Sunday 01 January 2012
How To Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell: Bob Geldof Talks The Saintly Talk
It seems as good a time as any, what with it being post (Do They Know It's) Christmas, to bring forth the latest going-ons of the Brighton-bound enigmatic and quote-worthy, Saint Bob Geldof.
To get 'that' single out of the way, Geldof makes it clear that its much derided lyrics were never the point in question. It was a song, for a reason and it did 'the f***ing business.'
He goes on to make the worthy point that: 'It's not a place where "nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow". "It doesn't fucking matter - stop arguing about it as if it's some fucking art object - argue about it from a musical point of view. It was to stop people dying, it worked."
Um, ok then. His passion at the moment is his very fine set of new songs, How To Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell.
This time round Geldof is reflective mode, sprinkling many different styles over his first collection in almost a decade. He puts down the long gestation between albums to not being able to 'get arrested.'
All he wants, he states, is 'a good crowd of people, be deeply satisfied and then go home and have a good night's sleep.'
Geldof rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock
movement.
The band had hits with the likes of Rat Trap and I Don't Like Mondays. Well after the band had peaked, he went to co-write Do They Know It's Christmas?, one of the best-selling singles of all time, as well taking a starring role as Pink in Pink Floyd's 1982 film The Wall.
Geldof is widely recognised for his activism, especially anti-poverty efforts concerning Africa.
In 1984 he and Midge Ure founded the charity supergroup Band Aid to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
They went on to organise the charity super-concert Live Aid the following year and the Live 8 concerts in 2005. Geldof currently serves as an adviser to theONE Campaign, founded by fellow Irish humanitarian Bono, and, as a single father, he's has also been outspoken on the fathers' rights movement.
Music wise he now kind of accepts his place in the scheme of things: 'My music isn't driven by any commercial need; it's not driven by any desire to be in any way in the charts because that thing has gone.
'I don't consider the charts. I don't look at them, they just don't interest me at all. People like George Michael are still fascinated by pop music and he listens to all of it. He says, 'Did you hear that?' and I just could not give a wank.'
Bob Geldof (with full band) plays Concorde 2, Brighton, on Thursday 31st May 2012. See www.concorde2.co.uk for more details.
by: Mike Cobley
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Bob Geldof
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