SUBSCRIBE NOW

SIGHT

Be informed. Be challenged. Be inspired.

ORIGINS: DO THEY KNOW IT’S CHRISTMAS? FIRST ASKED 30 YEARS AGO

DAVID ADAMS looks back30 years to the making of Do They Know It’s Christmas?

 

PICTURE: Wikipedia

Last month marked 30 years since Band Aid launched their hit song, Do They Know It’s Christmas?, in response to the famine crisis in Ethiopia.

The song, released on 28th November, 1984, became, what was at the time, the best-selling single in British chart history, went to number one on various charts around the world – including in Australia, and led to what’s been called the “show that rocked the world”, Live Aid.

Bob Geldof, then-frontman of the Boomtown Rats, was apparently moved to put the song together after seeing horrific images of the famine in Ethiopia on the BBC evening news on 23rd October that year.

Shaken by the horrors he had seen on the screen, Geldof and his friend Ultravox’s Midge Ure not only managed to write the song but bring together about 40 of what were then the biggest names in the British music industry – everyone from Phil Collins and Sting to Bono, Boy George, George Michael and Bananarama – who recorded it in London’s Sarm West Studios in late November, just over a month after Geldof had first seen the news report.

The single, which featured a sleeve designed by Peter Blake (the man behind the Beatle’s iconic Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover) went on to sell more than three million copies in the UK and raised almost £8 million for the relief of the famine. By the end of 1989, it had sold almost 12 million copies worldwide.

While the song has come in for criticism over the way it portrayed the famine crisis (in fact the reporter whose report on the BBC had sparked Geldof’s actions, Michael Buerk, has said it was a nice “enough song” but factually inaccurate) along with concerns that it takes a condescending or patronising approach to aid, there’s no doubt it did make a significant impact, both in the UK and abroad.

Not only did Geldof go on to hold the Live Aid the following year but it also spurred US artists under the banner of USA for Africa to release We Are The World the following year – and whatever you thought of that song, it too went to raise millions of money in aid and create a new awareness of global poverty.

Geldof and friends (Band Aid II) re-recorded a new version of the song in 1989 and again in 2004 (Band Aid 20) and this year (Band Aid 30) – the latest incarnation, again the work of Geldof (now Sir Bob) and Ure, being used to raise funds to tackle the Ebola crisis in West Africa.

What are your memories of when the single was first released. Have Your Say below…

If you have something you’d like to know the origins of, simply send an email to [email protected].

Donate



sight plus logo

Sight+ is a new benefits program we’ve launched to reward people who have supported us with annual donations of $26 or more. To find out more about Sight+ and how you can support the work of Sight, head to our Sight+ page.

Musings

TAKE PART IN THE SIGHT READER SURVEY!

We’re interested to find out more about you, our readers, as we improve and expand our coverage and so we’re asking all of our readers to take this survey (it’ll only take a couple of minutes).

To take part in the survey, simply follow this link…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.