Sonic Eye: Feed The World!

Well, it's Christmas Eve again. As the season, which has devolved into a pathetic level of crass commercialism, finally climaxes, I think it would be timely for us remember what Christmas is really all about.

Oh sure, everybody'll say "Christmas is all about peace, love,and giving,". They'll all yak like they're God's gift of salvation to the poor and needy. "I come to help, all ye downtrodden souls of this wretched earth" yadda yadda yadda. Or, they'll make like "hey, let's give to the poor - after all it is Christmas" and proceed for the rest of the year living like the world is their personal toilet. Or worse still, some of them may go "let's give something to the poor people of this world this Christmas - it'll be good for the company's image". Fuck. (Oops, that's one non-Christmas word that'll definitely keep me in Santa's Naughty List.)

Am I beginning to sound like Scrooge? Sorry, can't help it - I'm related to the guy.

Anyway... Christmas really is about peace, love, and giving - really. It's just sad that people only remember this within a specific period of time during the year, when the marketing mavericks tell us it's time to go crazy with the credit cards "so that we can enjoy a truly Merry Christmas!" Really now. Is Christmas really meant to surround people who already have enough with more stuff bought with money that could've been used to help others for a longer period of time? I don't believe so.

I mean, if you have the capacity to give, why not give where it'll count more? Sure, you'd like to buy your niece or nephew that nifty new toy she/he has been badgering you about because they've been good all year. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. But I guess it'd be nice too if we remember to give to those who really don't have much at all even in terms of the basics of food, shelter, and clothing - which brings me to the heart of this post.

In 1984, a group of British artists, led by Boomtown Rats' main rat Bob Geldof, set about to record a song the proceeds from the sale of which would be donated to the famine relief efforts in Africa. The song was called "Do They Know It's Christmas" (credited to Band Aid) and a veritable who's who of British rock and pop music took part in this laudable effort: Geldof, Sting, blue-eyed soul star Paul Young, Boy George and the rest of Culture Club, Phil Collins, ex-Wham star George Michael, Simon Le Bon and the rest of Duran Duran (Nick Rhodes really doesn't go out of the house without his trademark thick eyeliners), Tony Hadley and the rest of Spandau Ballet, U2's Bono, Paul Weller (ex of the late lamented punk group The Jam but by this time leader of the jazzy Style Council), Midge Ure (of Ultravox, and Geldof's main partner-in-crime for this project), Brit girl group Bananarama (Sarah Dallin, Keren Woodward, and Siobhan Fahey), model Iman, gender-bender artist Marilyn, and a lot of other big names in British music at the time.

The success of this single sparked a similar action from across the Atlantic. In the U.S., American artists also came out with their own fund-raising single: "We Are The World". Like in the U.K., this American single (credited to USA for Africa or United Support of Artists for Africa) also featured the top recording artists and personalities at the time: Quincy Jones, Lionel Ritchie (yep, Nicole's dad), Michael Jackson (hey, he may be weird but at least back then he knew a good cause when he saw one), New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen, country stars Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers (yup, the fried chicken guy), calypso king Harry Belafonte, Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper, piano man Billy Joel, Huey Lewis, Journey's Steve Perry, the legendary Ray Charles, spokesman-for-his-generation Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, and a host of other big-name personalities.

Eventually, with the success of both "Do They Know It's Christmas" and "We Are The World", Bob Geldof got it in his head that maybe, just maybe, they can do more to help the starving people of Africa. It was here that the concept of Live Aid was born. Live Aid was the biggest gathering of musical legends and exciting newcomers to ever hit the stage. It had two venues: Wembley Stadium in the U.K. and JFK Stadium the U.S. The shows at both stadiums were connected via satellite, ensuring a continuous flow of music for everyone. Concorde donated its services for free, flying Phil Collins, who played drums at the Wembley show, to the US so he could beat skin at the US venue. Live Aid was to the 80's what Woodstock was to the 60's, so you probably get the picture.

Anyway, I scavenged YouTube for the appropriate videos. For those of us who saw it live or on TV, here's your chance to relive everything. For those of you who weren't around yet at the time, check out the videos and ask your parents about it.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the entire human race!

DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS - BAND AID