Band Aid (band)
Encyclopedia
Band Aid was a charity supergroup
Charity supergroup
To raise funds or awareness for charities or causes which they support, musicians may sometimes form groups often known as charity supergroups. While all-star membership in these groups may suggest that they are supergroups, they are usually together only for a single album, show, or single...

 featuring British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...

 and Midge Ure
Midge Ure
James "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...

 to raise money for famine relief
Famine relief
Famine relief is an organized effort to reduce starvation in a region in which there is famine. A famine is a phenomenon in which a large proportion of the population of a region or country are so undernourished that death by starvation becomes increasingly common...

 in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

 by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?
Do They Know It's Christmas?
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure and released by Band Aid on 29 November 1984....

" for the Christmas market that year. The single surpassed the hopes of the producers to become the Christmas number one on that release. Two subsequent re-recordings of the song to raise further money for charity also topped the charts. The original was produced by Midge Ure
Midge Ure
James "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...

. The 12" version was mixed by Trevor Horn
Trevor Horn
Trevor Charles Horn CBE is an English pop music record producer, songwriter, musician and singer. He was born in Houghton-le-Spring in north-east England....

.

Background

The name 'Band Aid' was chosen as a pun on the name of a well known brand of adhesive bandage
Band-Aid
Band-Aid is a brand name for Johnson & Johnson's line of adhesive bandages and related products. It has also become a genericized trademark for any adhesive bandage in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India and the United States....

, also referring to musicians working as a band to provide aid and alluding to the fact that any help stemming from their efforts is likened to a band-aid on a very serious wound.

The group has formed on three occasions, each time from the most successful British and Irish pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 performers of the time, to record the same song at the same time of year.

Chronology (1984)

The original 1984 Feed The World logo was based on a pencil sketch by Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...

 after watching a BBC television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...

 news report by Michael Buerk
Michael Buerk
Michael Duncan Buerk is a BBC journalist and newsreader, most famous for his reporting of the Ethiopian famine on 23 October 1984, which inspired the Band Aid charity record.-Early life:...

 from famine-stricken Ethiopia. Geldof was so moved by the plight of starving children that he decided to try to raise money using his contacts in pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

.
Geldof enlisted the help of Midge Ure
Midge Ure
James "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...

, from the group Ultravox
Ultravox
Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....

, to help produce a charity record
Charity record
A charity record is a release of a song for a specific charitable cause. Some of the earliest charity records came from the Music for UNICEF Concert, with ABBA's Chiquitita and the Bee Gees' Too Much Heaven among them released as singles, with all the royalties going to UNICEF...

. Ure took Geldof's lyrics, and created the melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

 and backing track for the record. Geldof called many of the most popular British and Irish performers of the time (Kool & The Gang
Kool & the Gang
Kool & the Gang are an American jazz, R&B, soul, and funk group, originally formed as the Jazziacs in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964.They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R&B and...

 and Jody Watley
Jody Watley
Jody Vanessa Watley is an American, singer, songwriter, record producer, and founder of Avitone Records whose music crosses genres from Pop, R&B, Jazz, Dance and Electronic Soul....

 were the only Americans present at the original recording), persuading them to give their time free. His one criterion for selection was how famous they were, in order to maximise sales of the record. He then kept an appointment to appear on a show on BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

, with Richard Skinner
Richard Skinner (broadcaster)
Richard Skinner is a British radio and television broadcaster.He is the only presenter to have fronted the three BBC 'flagship' pop music programmes Whistle Test, Top of the Pops and Top 40 show. -Early career:...

, but instead of promoting the new Boomtown Rats
The Boomtown Rats
The Boomtown Rats were an Irish punk rock band that had a series of Irish and UK hits between 1977 and 1985. They were led by vocalist Bob Geldof.-Biography:All six members were originally from Dún Laoghaire, Ireland...

 material as planned, he announced the plan for Band Aid. 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
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...

 between 11am and 7pm, and was filmed by director Nigel Dick
Nigel Dick
Nigel Dick is an English music video and film director, writer and musician based in Los Angeles, California. He directed the Band Aid video "Do They Know It's Christmas?", as well as over 300 other music videos.Nigel Dick should not be confused with the Australian Dr...

 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 remainder of the recording process continued. Later, drums by Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....

 were recorded. The introduction of the song features a slowed down sample from a Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...

' track called "The Hurting", released in 1983. Tony Hadley
Tony Hadley
Tony Hadley is an English pop singer-songwriter, occasional stage actor and radio presenter who gained celebrity as the lead vocalist for the 1980s band Spandau Ballet.-Early life:...

, of Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...

, 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
Heaven 17
Heaven 17 are an English synthpop band originating from Sheffield in the early 1980s. The trio comprises Martyn Ware , Ian Craig Marsh and Glenn Gregory...

. Simon Le Bon
Simon Le Bon
Simon John Charles Le Bon is an English musician, best known as the lead singer, lyricist and musician of the band Duran Duran and its offshoot, Arcadia.-Early life:...

 from Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...

 sang between contributions from George Michael and Sting. Paul Young
Paul Young (singer and guitarist)
Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...

 has since admitted, in a documentary, that he knew his opening lines were written for David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

, 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
Boy George
Boy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...

 arrived last at 6pm, after Geldof woke him up by 'phone to have him flown over from New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 on Concorde
Concorde
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...

 to record his solo part. (At the time, Culture Club
Culture Club
Culture Club are a British rock band who were part of the 1980s New Romantic movement. The original band consisted of Boy George , Mikey Craig , Roy Hay and Jon Moss...

 was in the middle of a US tour.)

The following morning, Geldof appeared on the Radio 1 breakfast show with Mike Read
Mike Read
Michael David Kenneth Read is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter.-Early life:...

, 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
Value added tax
A value added tax or value-added tax is a form of consumption tax. From the perspective of the buyer, it is a tax on the purchase price. From that of the seller, it is a tax only on the "value added" to a product, material or service, from an accounting point of view, by this stage of its...

 on the sales of the single. Geldof made the headlines by publicly standing up to Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

 Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...

 and, sensing the strength of public feeling, the government backed down and donated the tax back to the charity.

The record was released on November 29, 1984, and went straight to No. 1 in the UK singles chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

, 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
Mull of Kintyre (song)
"Mull of Kintyre" is a song written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine and performed by Wings. The song was written in tribute to the picturesque Kintyre peninsula in Scotland, where McCartney has owned High Park Farm since 1966, and its headland or Mull of Kintyre.The song was Wings' biggest hit...

