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Rip It Up, Issue 8, 1 February 1978, Page 11

John Malloy

The Boomtown Rats Mercury The Rats are an Irish band who have grabbed a slice of the music biz pie by the time-honoured method of being more outrageous than the next guys, to the point of using live rats, blue movies, and chunks of raw liver in their stage act. If you saw them on the box recently, you may agree that they’re right up there with the Pistols for live excitement. Forget about the punk label there’s nothing new about rock n' roll, and the Rats are hot stuff. The big difference between the Rats and bands like the Motors and the Stranglers is that the Rats are nearly as young as their audience. It shows in their first album. Most of the songs have a high teenage identification quotient. This ain’t bad, depending on whether you’re seventeen or twenty three, but to a boring old fart some of the lyrics sound a lot like what was going down in the sixties. And just as corny; Don't wanna be like you Don’t wanna live like you Don't wanna talk .’ike you, at all. They redeem themselves with a surfeit of energy, and a couple of songs that show just a touch of social awareness. “Never Bite The Hand That Feeds" has feminist sympathies, believe it or not. "Joey's On the Street Again" stands out with a Springsteen feel and a good hook. And the rest are mean and nasty enough for any pogoing vinyl-suited crowd. One for the safety pin set.