Charity, controversy and changing lives

The new 2024 Ultimate Mix celebrates Band Aid’s iconic song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Bob Geldof says the relief anthem is “a prelude to what’s to come next year.”

Geldof launched the philanthropic initiative in the fall of 1984 and guided it through 40 years of aid work, primarily in Africa. advertising billboard Zoom from London said 2025 will bring more special celebrations, including the 40th anniversary of the Live Aid concert held after the song, and the 20th anniversary of the Live 8 global concert before the 2005 G8 summit in Scotland. John O’Farrell’s successful return is imminent Just for a Day: Live Aid the Musical Heading to London’s West End; the play opens at the Old Vic in early 2024 and will make its North American premiere at Toronto’s Ed Mirvish Theater in January. On July 13, the 40th anniversary of the “Live Aid” event, the streets around London’s Shaftesbury Theater will be closed and the performance will be broadcast live on a video screen outside the theater.

Geldof said the Live Aid concert would also be rebroadcast at that time, along with a documentary series, a book and other events produced by CNN and the BBC.

“That’s not who we are; that’s what people do… It’s all about this pop song we wrote 40 years ago,” Geldof said. “I thought, ‘Well, we should kick off the year by putting out this record,’ but instead of doing it again with this generation[of performers]why not put the three generations that made it all together on one record Woolen cloth?

“Do They Know It’s Christmas? (2024 Ultimate Mix)” — which debuted on November 25 and will be released commercially on Friday, November 29 — does just that, Trevor Horn Horn, who co-produced the original version with Ultravox’s Midge Ure, will come from as well as the sequels recorded to commemorate the 20th anniversary in 2004 and the 30th anniversary in 2014. Featuring David Bowie’s introduction to the original and Michael Buerk’s BBC News segment (the October 1984 coverage that inspired Geldof to launch the project), the “2024 Ultimate Mix” offers a range of pop icons (mostly British, but also Irish and American), incorporated another interpretation of the song.

“I was very hands-off, just like (Geldof), and was amazed at what (Horn) managed to come up with,” said Ure, who co-wrote the UK chart-topping song with Geldof four decades ago ( The original version also entered the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100). “It’s very clever. I can hear elements of the original recording there. It’s a miracle that he managed to take things that were recorded at different tempos, different speeds, even different pitches, and combine them into one On the track, you get singers who may not have been born when the original was doing the harmonies or singing, which I think is kind of like a masterpiece.

Geldof is equally enthusiastic about the record – which, among other juxtapositions, features parts (and footage) from all three of U2’s Bono records. “This piece is so beautiful, so beautiful,” he said. “It was so touching.” But he added that when Geldof first proposed the idea of ​​”Ultimate Mix” to Horn, Horn was a little hesitant.

“I said, ‘Trevor, you’re good. Can you fight these thousands of people together?’ He said, ‘No, I can’t, get out!’ I said, ‘There must be…’ ‘How could I possibly do that? Everybody was singing the same lyrics. They were in different keys. ” (Laughs) He said, “I have to repeat the line. ” I say repeat lines! Who cares! Get on with it! He has put together almost perfectly the greatest sounds in British rock. It is actually a work of genius in the producer’s art. This is truly one of the greatest records ever — I firmly believe that it has nothing to do with our songs or Band-Aids. I’m just like, “Oh my God! “

“So this little song that has helped relieve billions of dollars in debt for the world’s poorest people was written on a humid afternoon in October. The common denominator is this tune. It’s a reminder to everyone thing, kept driving by, and would come up again each time with a different thought.

British artist Peter Blake, 93, who designed the 1984 single cover for “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” is back to create a new look for “Ultimate Mix.”

Forty years later, Geldof and Uhl have slightly different views on the song they are both proud of. “I think it’s a really good tune this year,” Geldof said. “You know, I remember around three o’clock in the morning[in1984]I said, ‘Leave it alone, this is it.'” We made it to five o’clock, and “that’s it” is where we are now. It does; ‘it will’, and it does.

Meanwhile, Yule watched Do They Know It’s Christmas? Because “not so good. Bob and I both did better. If you forget who sang it, it sounds like an Ultravox song. I think it stands up better as a recording than as a song. As a A campaign, a production, a record, it’s done more than any of us expected.

The Song and Band-Aid continue to thrive four decades later, well beyond the expected one-time take on what Geldof calls a “trashy little Christmas song.”

“It was originally a six-month project, spending the seven or eight million pounds it generated,” recalls Yule, who is also a Band-Aid trustee. “Of course, in the space of six months, it suddenly went from being a record to Live Aid… and no one thought that if you made a Christmas record, it might get played every year. It’s compounded by the fact that we can only focus on Christmas ’84 to ’85; it would be great if we could get number one for the whole Christmas period, but we’ve never seen anything beyond that. Life. The past 39 years have proven that idea wrong.

Of course, any good deed is punished or exempted from controversy, with Band-Aid and Do They Know It’s Christmas? Faced over the years and more recently. Most notably, Ed Sheeran publicly stated that he would not allow his performance from the 2014 recording to be used, stating that “my understanding of the narrative associated with this has changed” – specifically quote raised concerns from Ghanaian-British artist Fuse ODG that the song “perpetuates “damaging stereotypes” about Africa. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed dismissed the effort, saying it “was Well-intentioned,” but lamented, “It’s disheartening to see our country’s ancient history, culture, diversity and beauty reduced to doom and gloom. He also believes Band-Aid “has not kept pace with the times and may end up doing more harm than good.”

Geldof is quick to retort that “this little pop song saved millions of lives,” but admits that “the debate surrounding it is fierce. Which is great because then you can see through the culture Debate to learn about politics because sensitivities and perspectives change and absorb all that. I love that because it energizes me and you just fucking go for it, man.

Geldof said he has reached out to Sheeran to discuss the matter but has not yet been contacted. “We’ll talk,” he said. “Let me be clear – he’s a very good man, and he’s a smart man. He’s a huge genius, so everyone respects him. I made the call. We’ll chat. We’ll agree, We’re going to disagree, no matter what. That’s how it gets done.

Yule chalked up any controversy to “sadly, it’s just human nature.” We’ve been through this for 40 years. It’s amazing that 40 years later we’re talking about this music, this little pop song. And it’s not an exclusive club; Any musician can stand up and say, “Okay, my next record (the proceeds) are going to be used for whatever, and I’m going to deal with them how I see fit.” Beautiful. But to do that, you don’t have to try to destroy something that is otherwise wonderful. This seems to be what happened. But for God’s sake, it’s just a piece of music, not meant for analysis.

Geldof added that having been asked this question “every day for forty years,” he rarely had to be reminded of the impact of “Do they know it’s Christmas?” Or a Band-Aid. He saw radio personalities and engineers openly weeping when the “2024 Ultimate Mix” was launched this week. On a recent trip to Montreal, he met a room service attendant who was a child in Ethiopia in the mid-1980s; his parents starved to death, and he and his sister were taken to a Band-Aid-funded orphanage and School.

“He took out his wallet and pulled out a picture of himself, his wife and a six- or seven-year-old child,” Geldof said. “They were wearing Manchester City soccer jerseys; I said, ‘Man City, crappy, but great kid. How’s he doing in school?[The waiter]jumped on me, buried his head in my chest and said, ‘Thank you for that. Son. Thank you for giving me life.

“There’s a lot to take on. You can’t say, ‘Well, it’s not me, it’s me. There’s probably millions of people. But if it comes down to that little boy wearing a Manchester City shirt, then 40 years – Well worth it.