IT was a call to arms, or as chief instigator Bob Geldof said at the time, when looking back at this epic human tragedy, he would like to say “not guilty”.
He was referring to the famine that had engulfed Ethopia causing its populace to literally starve in 1980s while the world looked on. Aghast at the TV images of swollen–bellied children dying whilst covered in flies, Geldof was spurrred into action.
Picking up the phone, the Boomtown Rats singer called a few of his pop star pals and the thing snowballed. Within days, a whose who of pop music had agreed to convene at Sam West Studio in Notting Hill, London on Nov 25, 1984 to record an anti-famine single, entitled Do They Know its Christmas. Written by Geldof and Midge Ure of Ultravox, the song featured vocal contrbutions from Bono (U2), Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran), Paul Young, Paul Weller and many more pop stars of the day.
Released on Dec 7, 1984 it entered the UK Singles Chart at no 1 and 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 Kintyr by Wings. (That record has now been eclipsed by Elton John’s Candle in the Wind).
The success of Do They Know Its Christmas spurred US counterparts to put together USA for Africa which recorded We Are The World. Featuring Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Lionel Ritchie (to name just a few) and produced by the late Quincy Jones, the all-star line-up matched Band Aid’s success by topping the US singles chart.
However, Geldof was not done yet. Having seen the positive public reaction, he mooted the idea of two live concerts, to be held spontaneously at Wembley Stadium, London, UK and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, US. It was the largest media event of the day with the concerts broadcast live to over 180 countries. Please bear in mind that this was in the pre-internet age and live events were mainly restricted sporting spectacles.
The concert were all-day events featuring a bonanza cast including David Bowie, Status Quo, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. As a PR stunt, some artistes were ferried cross Atlantic to perform at both venues via Concorde. The Wembley show will forever be remembered for Queen’s iconic performance that had the crowd clapping in unison for Radio Ga Ga.
Band Aid and Live Aid combined raised about USD$150 million (RM666 million) for the famine relief effort in Ethiopia. The song and Band Aid has recently been criticised for over-simplyifing the issue and that more needs to be done than just a merry sing-a-long. But as Geldof says Do They Know Its Christmas saved millions of lives. Fact that he was spurred to do something is hugely commendable and started a wave of emergency aid to the stricken African nation.
Clips of Queen’s iconic performance are abundant on YouTube while Do They Know Its Christmas and We Are The World can be heard on all major streaming platforms.