. It has since been surpassed by Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

's "Candle in the Wind 1997
Candle in the Wind 1997
"Candle in the Wind 1997" is a rewritten and rerecorded version of Elton John's own 1973 hit "Candle in the Wind" that was released as a tribute single to the late Diana, Princess of Wales....

" (his tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...

) but it is likely to keep selling in different versions for many years to come.

After Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...

, "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. "One Year On" can also be found in transcript form 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.

Participants

The original Band Aid ensemble consisted of (in sleeve order):
  • Adam Clayton
    Adam Clayton
    Adam Charles Clayton is a musician, best known as the bassist of the Irish rock band U2. Clayton has resided in County Dublin since the time his family moved to Malahide when he was five years old in 1965...

     (U2
    U2
    U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

    )
  • Phil Collins
    Phil Collins
    Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....

     (Genesis
    Genesis (band)
    Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...

    , solo)
  • Bob Geldof
    Bob Geldof
    Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...

     (The Boomtown Rats
    The Boomtown Rats
    The Boomtown Rats were an Irish punk rock band that had a series of Irish and UK hits between 1977 and 1985. They were led by vocalist Bob Geldof.-Biography:All six members were originally from Dún Laoghaire, Ireland...

    , subsequently USA for Africa
    USA for Africa
    USA for Africa was the name under which forty-seven predominantly U.S. artists, led by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, recorded the hit single "We Are the World" in 1985. The song was a US and UK Number One for the collective in April of that year...

    )
  • Steve Norman
    Steve Norman
    Steve Norman is an English musician who plays saxophone, guitar, percussion, and other instruments, for Spandau Ballet.-Early career:Steve Norman was initially a guitarist in the group with Gary Kemp...

     (Spandau Ballet
    Spandau Ballet
    Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...

    )
  • Chris Cross
    Chris Cross
    Chris Cross is the bass guitarist in the band Ultravox.-Early years:Cross went to Belmont Secondary Modern School, William Forster Comprehensive...

     (Ultravox
    Ultravox
    Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....

    )
  • John Taylor
    Nigel John Taylor
    John Taylor is an English musician who is best known as the bass guitarist and co-founder of pop rock band Duran Duran....

     (Duran Duran
    Duran Duran
    Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...

    )
  • Paul Young
    Paul Young (singer and guitarist)
    Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...

  • Tony Hadley
    Tony Hadley
    Tony Hadley is an English pop singer-songwriter, occasional stage actor and radio presenter who gained celebrity as the lead vocalist for the 1980s band Spandau Ballet.-Early life:...

     (Spandau Ballet
    Spandau Ballet
    Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...

    )
  • Glenn Gregory
    Glenn Gregory
    Glenn Gregory is an English musician. A founding member of Heaven 17, he was partly responsible for hit records such as "Temptation"....

     (Heaven 17
    Heaven 17
    Heaven 17 are an English synthpop band originating from Sheffield in the early 1980s. The trio comprises Martyn Ware , Ian Craig Marsh and Glenn Gregory...

    )
  • Simon Le Bon
    Simon Le Bon
    Simon John Charles Le Bon is an English musician, best known as the lead singer, lyricist and musician of the band Duran Duran and its offshoot, Arcadia.-Early life:...

     (Duran Duran
    Duran Duran
    Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...

    )
  • Jim Kerr
    Jim Kerr
    James "Jim" Kerr is a Scottish musician and singer-songwriter, best known for his work with the band Simple Minds who achieved five UK #1 albums and a #1 single "Ballad of the Streets EP". He released his first solo album, Lostboy! AKA Jim Kerr, on the 27 May 2010.- Simple Minds :Kerr attended...

     (Simple Minds
    Simple Minds
    Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...

    )
  • Simon Crowe
    Simon Crowe
    Simon Crowe was the drummer for the Irish new wave bandThe Boomtown Rats.The original name of the Boomtown Rats was the "Nightlife Thugs". The name Boomtown Rats was taken from a novel entitled Bound for Glory by Woody Guthrie.The Boomtown Rats had eighteen hit singles in the UK, including "Rat...

     (The Boomtown Rats
    The Boomtown Rats
    The Boomtown Rats were an Irish punk rock band that had a series of Irish and UK hits between 1977 and 1985. They were led by vocalist Bob Geldof.-Biography:All six members were originally from Dún Laoghaire, Ireland...

    )
  • Marilyn
    Marilyn (musician)
    Peter Robinson , better known as Marilyn, is a British pop singer who achieved international fame in the 1980s with his hit song "Calling Your Name".-Discography:Albums...

  • Keren Woodward
    Keren Woodward
    Keren Woodward is an English pop singer and songwriter of British girl group Bananarama, co-founded by her long time school friend Sara Dallin and Siobhan Fahey....

     (Bananarama
    Bananarama
    Bananarama are an English female pop duo who have had success on the pop and dance charts since 1982. Rather than relying on a two part harmony, the duo generally sings in unison, as do their background vocalists. Although there have been line-up changes, the group enjoyed their most popular...

    )
  • Martin Kemp
    Martin Kemp (actor)
    Martin John Kemp is an English actor, musician, and occasional television presenter, best known as the bassist in the New Romantic band Spandau Ballet, as well as for his portrayal as Steve Owen from the BBC soap opera EastEnders...

     (Spandau Ballet
    Spandau Ballet
    Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...

    )
  • Nik Kershaw
    Nik Kershaw
    Nik Kershaw is an English singer-songwriter. The one time jazz-funk guitarist was a mid-1980s teen idol. His 50 weeks on the UK Singles Chart in 1984 beat all other soloists...

  • Jody Watley
    Jody Watley
    Jody Vanessa Watley is an American, singer, songwriter, record producer, and founder of Avitone Records whose music crosses genres from Pop, R&B, Jazz, Dance and Electronic Soul....

     (Shalamar
    Shalamar
    Shalamar was an American music group, primarily of the 1970s and 1980s, that was originally a disco-driven vehicle created by Soul Train booking agent Dick Griffey and show creator Don Cornelius. They went on to be an influential dance trio, masterminded by Soul Train producer Don Cornelius...

    )
  • Bono
    Bono
    Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...

     (U2
    U2
    U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

    )
  • Paul Weller (The Style Council
    The Style Council
    The Style Council were an English band, formed in 1983 by the ex-The Jam singer and guitarist Paul Weller, with keyboardist Mick Talbot. The permanent line-up grew to include drummer Steve White and Weller's then-wife, vocalist Dee C. Lee. Other artists such as Tracie Young and Tracey Thorn also...

