“I Want To Shoot The Whole Day Down”

On This Date, July 28th  in 1979: The Boomtown Rats had the #1 single in the UK with “I Don’t Like Mondays,” which appeared on their album, The Fine Art Of Surfacing. Boomtown Rats’ vocalist Bob Geldoff was inspired to write the song after hearing about the 1979 shooting spree at  Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California which was perpetrated by then 16-year old Brenda Ann Spencer.

Using a rifle that she had recently been given for Christmas by her father, Spencer opened fire on a schoolyard just across the street from her home, killing two adult school employees and wounding eight children and a police officer.

When asked why she went on her rampage, she replied, “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day.” Spencer is currently serving 25 years to life at The California Institution for Women in Chino and will be eligible for parole again on August 13th, 2009. Her quote, “I Don’t Like Mondays” also appears written on a wall in the 1985 movie The Breakfast Club.