Band Aid (band)

Geldof was so moved by the plight of starving children in Ethiopia that he decided to try to raise money using his contacts in pop music. Geldof enlisted the help of Midge Ure, from the group Ultravox, to produce a charity record. Ure took Geldof's lyrics, and created the melody and backing track for the record.[8] Geldof called many of the most popular British and Irish performers of the time, persuading them to donate their time. His one criterion for selection was how famous they were, to maximise sales of the record. He then kept an appointment to appear on a show on BBC Radio 1, with Richard Skinner, but instead of promoting the new Boomtown Rats material as planned, he announced the plan for Band Aid.[9]

The recording studio gave Band Aid no more than 24 free hours to record and mix the record, on 25 November 1984. The recording took place at SARM Studios in Notting Hill between 11 am and 7 pm, and was filmed by director Nigel Dick to be released as the pop video though some basic tracks had been recorded the day before at Midge Ure's home studio. The first tracks to be recorded were the group / choir choruses which were filmed by the international press. The footage was rushed to newsrooms where it aired while the recording process continued. Later, drums by Phil Collins were recorded. The introduction of the song features a slowed-down sample from a Tears for Fears track called "The Hurting", released in 1983. Tony Hadley, of Spandau Ballet, was the first to record his vocal, while a section sung by Status Quo was deemed unusable, and replaced with section comprising Paul Weller, Sting, and Glenn Gregory from Heaven 17. Simon Le Bon from Duran Duran sang between contributions from George Michael and Sting. Paul Young has since admitted, in a documentary, that he knew his opening lines were written for David Bowie, who was not able to make the recording but made a contribution to the B-side (Bowie performed his lines at the Live Aid concert the following year). Boy George arrived last, at 6 pm, after Geldof woke him up by phone telling Boy George that he wanted him on the song. George's group Culture Club were currently touring the US and George caught a Concorde jet from New York City to London, at his own expense, to record his solo part.

The following morning, Geldof appeared on the Radio 1 breakfast show with Mike Read, to promote the record further and promise that every penny would go to the cause. This led to a stand-off with the British government, who refused to waive the VAT on the sales of the single. Geldof made the headlines by publicly standing up to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and, sensing the strength of public feeling, the government donated the tax to charity as well.

The record was released on 3 December 1984, and went straight to No. 1 in the UK singles chart, outselling all the other records in the chart put together. It became the fastest-selling single of all time in the UK, selling a million copies in the first week alone. It stayed at No. 1 for five weeks, selling over three million copies and becoming easily the biggest-selling single of all time in the UK, thus beating the seven-year record held by "Mull of Kintyre". It has since been surpassed by Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" (his tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales) but it is likely to keep selling in different versions for many years to come. In 1986 the original music video from "Do They Know It's Christmas?" won Band Aid a Grammy Award nomination for Best Music Video, Short Form.

After Live Aid, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was re-released in late 1985 in a set that included a special-edition 'picture disc' version, modelled after the Live Aid logo with 'Band' in place of 'Live'. An added bonus, "One Year On" (a statement from Geldof and Ure on the telephone) was available as a B-side. A transcript of "One Year On" can be found in a booklet which was included in the DVD set of Live Aid, the first disc of which features the BBC news report, as well as the Band Aid video.

Live Aid inspired a number of charity events, such as Media Aid, which raised money for Save the Children.

The hit single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was highly successful worldwide. It sold over two million copies around the globe and raised more than $24 million (USD). The super group's success was seen as a large increase in Celebrity Diplomacy and inspired similar actions of support from countries such as Canada, France, Spain and the United States. The success influenced two organisations of live benefit concerts run by Celebrity Charity. The concerts were USA for Africa and Live Aid and were broadcast in over 160 countries. Band Aid and Live Aid combined raised about $150 million (USD) for the famine relief effort in Ethiopia.

On Friday 1 December 1989, Bob Geldof called Pete Waterman to ask if he would consider producing a new version of the song featuring the big stars from that time. Waterman immediately postponed his wedding[10] and began calling up the artists. With just two days' notice, on Sunday 3 December, recording took place at PWL Studios in South London.[11] Present in the studio was Bob Geldof, wife Paula Yates and six-year-old daughter Fifi Trixiebelle, who was eager to meet Jason Donovan.

Production continued through the Monday, and by Tuesday 5 December the song was broadcast for the first time on London's Capital Radio. Advance sales of the record reached 500,000. The song was released the following week on 11 December and spent three weeks at number one, becoming the ninth biggest-selling song of the year.

In December 2020, a group of musicians from Liverpool recorded a version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" as a charity record in support of Shelter. Retitled "Do They Know It's Christmas (Feed the World)" with lyrics referring to places on Merseyside, the project was given the go-ahead by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to release their cover version on 10 December 2020. Band Aid Liverpool features about 70 musicians/personalities from Liverpool, including Asa Murphy from BBC Radio Merseyside,[16] five-piece band the Hummingbirds and project originator Tony Cook, from tribute band the Mersey Beatles.[17]

In 1986, the anarchist band Chumbawamba released the album Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records, as well as an EP entitled "We Are the World?", jointly recorded with US band A State of Mind, both of which were intended as anti-capitalist critiques of the Band Aid/Live Aid phenomenon.[18] They argued that the record was primarily a cosmetic spectacle, designed to draw attention away from the real political causes of world hunger.

In the season 3 Simpsons episode "Radio Bart," Sting and a group of local celebrities sing a song entitled "We're Sending Our Love Down The Well," an evident parody of Band Aid and similar supergroups.

In a 1985 Time Out interview, Morrissey (who was not invited to participate in Band Aid) gave his views about the song:

'I'm not afraid to say that I think Band Aid was diabolical. Or to say that I think Bob Geldof is a nauseating character. Many people find that very unsettling, but I'll say it as loud as anyone wants me to. In the first instance the record itself was absolutely tuneless. One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia, but it's another thing to inflict daily torture on the people of Great Britain. It was an awful record considering the mass of talent involved. And it wasn't done shyly. It was the most self-righteous platform ever in the history of popular music.'[19]