    , and previously The Jam
    The Jam
    The Jam were an English punk rock/New Wave/mod revival band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were formed in Woking, Surrey. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries, The Jam wore smartly tailored suits rather than ripped...

    )
  • James "J.T." Taylor (Kool & The Gang
    Kool & the Gang
    Kool & the Gang are an American jazz, R&B, soul, and funk group, originally formed as the Jazziacs in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964.They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R&B and...

    )
  • Mark Knopfler
    Mark Knopfler
    Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...

     (Dire Straits
    Dire Straits
    Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...

    )
  • John Illsley
    John Illsley
    John Illsley is an English musician who rose to fame as the bass guitarist of the critically acclaimed rock band, Dire Straits...

     (Dire Straits
    Dire Straits
    Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...

    )
  • Terry Williams
    Terry Williams (drummer)
    Terrence "Terry" Williams is a Welsh rock drummer, whose resume includes work for Dire Straits, B. B. King, and Bob Dylan....

     (Dire Straits
    Dire Straits
    Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...

    )
  • George Michael
    George Michael
    George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...

     (Wham!)
  • Midge Ure
    Midge Ure
    James "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...

     (Ultravox)
  • Martyn Ware
    Martyn Ware
    Martyn "Teddy Bear" Ware is a British musician and music producer. He is the chairman of a local football team: PPA. As a founder member of both The Human League and Heaven 17, he was partly responsible for hit records such as "Being Boiled" and "Temptation"...

     (Heaven 17
    Heaven 17
    Heaven 17 are an English synthpop band originating from Sheffield in the early 1980s. The trio comprises Martyn Ware , Ian Craig Marsh and Glenn Gregory...

    , and previously Human League)
  • John Keeble
    John Keeble
    John Keeble is a British pop musician, who is the drummer with the 1980s band, Spandau Ballet.Spandau Ballet disbanded in 1990, after their final studio album, Heart Like a Sky, failed to live up to the critical and commercial success of their earlier albums, such as True and Parade.In 1999, John...

     (Spandau Ballet
    Spandau Ballet
    Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...

    )
  • Gary Kemp
    Gary Kemp
    Gary Kemp is an English pop musician and actor who is the guitar player and chief songwriter for the 1980s Synthpop band Spandau Ballet. His brother, Martin Kemp, plays bass guitar in the band...

     (Spandau Ballet
    Spandau Ballet
    Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...

    )
  • Curt Smith
    Curt Smith
    Curt Smith is an English musician. He is best known for forming the band Tears for Fears, along with childhood friend Roland Orzabal. Also a solo artist, he released his third album Halfway, Pleased in May 2008....

     (Tears for Fears
    Tears for Fears
    Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...

    )
  • Roland Orzabal
    Roland Orzabal
    Roland Jaime Orzabal de la Quintana is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He is known mainly as a co-founding member of Tears for Fears, of which he is the main songwriter and joint vocalist, but he has also achieved success as a producer of other artists.- Early career :Orzabal...

     (Tears for Fears
    Tears for Fears
    Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...

    )
  • Sting (The Police
    The Police
    The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...

    )
  • Pete Briquette
    Pete Briquette
    Pete Briquette is the stage name of Patrick Cusack . His pseudonym refers to the fact that he hails from the Irish countryside; peat briquettes are a type of refined turf burned in fires instead of coal.-Boomtown Rats:He was the bass guitarist, backing vocalist, occasional songwriter, and sometime...

     (The Boomtown Rats
    The Boomtown Rats
    The Boomtown Rats were an Irish punk rock band that had a series of Irish and UK hits between 1977 and 1985. They were led by vocalist Bob Geldof.-Biography:All six members were originally from Dún Laoghaire, Ireland...

    )
  • Francis Rossi
    Francis Rossi
    Francis Dominic Nicholas Michael Rossi, OBE is a British musician best known for being a co-founder of the English rock band Status Quo, in which he sings lead vocals and plays lead guitar.- Career :...

     (Status Quo)
  • Robert 'Kool' Bell (Kool & the Gang
    Kool & the Gang
    Kool & the Gang are an American jazz, R&B, soul, and funk group, originally formed as the Jazziacs in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964.They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R&B and...

    )
  • Andy Taylor
    Andy Taylor (guitarist)
    Andy Taylor is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as a member of Duran Duran and The Power Station....

     (Duran Duran
    Duran Duran
    Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...

    )
  • Jon Moss
    Jon Moss
    Jon Moss is an English drummer best known as a member of the 1980s pop group Culture Club. He has also played with other bands, including London, The Nips and The Damned.-Early life:...

     (Culture Club
    Culture Club
    Culture Club are a British rock band who were part of the 1980s New Romantic movement. The original band consisted of Boy George , Mikey Craig , Roy Hay and Jon Moss...

    )
  • Rick Parfitt
    Rick Parfitt
    Richard John Parfitt, OBE is best known for being a singer and the rhythm guitarist in the English rock band Status Quo.-Career:...

     (Status Quo)
  • Nick Rhodes
    Nick Rhodes
    Nick Rhodes is an English musician, is best known as the keyboardist of the pop rock band Duran Duran...

     (Duran Duran
    Duran Duran
    Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...

    )
  • Johnny Fingers
    Johnny Fingers
    Johnnie Fingers is a pop pianist, and was a founding member of the new wave band, The Boomtown Rats. He was notable for his stage costume of striped pyjamas as well as his melodic piano style.-Background:...

     (The Boomtown Rats
    The Boomtown Rats
    The Boomtown Rats were an Irish punk rock band that had a series of Irish and UK hits between 1977 and 1985. They were led by vocalist Bob Geldof.-Biography:All six members were originally from Dún Laoghaire, Ireland...

    )
  • David Bowie
    David Bowie
    David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

     (who contributed via a recording that was mailed to Geldof and then dubbed onto the single)
  • Boy George
    Boy George
    Boy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...

     (Culture Club
    Culture Club
    Culture Club are a British rock band who were part of the 1980s New Romantic movement. The original band consisted of Boy George , Mikey Craig , Roy Hay and Jon Moss...

    )
  • Holly Johnson
    Holly Johnson
    Holly Johnson is an English artist, writer and musician, best known as the lead vocalist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and former bassist for Big in Japan.- Big in Japan :...

