“It seemed that every kid in Dublin is or was or will be or wants to be in a band,” Roddy Doyle said in 1991.Īlan Parker discovered the same phenomenon when he began auditioning. “I was a high school teacher at the time, and I think listening to my students all talking at the same time, all trying to be heard, had a big influence on me.” The book, published in 1987, is told largely through dialogue, the story of out-of-work youngsters who form a “Dublin Soul” band – but crash out before hitting the big time. “I wanted an excuse to bring a large group of young characters together,” he said. Roddy Doyle conceived of the original novel while working as a schoolteacher in Kilbarrack, a suburb of Dublin's Northside. But looked back on and listened to now, the heart and, of course, soul of The Commitments is undeniable, belting out working-class grit as much as music. They addressed the inherent daftness of white-appropriated soul: “Say it once, say it loud, ‘I’m black and I’m proud,’” Jimmy tells the band – cue a roomful of rightly befuddled faces.

“The Commitments were fictional and are better left that way, I think.”īack in 1991, The Commitments were a beat ahead of themselves. “I didn’t – and don’t – like the idea,” said Doyle, quite grumpily, in a 2016 interview. Various line-ups have played together – a point of irritation for The Commitments’ creator and original novelist, Roddy Doyle. Since The Commitments first took to the stage 30 years ago, there’s been no shortage of portly white blokes murdering Otis Redding classics at weddings, pubs, and holiday parks. Even The Commitments themselves (at least, some of them) became their own tribute band. Another one won’t go amiss…”Īrkins is right. “Because there’s plenty of them out there. I can’t talk to Jimmy Rabbitte, manager of The Commitments – AKA musician and actor Robert Arkins – and not tell him about my long-held musical dream: to front a knockoff Commitments-slash-Blues Brothers band.

The Commitments by Roddy Doyle