Do They Know It's Christmas?

Yes, I assume they have calendars

Today we look at one of the mega-charity songs of 80s.

Band Aid, 1984

I know this will sound goofy, but I love comparing things. Taking several similar items from a category and delving into their similarities and differences. For some reason, this activity soothes my mind. So a temporary supergroup coming together for a charity song is a perfect opportunity for me to compare multiple singers, one after the other, singing the same song. A rare occurrence.

Paul Young starts the song, the first voice we hear, in a clear, well-pitched pop voice. Okay, so far so good.

Then Boy George sings. In Culture Club’s hits, I never heard how soulful George’s voice is. The juxtaposition of these first singers is intriguing, like a surprise ingredient on the menu at a Michelin Star Restaurant. You never would have thought to put these two together, but it works. The twist takes your taste buds to new places.

After a brief cameo of Phil Collins on the drums, we get to George Michael. Boy George. George Michael. Maybe they were playing some sort of word game. Anyway. Michael has crystal-clear pop voice. Simon LeBon from Duran Duran seems to cut him off. LeBon sounds so much like Bono here, which doesn’t make much sense since LeBon is English and Bono is Irish.

Can we talk about the hair for a minute? I know the 80s are sometimes called the “Big Hair” decade, but wow. Male pop stars in the 60s grew their hair longer than the Beatles or the Stones, demonstrating that the new acts were even more rock and roll. In the 70s, male stars had pretty hair, less shaggy, more curl. But the 80s? The male musicians in the 80s had hard, spiky, long hair. Some of them look more like businesswomen than rock stars. Or perhaps businesswomen look more like stars than we’ve given them credit for.

Then a secret ingredient. I’ve long thought that as good a lead vocalist as Sting might be, he truly shines during duets. His voice makes any other singer’s voice better. Sting maintains a straight face, reminding us of his poetic soul, his literary past. But, what’s that? Eyes twinkling, the hint of a smile as he sings the line “the bitter sting of tears”. Yes, Sting…sting.

And now here’s Bono himself. I take back what I said about Simon LeBon. Bono sounds like Bono. It would be hard for anyone to sound more like Bono than Bono sounds here. He stands between Sting and LeBon. Sure, their voices work great together, but what a juxtaposition of career arcs present in this one frame. Looking back from our vantage point in the future, we know who went on to bigger things and who faded away, but those singers, in that moment, have no idea. They just surf the confusing waves of fame, trying to hold on a little longer.

This was late 1984. The Police had already released their final studio album. Sting would buzz around for a year before releasing his first solo album. But, in this video he was still conceptually the lead singer of The Police. We from the future know that Sting would have some solo hits, but mostly would settle into a calm, steady, long presence in the music industry. The other two singers in frame provide wider contrast. At this point in 1984, Duran Duran was one of the biggest names in music, the previous two years were peppered with their hits. Their enormous fan base rabidly supported the group and their concerts were huge. But…unbeknownst to these singers, Duran Duran’s peak had already passed. There would be a few more hits, but nothing like 1983 and 1984. Which brings us to Bono, the last person in frame. To this point, U2 had been moderately successful. Their videos played on MTV. But this was nothing compared to what they would become a few years later. In 1987, their album The Joshua Tree would dominate the charts. Hit after hit, catapulting them to superstardom. They followed this success with several more big albums, making them a staple of the 90s too. As I write this in 2024, they are still a major act. But in that moment in time, with the three men huddled around that single microphone, Bono was the least successful.

This puts me in mind of seeing class photos from our schooldays. A moment frozen in time. A bunch of people on wildly different life paths, captured in one snapshot, all the future chapters unknown. All those fresh-faced kids. Some will suffer, some will thrive. We’ll lose each other, occasionally find each other, love, be loved, and stumble along our individual paths. All of this drama invisible, temporally out of frame, in that yearbook photo. There’s no telling who is the Bono, Sting, or Simon LeBon.

Most of the remainder of the song is ensemble work. It sounds great. It’s catchy. The video is a time capsule of the British pop scene in the mid-80s. A few months later we would get the American version with We Are the World.

The ensemble is joyous. I yearn for the days when folks could come together and belt out “feed the world”, recognizing our fellow humanity, and sound joyous instead of preachy. They seem to want people to be fed (instead of wanting to be seen wanting people to be fed).

At the end of the song, after the catchy refrain, my brain has wallowed in the proximity of singers. What do I take from all these comparisons? While most American groups were trying to sound like the Beatles, British acts were trying to sound like Motown, soul, R&B, and American blues. Go figure. I guess people want to sound like music from elsewhere.

I also see that there is no right way to sing this song. The pure pop sounds wonderful. The soulful parts are also wonderful.

And for me it always comes back to time. I miss those holidays. There’s nothing in life quite like a child’s anticipation of Christmas. A time when those hairdos weren’t so out of the ordinary, when those musicians were at their peak. Each year new Christmas music arrives, shuffled amongst classics. I have plenty of favorite Christmas songs, but this one will always hold a special place in my heart.