2024 marks the 40th anniversary of Band Aid's single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" Yet questions from this side of the millennium arise when one starts to think really hard about this: First, what is Band Aid? And second, who is this Bob Geldof character that has been making the rounds talking about Band Aid for the last four decades?
Backing up to 1984: Band Aid was the all-star musical ensemble created by The Boomtown Rats vocalist Bob Geldof and Ultravox frontperson Midge Ure. Both men were at the apex of their respective careers in the UK — Geldof and The Rats were struggling with their current release, In The Long Grass, and a sub-par tour, while Ure was having a moment with "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes," enjoying a summertime Top 3 hit in the UK.
Both of their lives were running parallel musically, until Oct. 23, 1984, when Geldof, uncharacteristically at home, watched BBC TV in horror as reporter Michael Buerk and his team laid bare the "biblical famine" in Ethiopia. Amid the internal wars within that government, thousands of people were dying every day from starvation, lack of water, and the mass destruction of farmland, cattle, and food stores. The next morning, Geldof's partner, TV presenter Paula Yates heading off to Newcastle to host The Tube, placed a note in a bowl on their breakfast table, ostensibly to remind visitors that they could help by chucking in a 5 pound note. But Geldof had other ideas.
Using his persuasive powers, as he was known to many in the industry as part loudmouth/part emotional guilt-tripper, he began summoning musicians to help. He called Yates and asked who was with her. She put Ure on the phone. He saw Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp through a window at an art gallery and banged on the glass. He called everyone directly, bypassing the talent bureaucracy. "He wouldn't speak to a manager or a record label or an agent — he would find the phone number for the artist and he'd speak to the artist himself, which was brilliant," Ure said in a 2019 Yahoo! interview.
As Geldof was procuring talent, Ure went to work on the song, given a fragment of a melody from Geldof. Ure worked with Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran), Sting, and Paul Weller for four days to polish the sound and arrangement at his home studio before the actual recording at ex Buggles frontman Trevor Horn's SARM West Studio, which was booked for November 25, 1984. Horn was donating his services as was everyone involved, from the talent, the Daily Mail who were granted an exclusive color poster, the record pressing plants, the artwork by Peter Blake, and most importantly, the record stores that would eventually stock the single.
Geldof and Ure were the first to arrive in the early morning, with the former vocally nervous in front of the cameras, wondering out loud if anyone would actually show up. Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet were flying in from tours, while U2's Bono and Adam Clayton were coming in (minus The Edge who had a kidney infection). And while this was a UK-centric affair, US natives Robert Bell, J.T. Taylor, and Dennis Thomas of Kool and The Gang came in from Geldof's invite by way of their shared label Phonogram. Also included was funk artist Jody Watley.
Two artists that Geldof wanted desperately had conflicting commitments: neither David Bowie nor Paul McCartney could make the recording, but as was Geldof's pull, he conscripted Bowie, McCartney, and Holly Johnson for spoken word contributions for the single's B-side, and later got Mick Jagger to record a video intro for the MTV broadcast in the US.
The studio atmosphere was a heightened circus of activity, as the chorus ensemble were recorded first in front of photographers eager to get the images out to the newspapers while the rest of the song was worked on. Trepidation was at the forefront as to who would 'go first,' so Spandau Ballet singer Tony Hadley, fighting a cold, put his hand up to start the verses.
The bottom beat had been supplied by Duran Duran's John Taylor with a synthesized pattern conjured up by Ure in his home studio, but that didn't stop Phil Collins who came in voluntarily and proceeded to lay down an organic rhythm that helped the singers stay on course. Paul Young was aware his lines were to have been Bowie's, however, his impassioned styling set the tone for the rest of the session.
Crunched for time, everyone stepped forward and paid attention to Geldof, Ure, Horn, and engineer Steve Lipson to get the vocals down as quickly as possible. Yates conducted off-the-cuff interviews, revealing from George Michael that Wham! was releasing a Christmas single shortly and unsure how that would be perceived by the record-buying public. (That single, "Last Christmas," was released on Dec. 3, 1984, and has become so popular that it sparked its own informal game, Whamageddon, where players compete to be the last to hear it played in public.)
