(See Band Aid for full details of the original line-up).
In 1984 the Boomtown Rats singer, Bob Geldof, was watching BBC News
when he saw a report on the famine in Ethiopia. Moved by the harrowing
pictures, he organised for a group of major British performers to club together,
forming the supergroup Band Aid. This group performed the song Do They
Know It's Christmas?, written by the singer Midge Ure - the song went
directly to No 1 in the UK and the US, and raised over £10m worldwide for Ethiopia. It
was followed up by the enormous Live Aid concerts, which were seen by 1.5bn
people worldwide. Do They Know became the fastest-selling Christmas
album of all time. It also prompted a the formation of a similar American supergroup, USA For Africa, who released We Are the World in 1985 (Bob Geldof performed in this song too!).
In 1989 Band Aid II re-released the song, with some small success.
20 years on, in November 2004, the recently-knighted Sir Bob Geldof OBE was
meeting the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who was visiting Africa in advance of
taking over the chairmanship of the Group of 8. A reporter for the mass-market
tabloid The Sun asked Sir Bob if he intended to organise a new Band
Aid single to mark the 20th anniversary of the original. He replied that he
would, and immediately set out to organise it. The Sun contacted Coldplay,
Travis and The Darkness, all of whom agreed to perform on the new single.
The new line-up (see below) wanted to stick closely to the original song. So
much so that Bono, of U2, reprised his rendition of the "key" line in the
song, "Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you". All the same, the new
version captures some of the key sounds in British music today, including Dido's
plaintive voice, Pop Idol winner Will Young, and rapper Dizzee
Rascal. Coldplay's Chris Martin takes to the piano for the opening lines,
while Sir Paul McCartney provides the driving bass sounds.
So popular was the drive to release the album that Gordon Brown (the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Britain's finance minister) decided to rescind
all taxes raised from the album's sale - all of the money would go directly to
the Darfur region of Sudan. The single was released on 29 November
2004, and was considered to be such a dead-cert for the hallowed Christmas
Number 1 position that book-makers refuse to take bets on it - instead offering
bets on who will reach No 2. The first broadcast of the video, which was broadcast simultaneously on all five UK network TV channels, was hosted by Brit-wannabee
Madonna, who wanted to help out. It is to be
released simultaneously in the US, and is expected to be a success due to the
current popularity of British music.
Unsurprisingly, on 19 December 2004 BBC Radio 1's official Top 40 chart show announced that Band Aid 20 had secured the Christmas No 1 slot.
Band Aid 20 line-up
Do They Know It's Christmas
It's Christmastime,
There's no need to be afraid;
At Christmas time
We let in light and we banish shade.
But in our world of plenty
We can spread a smile of joy;
Throw your arms around the world, at Christmastime.
But say a prayer;
Pray for the other ones.
At Christmastime, it's hard
But when you're having fun,
There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dread and fear,
Where the only water flowing
Is the bitter sting of tears;
And the Christmas bells that ring there
Are the clanging chimes of doom,
Well tonight thank God it's them, instead of you!
And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime,
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life.
Where nothing ever grows,
No rain or rivers flow,
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?
Here's to you, raise a glass to everyone
Here's to them underneath their burning sun,
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?
Feed the World
Feed the World
Feed the World,
Let them know it's Christmastime again
(repeat to end)
Aside - when interviewed on Radio 1 on Sunday 14 November, Joss Stone said:
"It's great that Sir Bob - um - what's his name? Gandalf? - wanted to do this." | 
