In the 5th edition of 1 Hit WONDERful ๐๐๐, we highlight โI Donโt Like Mondaysย โ performed by The Boomtown Rats.
It only takes ONE hit to solidify a musical legacy ๐ฏ! On 1 Hit WONDERful ๐๐๐, we highlight songs that were the SOLE hit by a given musician.ย To be fair, it is possible that the artists appearing on this list earned a minor hit or two, BUT for the most part, itโs that ONE hit that earned them recognition. So, in the 5th edition of 1 Hit WONDERful ๐๐๐, we dive into ๐ต โI Donโt Like Mondaysย โ, ย the one hit wonder by ๐ The Boomtown Rats.
โTell me why / I donโt like Mondays / I wanna shoot the whole day down.โ Mondays tend to be an unpopular day, but in the case of ๐ต โI Donโt Like Mondaysโ, the hatred is far more pronounced.ย Irish rock band ๐ The Boomtown Rats wrote and recorded a song that references the Grover Cleveland Elementary School shooting. Infamously, 16-year old Brenda Spencer, who truly didnโt like Mondays, killed two adults and injured eight children with a .22 caliber semiautomatic rifle at the elementary across from her house ๐ข.ย A worldwide hit from their 1979 album, ๐ฟ The Fine Art of Surfacing, the song marks the only charting single by The Boomtown Rats on the Billboard Hot 100. Notably, โI Donโt Like Mondaysโ was a top five hit in many countries, including hitting no. 1 in Ireland, Australia, and the UK. In the United States, it settled for no. 73.ย Again, this was the collectiveโs sole charting hit, hence, one hit wonder status.
โThe silicon chip inside her head / Gets switched to overload / And nobodyโs gonna go to school today / Sheโs gonna make them stay at home.โ Those lyrics, from the first verse of โI Donโt Like Mondaysโ, ย capture an unhinged person, in this case, a delusional mass murderer. In the first verse, ๐ Bob Geldof captures the shock of Brendaโs father, asserting, โAnd daddy doesnโt understand it / He always said she was good as gold.โ This sometimes occurs in cases from mass murderers and serial killers where the parents didnโt see any signs, hence why โAnd mother feels so shocked, fatherโs world is rockedโ (verse two). ย The third verse is incredibly disturbing: ย
โAnd all the playingโs stopped in the playground now
She wants to play with the toys a while
And schoolโs out early and soon weโll be learning
And the lesson is how to die.โ
Morbid, morbid, morbid. Beyond the songwriting, ๐ต โI Donโt Like Mondaysโ is incredibly ear catching, thanks to its art pop/New Wave sound.ย The piano and keyboard work is brilliant by ๐ Johnny Fingers.ย Furthermore, the backing vocals only accentuate Geldofโs fabulous lead.ย Also, shout out the marvelous strings/string arrangement. Fun fact: ๐ Tori Amos covered โI Donโt Like Mondaysโ on her 2001 album, ๐ฟ Strange Little Girls.ย The one is 1 Hit WONDERful ๐๐๐, indeed! ย
Appears in ๐ป:
- 12 More Songs About Mass Murderers (Vol. 3) (2018)
- 15 Songs for the Days of the Week (2018)
- 13 Unsettling Songs About Female Murderers (2019)
๐ The Boomtown Rats โข ๐ฟ The Fine Art of Surfacing โข ๐ท Mercury โข ๐ โฏ1979
The Boomtown Rats, I Donโt Like Mondays: 1 Hit WONDERful ๐๐๐ No. 5 (2023) [๐ท: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Mercury; Julia Larsen, Kurchakto, RDNE Stock project, Victor Terrell from Pexels; Andrew Martin from Pixabay]