The Boomtown Rats - I Don’t Like Monday’s was a song I fell in love with, when I was about 10. Looking back, and considering the subject matter, seems like a bit of an odd thing, but I think it may be in part, contextual. I first heard the song, and mind you, it was a really bad recording, on a cassette tape. Thinking back, the recording was so bad, it had to have been recorded with a tape player from vinyl, the radio, or another source. (CD’s were yet to hit the market). Back then, I used to take my little “boombox”, press record, and hold it up to the television speaker to record songs from MTV. Then I would take it outside in my driveway and play it for my friends. I wonder if there was any organization back then the busted kids for doing this? Anyway, I got the tape from a boy I went to grade school with, he got got it from his older brother who was in high school. (Boy, did they have some crazy parties when their parents went out of town, which was often!) The tape, in addition to I Don’t Like Mondays, also had other Boomtown Rats songs, Duran Duran, The Police, Joy Division, Dexy’s Midnight Runners . . . I loved that crappy sounding lo-fi cassette, the sound quality didn’t matter, I loved the music. The tape didn’t have a tracklising, so I didn’t know who half of the artist’s were, it was years later when I figured out who The Boomtown Rats were. I did know Duran Duran however, they were all over MTV. About a year after I first got that tape, I found out that Duran Duran were coming to my city to play a concert. Boy, was I excited. My babysitter, who was 16 at the time, filled me in on how you got “good tickets” to a show, you got in line really early, some people even camped out the night before! Woah! I begged my parents to take me to camp out for Duran Duran tickets, they were not down with this idea, at all. However, hey agreed to let me ride my bike to mall to get tickets the day they went on sale. So low and behold, Saturday morning rolled around, I jumped on my bike at 6am, in the rain, and I was off. Sure enough, people had already been waiting, I didn’t get first row, but I got 12th row - center. And so, I saw my first concert - Duran Duran, and Erasure opened. I’ll never forget it, it was rad. Fast forward to 20 years later, now, all I have to do is jump online, I can get whatever I want in 5 minutes. I don’t know how I feel about this. I’m all for convenience, but the experience is completely different. The memories I have are fond ones, and still very vivid, remembering how I first heard new music on this crappy tape, how determined I was to see this show. Now, my last memory of going out of my way to see a show, was a few years back, when I slept on buying Radiohead tickets, and I had to shell out $600 on Stubhub for a pair of balcony seats. Hardly the same.

I Don’t Like Mondays - The Boomtown Rats

Hype has a plethora of Blue Monday originals, remixes, mash-up’s, so many, I couldn’t pick just one, but I think you’ll have more fun, and feel better about Monday in general if you check it for yourself. Blue Monday - New Order - Hype Machine

And here’s to hoping the rest of your Monday is Happy - Happy Mondays

Welcome Tomorrow - Love and Rockets