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Dysfunctional music for dysfunctional people: The Public Image is Rotten reviewed

4 July 2020

9:00 AM

4 July 2020

9:00 AM

Citizens of Boomtown: The Story of the Boomtown Rats

BBC iPlayer

The Public Image is Rotten

Vimeo

A Band Called Death

Amazon Prime

A star is born, but instead of emerging into the world beaming for the cameras, he spits and snarls and announces his intention to destroy the establishment via the medium of rock records. But who is it? Is it Bob Geldof or John Lydon?

Citizens of Boomtown: The Story of the Boomtown Rats — another in the ongoing trend of the BBC screening films that are fundamentally ads for a band’s new album — made the case for Geldof, suggesting he and his bandmates singlehandedly dragged Ireland into the modern age (the Daily Telegraph’s chief rock critic popped up to...

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