     (Frankie Goes to Hollywood
    Frankie Goes to Hollywood
    Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a British dance-pop band popular in the mid-1980s. The group was fronted by Holly Johnson , with Paul Rutherford , Peter Gill , Mark O'Toole , and Brian Nash .The group's debut single "Relax" was banned by the BBC in 1984 while at number six in the charts and...

    ) Recorded over the phone
  • Paul McCartney
    Paul McCartney
    Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

     (The Beatles
    The Beatles
    The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

    , and then Wings
    Wings (band)
    Wings were a British-American rock group formed in 1971 by Paul McCartney, Denny Laine and Linda McCartney that remained active until 1981....

    ) (who contributed via a recording that was mailed to Geldof and then dubbed onto the single)
  • Stuart Adamson
    Stuart Adamson
    Stuart Adamson , born William Stuart Adamson, was an English-born Scottish guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter, described by legendary music journalist John Peel as “Britain’s answer to Jimi Hendrix”...

     (Big Country
    Big Country
    Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife in 1981. They were most popular in the early to mid-1980s, but they still release material for a cult following...

    )
  • Bruce Watson
    Bruce Watson (guitarist)
    Bruce Watson is a Canadian-born Scottish guitarist, best known for being a founding member of the Scottish-based rock band Big Country....

     (Big Country
    Big Country
    Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife in 1981. They were most popular in the early to mid-1980s, but they still release material for a cult following...

    )
  • Tony Butler
    Tony Butler (bass player)
    Anthony Earle Peter "Tony" Butler , is a rock bassist, best known for his lengthy work with the Scottish rock band Big Country...

     (Big Country
    Big Country
    Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife in 1981. They were most popular in the early to mid-1980s, but they still release material for a cult following...

    )
  • Mark Brzezicki
    Mark Brzezicki
    Mark Brzezicki is a rock drummer, who is primarily known for his work with Big Country, and was a member of the groups The Cult, Ultravox, and Procol Harum. He has also played with Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, Midge Ure, Fish, The Pretenders and many others...

     (Big Country
    Big Country
    Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife in 1981. They were most popular in the early to mid-1980s, but they still release material for a cult following...

    )

The sleeve artist, Peter Blake
Peter Blake (artist)
Sir Peter Thomas Blake, KBE, CBE, RDI, RA is an English pop artist, best known for his design of the sleeve for the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He lives in Chiswick, London, UK.-Career:...

, was also credited on the sleeve.

Band-Aid II

This version, released in 1989 was produced by British songwriting and production team formed of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken
Matt Aitken
Matthew James Aitken , is a British songwriter and record producer, brought up in Astley, Greater Manchester, best known as the creative force behind the 1980s songwriting/production trio Stock Aitken Waterman....

 and Pete Waterman
Pete Waterman
Peter Alan Waterman OBE is an English record producer, occasional songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterman songwriting team he wrote and produced many hit singles...

 known as Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman, sometimes known as SAW, were a UK songwriting and record producing trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. They had great success during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s...

. The only artists from the original Band Aid to be featured again on this version were Sara Dallin
Sara Dallin
Sara Elizabeth Dallin is an English musician mostly noted for her membership of the group Bananarama, which she co-founded with her childhood friend Keren Woodward.Dallin was born in Bristol, England...

 and Keren Woodward
Keren Woodward
Keren Woodward is an English pop singer and songwriter of British girl group Bananarama, co-founded by her long time school friend Sara Dallin and Siobhan Fahey....

 of Bananarama
Bananarama
Bananarama are an English female pop duo who have had success on the pop and dance charts since 1982. Rather than relying on a two part harmony, the duo generally sings in unison, as do their background vocalists. Although there have been line-up changes, the group enjoyed their most popular...

. This version topped the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 for three weeks, but ultimately achieved far less historical significance and status than its predecessor.

Production

On Friday 1 December 1989, Bob Geldof called Pete Waterman
Pete Waterman
Peter Alan Waterman OBE is an English record producer, occasional songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterman songwriting team he wrote and produced many hit singles...

 to ask if he would consider producing a new version of the song featuring the big stars from that time. Waterman immediately cancelled his wedding (planned for that very day) and began calling up the artists. With just two days' notice, on Sunday 3 December, recording took place at PWL Studios in South London. Present in the studio was Bob Geldof, wife Paula Yates
Paula Yates
Paula Elizabeth Yates was a British television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two television programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast.-Early life:...

 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 aired for the first time on London's Capital Radio
Capital Radio
Capital London is a London based radio station which launched on 16 October 1973 and is owned by Global Radio. On 3 January 2011 it formed part of the nine station Capital radio network.- Pre-launch :...

. Advance sales of the record reached 500,000 and a number-one was inevitable. The song was released the following week on 11 December and spent three weeks at number one, becoming the 9th biggest selling song of the year, outselling Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

's "Like a Prayer
Like a Prayer (song)
"Like a Prayer" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna on her fourth studio album of the same name . It was released on March 21, 1989, by Sire Records as the album's lead single...

".

Participants

The line up for the Band Aid II project consisted of (in alphabetical order):
  • Bananarama
    Bananarama
    Bananarama are an English female pop duo who have had success on the pop and dance charts since 1982. Rather than relying on a two part harmony, the duo generally sings in unison, as do their background vocalists. Although there have been line-up changes, the group enjoyed their most popular...

  • Big Fun
  • Bros
    Bros
    Bros were a British band active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, consisting of twin brothers Matt Goss and Luke Goss along with Craig Logan...

  • Cathy Dennis
    Cathy Dennis
    Cathy Dennis is a British dance-oriented pop singer-songwriter, record producer and actress...

  • D Mob
    D Mob
    D Mob is one of the stage names used by British house music producer Dancin' Danny D .The 1988 UK hit "We Call It Acieed" hit #3 in the UK Singles Chart, and was one of a wave of acid house singles to enjoy success that year. The video was directed by Marek Budzynski...

  • Jason Donovan
    Jason Donovan
    Jason Donovan is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 million records, and his début album Ten Good Reasons was one of the highest-selling albums of 1989...

  • Kevin Godley
    Kevin Godley
    Kevin Godley is a British musician and music video director.He was born in a family of Jewish descent, and went to North Cestrian Grammar School in Altrincham....

  • Glen Goldsmith
    Glen Goldsmith
    Glen Goldsmith is a UK based singer and songwriter. His own hit songs have included "I Won't Cry", "Dreaming", "Save A Little Bit" and "What You See Is What You Get"; the latter of which was featured on his album of the same name...

