Christmas is a bittersweet time of the year. It is a time for giving, appreciating, joying, and spending time with family and friends. In addition, it is a time for reminiscing about all the great things one has accomplished throughout their lives and what they will accomplish in the upcoming year.
When I think of Christmas, I think about philanthropy. I love getting presents for myself, but I just as much love giving presents to others. I also think about what I have compared to what others don’t, and this is a time of year when I love to give back to others who don’t have as much.
A Christmas song that comes to my mind when I think about giving is the well-known ballad, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band-Aid. Released in 1984, it was a Christmas pop staple that resembled pop music in the 1980s.
Originally written by Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats and Musician Midge Urge, they also helped form the supergroup Band-Aid. Band-Aid’ was a music supergroup that focused on charity work. It included popular British and Irish pop artists of the 1980s, including various members of the new wave band Spandau Ballet, Bono of U2, George Micheal of Wham!, Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran, Boy George of the Culture Club, Phil Collins of Genesis, Sara Dallin & Siobhan Fahey of Bananarama, Robert “Kool” Bell of Kool & The Gang, various members of the Boomtown Rats, and many more.
It was Band-Aid’s responsibility to raise awareness of the Ethiopian famine between 1983 and 1985 through charitable work.
The recording of the song was conducted at SRAM Records in Notting Hill, London on November 25, 1984. The song was recorded and mixed within 24 hours. This song was released on December 3, 1984. Surprisingly, the song went straight to No.1 in the UK singles charts, sold a million copies in the first week alone, and became the fastest-selling single in the UK of all time.
It also went on to sell two million copies worldwide and generated acts of charity support from countries such as the United States, France, and Canada.
The significance of this song is immaculate. It inspired the formation of a charity supergroup, USA for Africa, to record a song in early 1985 called “We Are The World.” That same year, the well-renowned benefit concert “Live Aid” was held on July 13, 1985, in London, England, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both occurrences included popular pop and rock artists of the 1980s, and further raised funds for the 1983-1985 Ethiopian famine.
More projects of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band-Aid were re-recorded in the following years. The song was re-recorded in 1989, 2004, and 2014 on the 5th, 20th, and 30th anniversaries.
Each of those years the song was rerecorded, Band-Aid would bring popular pop & rock artists of the timeframe to sing parts of the song. In 2014, even though Bono of U2 returned as a vocalist, other artists that were vocalists include Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, and Liam Payne of One Direction, Ellie Goulding, Rita Ora, Clean Bandit, Olly Murs, Emeli Sande, Chris Martin of Coldplay, and more.
“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” is a unique Christmas song because not only is it less upbeat than most other Christmas songs, but it was also released to help relieve hunger in Ethiopia. I have always adored charity work, especially during the holiday season, and seeing an essential world issue being addressed by popular musicians and raising awareness through music is a beautiful thing to see. I would love to see more music being released espcially during the holiday season, or at other times of the year by musicians with the purpose of addressing world issues.
