Bob Geldof’s Boomtown Rats were originally pegged as Springsteen ripoff artists – and if you’ve ever heard “Rat Trap” or “Joey’s on the Street Again,” you know exactly where that rumor got started – but their US debut, A Tonic for the Troops, was much more than a series of “Rosalita” rewrites. And while the band came to prominence during the punk scene, let’s face it: the Rats were no more a punk band than the Clash were. They could rock, sure (“She’s So Modern,” “Blind Date,” “Mary of the 4th Form”), but at heart they were a pop band. A very strange, wonderful pop band.
Thus, “Me and Howard Hughes,” a harmony-drenched song about a guy who fancies himself a self-loathing eccentric. Lock yourself up in your room and enjoy this criminally overlooked band.