  • Kylie Minogue
    Kylie Minogue
    Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...

  • The Pasadenas
    The Pasadenas
    The Pasadenas were a R&B / pop group from the United Kingdom, best known for their hit songs, "Tribute " and "I'm Doing Fine Now".-Career:...

  • Chris Rea
    Chris Rea
    Chris Rea is an English singer-songwriter, recognisable for his distinctive, husky voice and slide guitar playing. The British Hit Singles & Albums stated that Rea was "one of the most popular UK singer-songwriters of the late 1980s. He was already a major European star by the time he finally...

  • Cliff Richard
    Cliff Richard
    Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....

  • Jimmy Somerville
    Jimmy Somerville
    James William Somerville is a Scottish pop singer and songwriter. He had considerable success in the 1980s with the pop groups Bronski Beat and The Communards, and has also had a successful solo career. He is known in particular for his falsetto singing voice...

  • Sonia
  • Lisa Stansfield
    Lisa Stansfield
    Lisa Stansfield is an English singer and songwriter.-Early years:Stansfield was born to Marion and Keith Stansfield in Heywood, Lancashire, in England, where she attended Redbrook School, Rochdale. Her first television appearance was on a talent programme in the Granada TV area in 1982...

  • Technotronic
    Technotronic
    Technotronic is a Belgian studio-based music project formed in 1988 by Jo Bogaert , who had already made his musical mark in the beginning of the 1980s as a part of a cover band and as a solo artist under various New Beat projects, including The Acts of Madmen and Nux Nemo...

  • Wet Wet Wet
    Wet Wet Wet
    Wet Wet Wet are a Scottish pop rock band that formed in the 1980s. They scored a number of hits in the British charts and around the world. The band is composed of Marti Pellow , Tommy Cunningham , Graeme Clark and Neil Mitchell...


Musicians & Instrumentation

Most of the people involved in the original Band Aid single appeared on the 1984 Christmas edition of Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

to mime to the record. However Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...

 could not attend, which led to the spectacle of Paul Weller miming to Bono's line.

1984 musicians

  • John Taylor (Duran Duran
    Duran Duran
    Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...

    ) - bass
  • Phil Collins
    Phil Collins
    Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....

     (Genesis
    Genesis (band)
    Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...

    ) - drums
  • Midge Ure
    Midge Ure
    James "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...

     (Ultravox
    Ultravox
    Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....

    ) - keyboards
  • Gary Kemp
    Gary Kemp
    Gary Kemp is an English pop musician and actor who is the guitar player and chief songwriter for the 1980s Synthpop band Spandau Ballet. His brother, Martin Kemp, plays bass guitar in the band...

     (Spandau Ballet
    Spandau Ballet
    Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...

    ) - guitar
  • Roland Orzabal
    Roland Orzabal
    Roland Jaime Orzabal de la Quintana is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He is known mainly as a co-founding member of Tears for Fears, of which he is the main songwriter and joint vocalist, but he has also achieved success as a producer of other artists.- Early career :Orzabal...

     (Tears for Fears
    Tears for Fears
    Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...

    ) - guitar

1989 musicians

  • Mike Stock - keyboards
  • Matt Aitken
    Matt Aitken
    Matthew James Aitken , is a British songwriter and record producer, brought up in Astley, Greater Manchester, best known as the creative force behind the 1980s songwriting/production trio Stock Aitken Waterman....

     - keyboards & guitar
  • Chris Rea
    Chris Rea
    Chris Rea is an English singer-songwriter, recognisable for his distinctive, husky voice and slide guitar playing. The British Hit Singles & Albums stated that Rea was "one of the most popular UK singer-songwriters of the late 1980s. He was already a major European star by the time he finally...

     - guitar
  • Luke Goss
    Luke Goss
    Luke Damon Goss is an English singer and actor. Since 1994, he has been married to backing singer Shirley Lewis, , and has one stepdaughter, Carli. In January 2007, he and wife Shirley moved permanently to Los Angeles, but still maintain a residence in London...

     (Bros
    Bros
    Bros were a British band active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, consisting of twin brothers Matt Goss and Luke Goss along with Craig Logan...

    ) - drums

2004 musicians

  • Sir Paul McCartney - bass
  • Danny Goffey
    Danny Goffey
    Daniel Robert Goffey Daniel Robert Goffey Daniel Robert Goffey (born 7 February 1974 in Slough, Buckinghamshire (now Berkshire) is an English musician and singer-songwriter best known as the drummer and backing vocalist for the English Britpop band, Supergrass...

     (Supergrass
    Supergrass
    Supergrass was an English alternative rock band from Oxford. The band consisted of brothers Gaz and Rob Coombes , Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey ....

    ) - drums
  • Thom Yorke
    Thom Yorke
    Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...

     (Radiohead
    Radiohead
    Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...

    ) - piano
  • Jonny Greenwood
    Jonny Greenwood
    Jonathan Richard Guy "Jonny" Greenwood is an English musician and composer, best known as a member of the English rock band Radiohead. Greenwood is a multi-instrumentalist, but serves mainly as lead guitarist and keyboard player. In addition to guitar and keyboard, he plays viola, harmonica,...

     (Radiohead
    Radiohead
    Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...

    ) - lead guitar
  • Fran Healy
    Francis Healy
    Francis "Fran" Healy is a Scottish musician. He is currently the lead singer and main songwriter of the Scottish band Travis, having written nearly all of the songs on their six studio albums. He is based in Berlin, Germany...

     (Travis
    Travis (band)
    Travis are a post-Britpop band from Glasgow, Scotland, comprising Fran Healy , Dougie Payne , Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose...

    ) - rhythm guitar
  • Justin Hawkins
    Justin Hawkins
    Justin David Hawkins is an English musician and singer-songwriter, best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist of The Darkness, alongside his brother, guitarist Dan Hawkins...

     (The Darkness) - lead guitar
  • Dan Hawkins
    Dan Hawkins (musician)
    Daniel Francis Hawkins is an English rock guitarist, noted for his strong revival of 1970s classic rock and 1980s metal....

     (The Darkness) - lead guitar
  • Charlie Simpson
    Charlie Simpson
    Charles Robert Simpson , is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was the youngest member of multi BRIT Award-winning band Busted, and is the lead vocalist, guitarist and co-lyricist in alternative rock band Fightstar...