During the mad rush of the gathering, however, one crucial voice was missing: Boy George. Jon Moss was present, having flown back from Culture Club's US tour. But where was George? Unbeknownst to anyone outside their circle, Moss and George were in a relationship that at times was volatile. George had gone on a bender, passed out in a hotel room in New York City when Geldof woke him up and told him in no uncertain terms to get his ass on the Concorde to London or there would be hell to pay.
Ure and the team worked through the night into the next day to finish, putting onto a filmed interview the hopes that it would raise at least 1 million pounds. Geldof then went the next morning, Nov. 26, to appear on Mike Read's Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 1 to talk up the event and the forthcoming song. Ure mixed a cassette that he brought over to BBC studios on Nov. 29 for its debut, which played every hour. By then, its significance was so pronounced that Jim Diamond, who had the current Number 1 single in the UK, urged the public to not buy his single and instead put their money toward Band Aid.
Bowie had flown in from Switzerland to record an intro wearing Geldof's own "Feed The World" T-shirt for the music video's broadcast premiere on Top of the Pops for Nov. 29. But strict regulations were in place that the song had to be on the charts to be shown. Geldof blew his stack and told BBC controller Michael Grade to push back every program that week preceding TOTP by five minutes to make room for the video, while other artists, including TOTP's presenter Peter Powell wore "Feed The World" t-shirts in solidarity.
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" was officially released on Dec. 7, 1984, and went straight to No. 1 on the UK Official Charts, where it remained for five weeks, making it the Christmas No. 1.
It was also No. 1 in 13 countries, but failed to make it into the Top Ten on the US Billboard Hot 100 due the complex industry tactic of sales versus airplay, hitting only number 13. Several of the Band Aid musicians showed up on a TOTP Christmas Day special to lip-sync the song and, to date, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" has raised 480 million pounds, inclusive of two Band Aid Trust versions in 2004 and 2014. Controversy over an authorized 1989 version (put together with Geldof's approval by the then-hot production team of Stock, Aiken, and Waterman) has not been brought to the forefront with the newly blended, trifecta version.
A newly reimagined, updated take works in segments of the individuals from across the 1984, 2004 and 2014 groups: Paul Young and Chris Martin, Boy George and Sam Smith, Bono (who was there for all three gatherings), and most poignantly, recognizing the artists no longer here: George Michael, Sinéad O' Connor, and Liam Payne from One Direction.
Controversy still comes hand-in-hand with every Band Aid anniversary, with 2024 being no different thanks to the release of an "Ultimate Mix" of the single. Over the last 40 years, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" has also been at the center of an ongoing conversation around the song's messaging, specifically its lyrics — which have been accused of perpetuating inaccurate, outdated, or harmful stereotypes about the continent of Africa.
Musician Fuse ODG made headlines in 2014 when he refused to participate in the 30th anniversary update of the song, citing those perceived stereotypes — and he continues to have that conversation today. The Ghanaian-British rapper now has the backing of 2014 participant Ed Sheeran, who recently stated that he would have declined the use of his 2014 vocals on the 2024 version had he been asked.
And regarding the quality of the song, Bob Geldof himself has wavered between saying that hearing the song "drives me fucking mad at Christmas" to his stance today, calling the song an "instrument of change" and even welcoming the controversy and debate that the holiday single stirs up every ten years: "When it comes out, raises the debate. And the debate is fantastic and the debate only happens because of this small pop song."
Since 1984, Geldof has continued to raise awareness of continuing atrocities and global issues with a voice that, without argument, still raises the hackles of people in political power. Mistakenly referred to as 'Sir Bob' (as an Irish citizen, he is not eligible for knighthood but rather was given a ceremonial KBE in 1986), the 73-year-old has also moved along in his music career, sporadically releasing albums with his last, How to Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell, in 2010. His most recent live performance was in November at OzHarvest's Unite to Feed Australia. He'll be touring in Australia and New Zealand in March and April 2025.
Midge Ure has had a successful solo career since the disbanding of Ultravox in 1986. The 71-year-old's organizational skills came to fruition, heading the 1988 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute and as the Music Director for several of The Prince's Trust concerts. His last release of original material was 2014's Fragile. As of December 2024, he is playing live on his "Catalogue: The Hits Tour" and has dates in Europe in 2025.
The 1984 "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is the No. 2 best-selling single in the UK as of 2023, behind Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" and just ahead of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."
