band The Boomtown Rats who achieved some nominal success and radio airplay with the song “I Don’t Like Mondays” which was a line quoted by a child who had committed a school shooting after being asked why she did it.

I have a vague recollection sitting in the loge of The Palladium this particular evening with my friend Mike and his girlfriend Andrea and I either won the tickets somehow or the tickets were ridiculously cheap dince The Boomrown Rats were attempting to get some traction in the United States that never really ended up happening. As I recall Gelfof was a pretty dynamic frontman and the Rats rocked pretty good but they ended up being a primarily English phenomenon and never really took off in the States. Bob Geldof, now Sir Bob Geldof, is better known for putting together the Live Aid concert and the collaborative “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” song for hunger relief but on a Saturday night in May, 1979 he was just a singer in a rock and roll band.

The Fine Art of Surfacing

Rock on!

GQ

Judas Priest played the premier New York City rock and roll theatre venue The Palladium on a Saturday night in April, 1979 (picture a seedier beer soaked Beacon Theatre) and while I do not have any particular recollection of this heavy metal concert, I am somewhat amazed that groups like Judas Priest are still on the road and making music some 42 years later, at least until the pandemic hit and stole a year so far from the tail end of some pretty amazing careers. The performers and pop stars of my parents’ generation are mostly gone now and singers like Rob Halford are now our version of Perry Como and Andy Williams I guess. What kind of music will come out of the pandemic? Will it be frightening and apocalyptic or joyous? Are there bands in quarantined garages working on the musical landscape of tomorrow and will rock and roll fade away and become like jazz, primarily for a few hardcore fans and aficionados? Bob Dylan and Neil Young have begun to sell off publishing rights to their songs, possibly thinking this is the height of their popularity and the market. Many other artists will follow since few buy music any longer, touring is in limbo and will be problematic going forward; even rock stars have bills to pay. Paul Simon said “Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts” and based on those recent charts rock and roll popularity is on the decline. Let’s hope the next generation discovers the power, fury and majestic beauty of rock and roll coming out of this tumultuous time and it does not become something only discovered in a museum or a google search.

Victim of Changes

Rock on!

GQ