Another special day for me today.
This day 47 years ago I switched on the telly and sat down with my sister, as we always did on a Thursday, to watch TOTP. The run down was pretty dull. Much of it mediocre at best. Then I didn’t know what had hit me. The unmistakable drum intro to Looking After No 1 filled our living with an energy we’d not felt before. I couldn’t wait for this band’s appearance. Then they took to the screen. I looked at Bob, an instant pre teenage love took hold (teenage crush) a long and enduring one.
The next day I had to rush to the shops to find magazines featuring this raucous band, the best I’d heard then and the best I’ve heard now. Boomtown Rat loyal for 47 years.
The 25th August 1977 was life changing. I was painfully shy and always felt as though I’d not belonged, especially at school, where I was bullied and I tried to conform and be a part of it. Despite this, there had always been an underlying rebellion, a push back against the norm and the expected. If any song defines me, it’s this one. It taught me to embrace my difference and be proud of it. Here’s to The Boomtown Rats, who will never know how much they changed my life and how much they’ve meant to me through the years.
Thank you Simon for filling my living room with Boomtown Rats drums.
I wanna be like me.