     (Busted) - rhythm guitar

Who sings on each version

Lyrics 1984 version 1989 version 2004 version
'It's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid' Paul Young Kylie Minogue Chris Martin
'At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade' Paul Young Chris Rea Chris Martin
'And in our world of plenty, we can spread a smile of joy' Boy George Jimmy Somerville/Big Fun Dido
'Throw your arms around the world, at Christmas time' Boy George Matt Goss Dido
'But say a prayer; Pray for the other ones' George Michael Cliff Richard Robbie Williams
'At Christmas time it's hard, but when you're having fun' George Michael/Simon Le Bon Jimmy Somerville/Matt Goss Robbie Williams
'There's a world outside your window, and it's a world of dread and fear' Simon Le Bon/Sting Jason Donovan Sugababes
'Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears' Tony Hadley/Sting Jason/Kylie Fran Healy & Sugababes
'And the Christmas bells that ring there, are the clanging chimes of doom' Sting/Bono Cliff Richard/Marti Pellow Fran Healy & Justin Hawkins
'Well, tonight, thank God it's them, instead of you' Bono Jason Donovan/Kylie/Matt Goss Bono
'And there won't be snow in Africa, this Christmas time' Boy George/Paul Weller/Sting Marti Pellow Will Young & Jamelia
'The greatest gift they'll get this year is life' Bono/George Michael/Boy George Sonia Will Young & Jamelia
'Ooooooooohhhhh' Boy George Lisa Stansfield Will Young & Jamelia Or Ms Dynamite & Beverley Knight
'Where nothing ever grows' Paul Young Lisa Stansfield Ms Dynamite & Beverley Knight
'No rain nor rivers flow' Paul Weller Lisa Stansfield Ms Dynamite & Beverley Knight
'Do they know it's Christmas time at all?' All Sonia/Lisa Stansfield All
'Here's to you' Marilyn/Glenn Gregory/Rick Parfitt/Francis Rossi Kylie Tom Chaplin
'Raise a glass for everyone' Paul Young Kylie Justin Hawkins
'Spare a thought this yuletide for the deprived'
'If the table was turned would you survive?'
Not featured on this version Dizzee Rascal
'Here's to them' Marilyn/Glenn/Rick/Francis Matt Goss Busted
'Underneath that burning sun' Paul Young Matt Goss Justin Hawkins
'You ain't gotta feel guilt, just selfless'
'Give a little help, to the helpless'
Not featured on this version Dizzee Rascal
'Do they know it's Christmas time at all?' Paul Young Cliff Richard Joss Stone and Justin Hawkins
'Feed the World' (repeat X4) All All Tom Chaplin
'Feed the World, Let them know it's Christmas time again' (repeat) All All All

Related projects

The Band Aid project inspired other charity records around the world, including We Are the World
We Are the World
"We Are the World" is a song and charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World...

by USA for Africa
USA for Africa
USA for Africa was the name under which forty-seven predominantly U.S. artists, led by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, recorded the hit single "We Are the World" in 1985. The song was a US and UK Number One for the collective in April of that year...

 (in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

), Cantaré Cantarás
Cantaré, cantarás
Cantaré, cantarás is an album by various Latin American icons called circunstancially "Hermanos".It was released in 1985....

by Project Hermanos (in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

), Nackt im Wind by Band für Afrika (in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

), Ethiopie
Éthiopie
"Éthiopie" is a charity song recorded in 1985 by the collective band known under the name 'Chanteurs sans Frontières'. The song achieved a huge success in France, topping the chart for two months and becoming one of the best-selling singles in that country....

by Chanteurs Sans Frontiere'(in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

), Tears Are Not Enough
Tears Are Not Enough
"Tears Are Not Enough" is a 1985 charity single recorded by a supergroup of Canadian artists, under the name Northern Lights, to raise funds for relief of the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia...

by Northern Lights (in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

), Show some Concern by The Concerned in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, Sammen for Livet by Forente Artister
Forente Artister
Forente Artister was a group of Norwegian artists that went together in 1985 to record the song Sammen for livet in order to raise money for the victims of hunger in Africa. The lyrics were written by Halvdan Sivertsen and the melody by Åge Aleksandersen...

 (in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

), Maksamme Velkaa by Apua-Orkesteri (in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

), Chega de Mágoa by Nordeste Já (in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

), Za milion godina by YU Rock Misija
YU Rock Misija
YU Rock Misija was the contribution of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the famous Bob Geldof's Band Aid famine relief campaign which culminated with the historical Live Aid concert on July 13, 1985.Beside the British "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and the corresponding USA...

 (in Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...

), Stars by Hear 'n Aid
Hear 'n Aid
Hear 'n Aid was a one-off project of the heavy metal/hard rock scene of the 1980s to raise money for famine relief in Africa. According to Ronnie James Dio's MySpace profile, the project raised $1 million within a year.- Background :...

 (international heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 artists), Afrika written by Nanna
Nanna Lüders Jensen
Nanna Lüders Jensen , known by the stage name of Nanna, is a Danish songwriter and singer. She is best known for her hit single "Buster" from 1984, the theme song for Bille August's children's television series and movie Busters verden. Since then she has released several albums...

 with various Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 artists, and many others.

A compilation of video games for the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...

 and ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...

 was published under the name Soft Aid
Soft Aid
Soft Aid was a Charity Computer Game Software edition,released by Quicksilva in late 1985 to support the Famine Relief in Ethiopia. The software was released on tape for the ZX Spectrum computer and the Commodore 64....

. It also featured a recording of the Do They Know It's Christmas? single.http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0011356

Parodies

  • A 2002 song by Pulp
    Pulp (band)
    Pulp are an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker , Russell Senior , Candida Doyle , Mark Webber , Steve Mackey and Nick Banks ....

    , "Bad Cover Version", featured a video parodying Band Aid, utilizing musician impersonators, in the Sarm studios. Impersonators included 'Mick Jagger
    Mick Jagger
    Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....

    ', 'Robbie Williams
    Robbie Williams
    Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...

    ', 'Liam Gallagher
    Liam Gallagher
    William John Paul "Liam" Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, the former frontman of the English rock band Oasis and currently of the band Beady Eye. Gallagher's erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style, and abrasive attitude have been the subject of commentary in the press...

    ', 'Noel Gallagher
    Noel Gallagher
    Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...

    ', 'Cher
    Cher
    Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...

    ', 'Björk
    Björk
    Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...

    ', 'George Michael
    George Michael
    George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...

    ', 'Phil Collins
    Phil Collins
    Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....

