In the early 80’s, the music industry was in an all-time high to reach out to the world’s neediest by capitalizing on its famous artists and celebrities’ creativity, musical talent and colossal drawing power to raise money for a very worthy cause : ending the alarming, deadly and rampant cases of poverty and hunger in the poorest villages of Africa particularly in Ethiopia.
During that time, pictures and videos of famished and undernourished Ethiopian men, women and most significantly, children, proliferated the media through various publications and TV networks in the hopes of drawing attention and raising awareness concerning the plight of thousands of Africans affected by the great famine in Ethiopia that had already taken the lives of its many victims.
Coinciding with the success of MTV, a certified musical breakthrough of the Gen X era, two unique charity supergroups that were formed separately in different parts of the world rose to the occasion.
Band Aid
In 1984, British musicians Bob Geldof of The Boomtown Rats and Midge Ure of Ultravox created Band Aid, a charitable project that gathered famous British and Irish recording artists and musicians to record one song as a collective group in order to raise money for the victims of the deadly famine in Ethiopia. Kool and the Gang and Jody Watley were the only American artists present during the recording of the song. Geldof initiated the project after seeing images of famished Ethiopian children being shown on a CBS TV segment. He was said to have been so moved by the plight of the children that he was prompted to take immediate action.
Geldof sought the help of Ure and together the two collaborated on producing the Band Aid song that will eventually become a global hit that would highlight the massive impact and influence of the so-called British invasion in the music industry and the buying public.
Do They Know It’s Christmas? (Feed The World), the Band Aid song released on November 29, 1984, shot up to number 1 on the UK singles chart upon release and stayed there for five weeks selling over 3 million copies on the first week alone. The song has become the second best selling single of all time in the UK to date. Geldof who lobbied for the record’s taxes to be donated to charity instead eventually got his request granted by then Prime Minister Thatcher as Geldof assured everyone that every cent earned from the record would go to the cause.
Band Aid has spawned two re-recordings since its inception. The song was re-recorded by different batches of British artists in 1989 and 2004 through the initiatives of Bob Geldof himself. The re-recordings also peaked at number one on the charts and sold millions upon release.
USA for Africa
Following the success of Band Aid, United Support of Artists for Africa more popularly known as USA for Africa was formed in 1985 as conceptualized by activist Harry Belafonte who made his dream possible through the help of fundraiser Ken Kragen.
Forty seven US artists formed the supergroup to raise money for the relief of famine and disease in Africa particularly Ethiopia from which the hit single We Are The World, written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones, was given life. The single shot up to number one both in the US and the UK charts upon release on March 7, 1985 and raked in profit from more than 20 million copies sold worldwide. It was the “first ever single to be certified multi-platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) as it became the “fastest-selling American pop single in history.”
We Are the World was re-recorded in February 2010 as We Are the World 25 for Haiti by a different batch of artists with the goal of helping the earthquake victims of Haiti devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in January 2010. Quincy Jones also produced the single which performed well commercially and on the charts across the globe despite criticisms from the music critics in the industry. A Latin supergroup also re-recorded the song in Spanish at that time under the name Somos el Mundo which was directed by Gloria Estefan and her husband Emilio.
The Band Aid and USA for Africa MTV’s were a fan’s ultimate dream for having the generation’s hottest recording artists confined in one recording studio working together as one group. Band Aid featured famous bands Duran Duran, Wham, Spandau Ballet, U2, Bananarama, Culture Club, Ultravox, The Boomtown Rats and artists Paul Young, Sting, Phil Collins, Bob Geldof and Sade among others. USA for Africa, on the other hand, featured famous icons Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan, Kenny Rogers, Steve Perry, Paul Simon, Huey Lewis, James Ingram, Billy Joel, Tina Turner, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Dionne Warwick, Nick Carnes, Cyndi Lauper, Al Jarreau, Kenny Loggins and duo Daryll Hall and John Oates among others.
Live Aid
The success of both supergroups spawned a historical musical collaboration among the artists that performed in Band Aid and USA for Africa with the addition of new artists generally belonging to the British, American and Irish music scenes called Live Aid, an event organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure. It was a concert held on July 13, 1985 in two venues, the Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kenney stadium in Philadelphia which had a combined attendance of close to 200,000 people but with an estimated audience of 1.9 billion worldwide. It was broadcast simultaneously most notably by MTV and streamed live with the help of other networks in 150 countries. Other events in Australia and Germany were also held in conjunction with the Live Aid concert. Proceeds of the humongous events went to the Ethiopian relief funds.
Farm Aid
With the success of Live Aid, other musicians were inspired to stage another concert for the benefit of farmers in the US who were in danger of losing their lands. Spearheaded by Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp, artists performed to raise funds for the cause on September 1985 that eventually successfully helped farmer families across America not only financially but legally as the project helped in the subsequent passing of the Agricultural Credit of 1997 that helped save farms from foreclosure.
Farm Aid concerts had been ongoing since the project’s inception. The most recent concert staged happened in August 2011 in Kansas City.
Tomorrow/ Bokra
Qunicy Jones, one of the legendary producers of We Are the World, recently ventured into another charity project, this time with social entrepreneur Badr Jafar, involving another musical supergroup with the goal of raising funds for the “musical, artistic and cultural projects” for the children of the Middle East.
Jones produced the new internet hit single Tomorrow/Bokra featuring 24 top recording artists from the Arab music industry whose video has already been viewed more than a million times on You Tube. Donations for the cause have already surpassed $3 million excluding revenues from You Tube ads and iTunes downloads. Proceeds for this project including corporate and private donations and pledges will go to the Beirut-based Arab Funds for Arts and Culture and the U.N. World Food Programme for distribution.
According to Jones, his dream is for the children of the Middle East “to be free to dream for themselves.”
Despite criticisms involving these charitable efforts specifically concerning the profits which were allegedly received and kept by the wrong recipients, the success achieved by these supergroups has catapulted the music industry into a whole different level … one of reverence and power.
Before Band Aid and USA for Africa, no one knew that music possesses such an insurmountable capacity to unite a world generally revolving in the sphere of diversity, skepticism and indifference that would eventually stand up as one and fight for a common purpose.
It’s now 2011, almost 30 years have already passed since the music industry changed history. New problems and issues have already arisen since then. As expected, there are still many creases to straighten out, issues to tackle with and problems to resolve.
Hopefully, some of us will follow in the footsteps of our predecessors and become the new Bob Geldofs and Quincy Jones of our generation and of generations to come.
Gen X may have done it already but it's never too late to dream anew and make things happen.
There will always be plenty of time to make a difference.
Sources :
Quincy Jones Arab charity song goes viral
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/28/world/meast/quincy-jones-bokra/index.html
Wiki (Band Aid (band)/ USA for Africa/ We Are the World/ Live Aid/ Farm Aid)
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