"It's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid."
The recording studio gave Band Aid 24 hours free to record and mix the song on November 25, 1984. The recording took place between 11.00 am and 7.00 pm, and was filmed to release as the single's music video. The first track to be put down was drums by Phil Collins including the memorable opening 'African Drum' beat. But in reality, the introduction of the song features a slowed down sample from a Tears For Fears' track called "The Hurting". Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet was the first to record his vocal while a section sung by Status Quo was deemed unusable and replaced with the Paul Weller/Sting/Glenn Gregory section. Paul Young has admitted since in a documentary that he knew his opening lines were written for David Bowie, who was not able to make the recording but made a contribution to the B-side. Boy George arrived last at 6pm after Geldof woke him up by phone to have him flown over from New York on Concorde to record his solo part.
The Band Aid project inspired other charity records around the world including "We Are the World" by USA for Africa in the USA, "Nackt im Wind" by Band für Afrika in Germany, "Tears Are Not Enough" by Northern Lights in Canada and many others.
The idea of an all-star celebrity fundraising song for charity was copied in the United States a few months later, with the song We Are The World by USA for Africa, co-written by Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Geldof's first point of contact Lionel Richie. It topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. Geldof attended the recording, which took place immediately after the 1985 American Music Awards, and sang on the chorus at the end.
Tears Are Not Enough was a 1985 charity single recorded by a supergroup of Canadian artists, under the name Northern Lights, to raise funds for famine reliefs in Ethiopia.
Technorati Tags:80s, music, music video, nostalgia
I love the original one! Hats off to Bob Geldof who made this happen. This would never happen today. All these big stars in the US are all too preoccupied with all their bling. And the NEW VERSION really SUCKS! What makes those idiots think that everyone likes RAP? Do we need to hear rap in every song today? Well, you know what they say about SEQUELS! Thanks for posting this video. It reminds us all how things were really much better then.
ReplyDeleteThis is so cool seeing this again. And yes I still like the original one, reminds me of my kid days. hehe
ReplyDeleteYes, I remember Video Hit Parade. Nakakatuwa! Meron pa rin yata on Channel 9 every weekends.
ReplyDeleteYou made me reminisce, NM ^_^
omg this thing is 2 decades old and i still recognize everyone. watching this now, it makes me wonder why paul young was given so much exposure. i don't remember him being that big.
ReplyDeletebananarama looked cute. :)
don't we have a local bob geldof who can do something similar for the folks in bicol?