    ', 'Sir Paul McCartney
    Paul McCartney
    Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

    ', 'Bono
    Bono
    Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...

    ', 'David Bowie
    David Bowie
    David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

    ', 'Rod Stewart
    Rod Stewart
    Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....

    ', 'Craig David
    Craig David
    Craig Ashley David is an English singer and songwriter. He has released five studio albums: Born to Do It, Slicker Than Your Average, The Story Goes..., Trust Me, Signed Sealed Delivered and a Greatest Hits album...

    ', 'Beyoncé Knowles
    Beyoncé Knowles
    Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...

    ', 'Kylie Minogue
    Kylie Minogue
    Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...

    ', 'Missy Elliott
    Missy Elliott
    Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott , is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actressA five-time Grammy Award winner, Elliott, with record sales of over seven million in the United States, is the only female rapper to have five albums certified platinum by the RIAA, including one...

    ', 'Kurt Cobain
    Kurt Cobain
    Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...

    ', 'Jamiroquai
    Jamiroquai
    Jamiroquai is a British jazz funk and acid jazz band formed in 1992. Jamiroquai were initially the most prominent component in the early-1990s London-based acid jazz movement, alongside groups such as Incognito, the James Taylor Quartet, and the Brand New Heavies. Other Acid Jazz artists such as...

    ', 'Meat Loaf
    Meat Loaf
    Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...

    ', 'Elton John
    Elton John
    Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

    ', and 'Tom Jones
    Tom Jones (singer)
    Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...

    ', plus Jarvis Cocker
    Jarvis Cocker
    Jarvis Branson Cocker is an English musician and frontman for the band Pulp. Through his work with the band, Cocker became a figurehead of the Britpop movement of the mid-1990s. Following Pulp's hiatus Cocker has led a successful solo career...

     himself appearing and impersonating Brian May
    Brian May
    Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...

    ; all the lines of the song in the video were performed by impersonators themselves, singing in the voices of their stars.
  • In October 2005, Vice Records released a song entitled "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?
    Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?
    "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?" is a charity single inspired by "Do They Know It's Christmas?". It was released on October 11, 2005 in Canada on Vice Records by a cast of rock artists and other performers under the name "North American Hallowe'en Prevention Initiative"...

    " by a collective consisting of many well-known musicians from the independent music
    Indie (music)
    In music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie" is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....

     scene, going under the label of the North American Halloween Prevention Initiative (NAHPI); proceeds from the single were donated to Unicef
    United Nations Children's Fund
    United Nations Children's Fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II...

    .
  • In Christmas
    Christmas
    Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

     2004, local Bristol
    Bristol
    Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

    , England
    England
    England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

     radio station "GWR FM" did a parody of the song, for local charities, entitled "Feed The Wurzels
    The Wurzels
    The Wurzels are a British Scrumpy and Western band...

    : Bristolian Band Aid.", it was, and still is available for download from the Bristol GWR FM website, and featured the GWR Radio presenters, along with celebrities such as Tony Robinson
    Tony Robinson
    Tony Robinson is an English actor, comedian, author, broadcaster and political campaigner. He is best known for playing Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder, and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. Robinson is a member of the Labour Party...

     and Jack Nicholson
    Jack Nicholson
    John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...

    .
  • The 2004 comedy film Shaun of the Dead
    Shaun of the Dead
    Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 British zombie comedy directed by Edgar Wright, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and written by Pegg and Wright. Pegg plays Shaun, a man attempting to get some kind of focus in his life as he deals with his girlfriend, his mother and stepfather...

     featured Chris Martin
    Chris Martin
    Christopher Anthony John "Chris" Martin is an English song-writer, who is the lead vocalist, pianist and rhythm guitarist of the band Coldplay. He is married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow.-Early life:...

     on a British TV talk show wearing a shirt promoting "Zomb-Aid".
  • On the radio station VCPR in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
    Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
    Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action computer and video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall...

    , which takes place in the 1980s, it is announced that the musical community had written a song for charity to be played for the people of Alaska, entitled "Do They Know It's the Fourth of July?"
  • The first season of the sketch comedy "Upright Citizen's Brigade" featured a parody of Band Aid in an episode entitled "The Little Donny Foundation" to raise money for a boy with a very unusual medical condition.
  • In episode 8F11 of The Simpsons
    The Simpsons
    The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

    , "Radio Bart
    Radio Bart
    "Radio Bart" is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons third season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 9, 1992. In the episode, Bart receives a microphone that transmits sound to nearby AM radios...

    ", when Bart pretends to be stuck down a well, Krusty, along with the help of Sting and other celebrities, organises a charity single, "We're Sending Our Love Down The Well", with distinct similarities to "Do They Know It's Christmas?
    Do They Know It's Christmas?
    "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure and released by Band Aid on 29 November 1984....

    " and USA for Africa
    USA for Africa
    USA for Africa was the name under which forty-seven predominantly U.S. artists, led by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, recorded the hit single "We Are the World" in 1985. The song was a US and UK Number One for the collective in April of that year...

    's "We Are the World
    We Are the World
    "We Are the World" is a song and charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World...

    "
  • Band Aid's exploits were parodied in an episode of Futurama
    Futurama
    Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...

    , where famous celebrities gather together for 'Bend Aid', a Live Aid-style event designed to help broken robots, and South Park
    South Park
    South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...

     for 'Chef Aid'.
  • The Venture Bros.
    The Venture Bros.
    The Venture Bros. is an American animated television series that premiered on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on February 16, 2003. The series mixes action and comedy together while it chronicles the adventures of the Venture family: well-meaning but incompetent teenagers Hank and Dean Venture; their...

    released a cover of the song as well.
  • In the episode "Tip of the day" in the animated series Phineas and Ferb
    Phineas and Ferb
    Phineas and Ferb is an American animated television comedy series. Originally broadcast as a preview on August 17, 2007, on Disney Channel, the series follows Phineas Flynn and his English stepbrother Ferb Fletcher on summer vacation. Every day the boys embark on some grand new project, which...

    , the brothers host a concert promoting the awareness of the Aglet called Aglet Aid.

  • In November 2009, the internet radio comedy program Comedy Death-Ray Radio
    Comedy Death-Ray Radio
    Comedy Bang Bang is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which began airing as a radio show on May 1, 2009. It is hosted by writer and comedian Scott Aukerman, best known for his work on the 1990s HBO sketch comedy program Mr...

     put out a video parody of "Do They Know It's Christmas" featuring Paul F. Tompkins
    Paul F. Tompkins
    Paul Francis Tompkins , best known as Paul F. Tompkins, is an American actor and comedian.-Life and career:Tompkins was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a receptionist mother and railway worker father. He started out in stand-up comedy in 1986 at The Comedy Works, Philadelphia, PA, where he...

