The Band Aid single was brilliant – but its musical legacy is catastrophic
Forty years ago, Bob Geldof had an idea that arguably changed the world, and certainly changed the music world. It is such a simple idea, really, it is a wonder no one had tried it before: get as many famous musicians as possible together to sing on a charity record.
Multiplying the power of pop celebrity for a good cause, Do They Know It’s Christmas? by Band Aid was recorded on November 25, 1984, and released just two weeks later. It became a runaway sensation, a number one single for three weeks that raised ￡8 million in its first year towards combating famine in Ethiopia (increasing to date to more than ￡200 million for The Band Aid Charitable Trust). It opened the floodgates for a new genre of all star charity singles and concerts.
Over its long life, Do They Know it’s Christmas? has become a rite of passage for British pop stars. Band Aid 40 will be released at the end of this month as an “Ultimate Mix.” Approximately 111 pop stars have contributed to four previous Band Aid releases and every one of them can be heard in the new choral blend: from Sting duetting with Ed Sheeran and the late George Michael united with Harry Styles to Boy George passing the torch to Sam Smith, the Sugababes making shapes with Bananarama and Bono (from 1984, 2004 and 2014) singing with himself. They are introduced by the late David Bowie and backed by a house band of Paul McCartney with members of Radiohead, Duran Duran and the Darkness.
As supergroups go, it is certainly an improvement on the original lineup, which seems weirdly underpowered and parochial in retrospect. It is difficult to convey the impact Band Aid had at the time, where the session was reported as a headline item on TV news and in the next day’s paper. There was a sense of astoundment that such distinctive characters from different genres could be assembled in one place. But its musical legacy has been disastrous – a glut of the direst pop records of our times, with over 60 UK number one charity singles in the past four decades. It sometimes seems every major disaster is met by hastily assembled choirs of celebrities fighting for vocal space in gushy, overblown anthems, as if by bellowing at the top of their voices they can demonstrate that they really care. Sometimes you wish they’d just set up a direct debit instead.
Band Aid was surpassed artistically and lucratively by an American response, We Are The World, featuring a supergroup of genuine A list superstars under the guise of USA for Africa. It remains the eighth best-selling single of all time and is possibly the high point of the genre. The cast is undeniably impressive – Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan joining forces with Tina Turner and Diana Ross. Songwriters Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones concocted a universal anthem that avoids the drippiest kind of sentimentality that ends up suffocating true emotion.
But quickly writing original songs to address major news tragedies is a risky business, as Geldof found out when widely mocked for his geographically incorrect assertion that “there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas” (one of many lines amended for subsequent releases). Which is perhaps why the charity genre soon shifted in another direction: cover versions of famous rock ballads. Why go to the effort of putting pen to paper when you have a supply of old favourites such as Paul Simon’s Bridge Over Troubled Waters (Artists For Grenfell, 2014), Gerry Marsden’s Ferry Cross the Mersey (Hillsborough Disaster, 1989) and Lou Reed’s Perfect Day (Children in Need, 1997).
It is an inherently discomfiting format, with singers of varying abilities and tones trying to impose themselves on phrases rather than digging into the emotional centre of a song, with criticism held at bay by the underlying charitable impulse. Who now could bear to listen to the combined forces of Susan Boyle, Kylie Minogue, James Blunt, Jon Bon Jovi and Mika massacring REM’s sensitive Everybody Hurts under the guise of Helping Haiti? But it was number one for two weeks in 2010, the fastest-selling charity record of the 21st century in Britain, raising millions for victims of the Haitian earthquake. Does a good cause justify a bad record? Probably. Albeit the people who benefit from the money raised generally don’t have to hear the damn things.
America has been responsible for some absolute shockers, of which the most ludicrous might be Voices That Care, an original anthem released in 1991 by a bizarre coalition of country, MOR and RnB stars (including Garth Brooks, Luther Vandross, Bobby Brown, Michael Bolton and Little Richard) to boost the morale of American troops involved in Operation Desert Storm. Because nothing raises the fighting spirit like having Celine Dion trilling “you had to take a stand / In someone else’s land.”
The format lends itself to satire, such as by The Simpson’s Sending Our Love Down the Well in 1987, Randy Newman’s I Just Want You to Hurt Like I Do in 1988 and the video for Pulp’s Bad Cover Version in 2002. Yet it hasn’t stopped celebrities from participating, perhaps because Geldof established a simple way for otherwise powerless showbusiness figures to respond to a crisis.
Nevertheless, the appeal of the charity genre has been waning, beset by too many major flops in recent decades. But now here comes Band Aid to stir us all up again, reminding us of a more innocent moment in pop history, when the very notion of effete pop stars sharing a microphone with dirty rockers seemed an outrageous transgression. As a new generation of fans get to grips with a fifth version of Do They Know it’s Christmas?, older listeners might take comfort from the famous phrase roared by the trio of Bonos: “Tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.”
Top 5 Charity Singles
We Are the World – USA for Africa (1985)
The late Quincy Jones marshals a superstar cast expertly on gushy power ballad. A sign in the studio instructed “Check Your Egos at the Door”.
Perfect Day – BBC Children In need (1997)
The bittersweet stoicism of Lou Reed’s song is somehow retained in a surprisingly gentle arrangement, where a fantastic cast deliver lines with understated emotion.
Sun City – Artists United Against Apartheid
Stevie Van Zandt organised this political rap rock protest song. It wasn’t a big hit but had an oversized cultural impact in America and ultimately contributed to government sanctions and the end of Apartheid.
Do They Know It’s Christmas? – Band Aid (1985)
The original and still one of the best. It’s become such a seasonal staple it is hard to judge on its own merits, but there is a dark, inspirational song at its heart.
It’s Only Rock n Roll – Artists For Children’s Promise (1999)
It’s terrible and barely dented the charts but the idea of the Rolling stones jamming with the Spice Girls is exactly the kind of Avengers Assemble nonsense we come to supergroup singalongs for.
Worst 5 Charity Singles
Stars – Hear ‘N Aid (1985)
“Who cries for the children?” wails Ronny James Dio backed by Judas Priest, Motley Crue and Spinal Tap on a misguided attempt to marshal the heavy metal world’s own Band Aid.
Earth – Lil Dicky (2019)
No one needs to hear Justin Bieber singing about a Baboon’s anus, even for charity.
Voices That Care – Voices that Care (1991)
Dreary patriotic anthem sending American troops off to war with curiously ambivalent sentiments.
What’s Going On – Artists Against AIDS Worldwide (Fred Durst’s Reality Check Mix) (2001)
To be fair, this remake of the Marvin Gaye classic isn’t bad until Limp Bizkit hijacks it to support the American Red Cross in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attack.
You’ll Never Walk Alone – The Crowd (1985)
Gerry Marsden’s response to a tragic fire at Bradford City stadium is well intended, but the combination of a hastily rearranged classic and B-list celebrity crowd (including Rolf Harris, Keith Chegwin, Dave Lee Travis and Black Lace) showed how little effort had to be made to score a number one hit.