Case of the Mondays Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Boomtown Rats

The Boomtown Rats formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1975 with Geldof as their singer. They released six studio albums between 1977 and 1984, broke up in 1986 and then got back together again in 2013 without two of the original members. Originally they were called "The Nightlife Thugs" but when one of their band members threatened to quit if they kept that name, they changed it to The Boomtown Rats, after a gang of children mentioned in Woody Guthrie's autobiography.

They were part of the Irish punk scene and are best known for the song "I Don't Like Mondays".

Answer: British Columbia

Before joining The Boomtown Rats, Geldof held a number of different and quite diverse jobs. He worked at a slaughterhouse, as a manual labourer, a pea canner and as a music journalist in British Columbia, Canada for The Georgia Straight - a free weekly and entertainment magazine.

He also worked for a short while for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a guest host. After his time in Canada, he returned to Ireland and joined the band as their singer.

Answer: No

Bob Geldof has worked tirelessly as a humanitarian and fundraiser for a number of different causes, including poverty, famine relief, fathers' rights and AIDS issues. He received the Man of Peace Award in 2005 and was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1986.

He is allowed to use the initials 'KBE" (Knight Commander of the British Empire) but cannot officially be referred to as Sir because he is not a citizen of a Commonwealth country. Despite that, media outlets have erroneously and consistently referred to him as 'Sir Bob'.

Answer: Sixteen year old girl fires at elementary schoolchildren

On the morning of Monday, January 29, 1979, sixteen year old Brenda Ann Spencer of San Diego, California open fired at elementary school students as they were lining up to go to school. She injured eight students and a police officer and killed the school principal and the custodian.

She was asked why she did it and her reply was "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day." Bob Geldof read about the crime and thought about the senselessness of it and wrote the song to capture that. The family of Spencer tried to stop the song from being released in the US however it was released there and reached number seventy-three on the Billboard Hot 100.

It reached number one in the UK and won the Best Pop Song and Outstanding British Lyric categories at the Ivor Novello Awards. Geldof has since stated that he regrets writing the song that made Spencer famous.

Answer: The Wall

"Pink Floyd-The Wall" is a 1982 musical film directed by Alan Parker and based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album also called "The Wall". It tells the story, mostly through music and little dialogue, of a rock star named Pink who is driven to insanity and builds a wall to protect himself.

The film is highly symbolic, using dark images of drug use, depression, violence and fascism. It is suggested that it's based on former Pink Floyd singer Syd Barrett who, on one occasion, shaved his head and face before a band rehearsal that he wasn't even invited to.

There is a scene in the movie that replicates this but Geldof refused to shave his head for the scene (he shaved all his body hair instead).

Answer: Midge Ure

The song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was recorded by supergroup Band Aid that consisted of some of the biggest British musicians at the time. The song was recorded on November 25, 1984 and brought together musicians and bands such as U2, Sting, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, Bananarama, Duran Duran, George Michael, Paul Young and Status Quo. Different singers were given different lines to sing, all recorded throughout the day and then mixed by Midge Ure. Geldof really wanted Boy George of Culture Club to participate as he was extremely popular at the time and insisted that George fly to London from New York to record his part. George arrived at the studio at 6pm and was the last solo artist of the day.

The song ended up spawning several versions and inspiring "We Are The World" which was a similar effort by American artists. Reception to "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was mixed and it's generally looked at as a terrible song with good intentions. It helped to raise £8 million within twelve months of being released.

Answer: Catholic Church

During The Boomtown Rats first appearance on the Irish TV show "The Late Late Show", Geldof was deliberately rude to the host and openly insulted Irish politicians and the Catholic Church, blaming them for the country's problems. There were nuns in the audience and Geldof insulted them as well as his former school.

The interview was quite controversial and the band was banned from playing in Ireland. Geldof's antics didn't stop there and he has been known to use expletives in live interviews. At the NME Awards in 2006 he called host Russell Brand a really distasteful name. During an interview on the British TV show "CountDown:United Kingdom" he dropped the F-word and during the broadcast of Live Aid he swore twice while asking viewers to donate.

Answer: Live Aid

Live Aid was a benefit concert held on July 13, 1985, organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, the goal being to raise funds for famine relief for Ethiopia. The event took place in London, UK and Philadelphia, US with some of the decade's biggest musicians donating their time to help raise funds.

Some of the performers included Queen, Elton John, David Bowie, Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, and Phil Collins, who played in both London and Philadelphia. Collins took the Concorde from London after his performance so that he could play in Philadelphia later in the day.

The concert helped to raise millions of pounds and inspire other fundraising efforts however Geldof has been criticized as he was allegedly warned (and ignored the warnings) that many of the funds raised would never reach the people he was trying to help because of corruption.

Answer: Barrie, Ontario

Twenty years after the historic fundraising event Live Aid took place, Bob Geldof was at it again. In 2005, he and Midge Ure organized yet another massive fundraising event, this time with a focus on eradicating poverty. Live 8 was a series of free concerts that took place in the UK, Canada, USA, Germany and Russia. Once again, some of the biggest musicians at the time donated their time to perform. My hometown of Barrie, Ontario was the site of the Canadian concert that I was lucky enough to attend. It was hosted by Tom Green and Dan Aykroyd and included performances from The Tragically Hip, Deep Purple, Great Big Sea, Jann Arden, Barenaked Ladies, Blue Rodeo and Neil Young.

Once again, Geldof faced criticism and controversy as he pulled together his plans. He was originally criticized for not having any African performers on the bill although he did later add Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour to perform. He also faced criticism that he was at this point just trying to show off how much he could influence politicians and musicians. Noel Gallagher of British band Oasis stated that he was annoyed at the expectation to drop everything and join the event at Geldof's request, and British band Radiohead turned down the event.

Answer: Deep In The Heart Of Nowhere

Geldof left The Boomtown Rats in 1986 to pursue a solo career and released five solo albums between 1986 and 2010. The first of his solo albums included the single "This Is The World Calling" which featured Annie Lennox and was co-written by Dave Stewart (both Lennox and Stewart were members of the band The Eurythmics).

The album reached number 79 on the UK charts and number 130 on the US charts. Geldof has had more success and fame with his humanitarian and fundraising efforts than he has with his musical career.

In 2006, he arrived at a concert venue in Italy to find only forty-five people in the audience (the venue has a capacity of 12,000) however this wasn't because of his lack of popularity as a musician, it was due to the fact that the promoter hadn't put the tickets on sale to the general public! The crowd of forty-five didn't get a concert that day but they did get an autograph session instead.