The format lends itself to satire, such as by The Simpson’s Sending Our Love Down the Well in 1987, Randy Newman’s I Just Want You to Hurt Like I Do in 1988 and the video for Pulp’s Bad Cover Version in 2002. Yet it hasn’t stopped celebrities from participating, perhaps because Geldof established a simple way for otherwise powerless showbusiness figures to respond to a crisis.
Nevertheless, the appeal of the charity genre has been waning, beset by too many major flops in recent decades. But now here comes Band Aid to stir us all up again, reminding us of a more innocent moment in pop history, when the very notion of effete pop stars sharing a microphone with dirty rockers seemed an outrageous transgression. As a new generation of fans get to grips with a fifth version of Do They Know it’s Christmas?, older listeners might take comfort from the famous phrase roared by the trio of Bonos: “Tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.”
Top 5 Charity Singles
We Are the World – USA for Africa (1985)
The late Quincy Jones marshals a superstar cast expertly on gushy power ballad. A sign in the studio instructed “Check Your Egos at the Door”.
Perfect Day – BBC Children In need (1997)
The bittersweet stoicism of Lou Reed’s song is somehow retained in a surprisingly gentle arrangement, where a fantastic cast deliver lines with understated emotion.