    , R.O. Manse, Tig Notaro
    Tig Notaro
    Tig Notaro, born Carl Notaro, is an American stand-up comic."Tig" is a nickname, bestowed upon her by her brother when both were children. Her great-great-grandfather was the mayor of New Orleans....

    , Rob Huebel
    Rob Huebel
    Rob Huebel is an American actor, comedian and writer best known for his sketch comedy work on the MTV series Human Giant. He currently co-stars on the Adult Swim series Childrens Hospital.-Early life:...

    , Patton Oswalt
    Patton Oswalt
    Patton Oswalt is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor and voice actor. He is best known for portraying Spencer Olchin in the popular sitcom The King of Queens, voicing Remy from the film Ratatouille and Thrasher from the Cartoon Network original series Robotomy.-Early life:Oswalt was born...

    , Mike Phirman, Jimmy Pardo
    Jimmy Pardo
    Jimmy Pardo is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and host of the popular comedy podcast Never Not Funny.He is married to fellow comedian Danielle Koenig. They live in Los Angeles with their son Oliver...

    , Brian Posehn
    Brian Posehn
    Brian Edmund Posehn is an American actor, voice actor, musician and comedian, known for his roles as mail clerk Kevin Liotta on NBC's Just Shoot Me!, a cast member and writer on HBO's Mr. Show, and most recently as Brian Spukowski on Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program.-Early life:Posehn...

     & Scott Aukerman
    Scott Aukerman
    Scottrick "Scott" Aukerman is an American writer, actor, comedian, television personality, director, producer, and podcast host. In the mid-1990s, Aukerman was a writer and performer on Mr. Show with Bob and David. He currently hosts the weekly comedy podcast Comedy Bang Bang...

    , Garfunkel & Oates, Aimee Mann
    Aimee Mann
    Aimee Mann is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist.-Early life:Aimee Mann grew up in Bon Air, Virginia, graduated from Open High School in 1978 and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out to sing with her first punk rock band, the Young Snakes...

    , Chris Hardwick
    Chris Hardwick
    Christopher Ryan "Chris" Hardwick is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, musician, podcaster, television personality, and voice artist...

    , Paul Scheer
    Paul Scheer
    Paul Christian Scheer is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He co-created and starred in MTV's sketch comedy series Human Giant and currently co-stars as Andre on the FX comedy The League. He also currently stars as Trent Hauser on the Adult Swim show NTSF:SD:SUV:: which he created...

     & June Diane Raphael
    June Diane Raphael
    June Diane Raphael is an American actress, comedienne and screenwriter known for appearing in films such as Year One and Going the Distance...

    , Doug Benson
    Doug Benson
    Douglas Steven "Doug" Benson is an American stand-up comedian and actor who has appeared on Comedy Central Presents, Best Week Ever and was a contestant on Last Comic Standing in the show's fifth season....

    , Mary Lynn Rajskub
    Mary Lynn Rajskub
    Mary Lynn Rajskub is an American actress and comedian, best known for her leading role as Chloe O'Brian on the Fox action-thriller 24.-Early life:...

    , Nick Thune
    Nick Thune
    Nick Thune is an American actor, comedian and musician.Thune was born in Seattle, Washington to parents Erik and Cindy Thune. He has one sister and twin brothers. While in Seattle, Thune attended Bellevue Community College for two and a half years and did not earn a degree...

    , "Weird Al" Yankovic
    "Weird Al" Yankovic
    Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...

    , Cracked Out, Dragon Boy Suede
    Dragon Boy Suede
    Howard Kremer, better known by the stage name Dragon Boy Suede, is an American comedian and comedic rapper. He has released two albums and has had a half-hour special on Comedy Central Presents. He has also made regular appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Austin Stories, Scare Tactics and Comedy...

    , Natasha Leggero
    Natasha Leggero
    Natasha Leggero is an American actress and stand-up comic from Rockford, Illinois.-Biography:Leggero began performing at age 10, in several Chicago plays. After graduating from high school, she moved to New York City to study at the Stella Adler Conservatory. While there, she also attended Hunter...

    , Thomas Lennon & Ed Helms
    Ed Helms
    Edward Paul "Ed" Helms is an American actor and comedian known for his work as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as Andy Bernard on the US version of the sitcom/mockumentary The Office and for his role as Dr. Stu Price in The Hangover films.- Early life :Helms was born and raised...

     (the latter two appearing by phone as David Bowie and Mick Jagger). The song was also available on the Comedy Death-Ray Christmas album.

Claims of self-righteousness

In 1986, the anarchist band Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba is a British musical group who have, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music...

 released the album Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records
Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records
Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records was the first full-length album by anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba, released in 1986 on Agit-Prop Records...

, as well as an EP entitled "We Are the World", jointly recorded with US band A State of Mind
A State of Mind (band)
A State of Mind was an anarcho-punk/ band that existed between 1982-1987A State of Mind was founded in 1982 in Philadelphia by Robbie , Allison Raine and Kevin .ASOM moved to the Bay Area in 1983 and lived with Crucifix in an artist warehouse commonly referred to as “New Method”...

, both of which were intended as anti-capitalist critiques of the Band Aid/Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...

 phenomenon. They argued that the record was primarily a cosmetic spectacle, designed to draw attention away from the real political causes of world hunger.

In a 1985 Time Out interview, Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...

 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.'

View of Africa

The song presents a very bleak view of Africa, which the lyrics appear to refer to as a whole. Some of these, such as the suggestions (if read literally) that the continent has no rainfall or successful crops, have been seen as absurd by critics. It also insinuates that there are no rivers in Africa. There are many, such as the Nile, the Niger
Niger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...

, and the Zaire
Congo River
The Congo River is a river in Africa, and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of . It is the second largest river in the world by volume of water discharged, though it has only one-fifth the volume of the world's largest river, the Amazon...

. At the time of the 2004 release, the World Development Movement
World Development Movement
The World Development Movement is a membership organisation in the United Kingdom which campaigns on issues of global justice and development in the Global South....

 spoke out on this issue, describing the lyrics as "patronising, false and out of date", although there was no attempt to discourage purchase of the song.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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