Band Aid - behind the scenes documentary on iPlayer
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I watched this too, thought it was fascinating. And yes George Michael came cross very well and was clearly just a much better singer than nearly everyone else.
It was a brilliant watch. Sting came across as a bit vacant, the Status Quo chaps like naughty school boys on a day trip, boy George a gossip. But the pop stars of the day all locked in a room with no mobile phones to stare at back then, fascinating.
Midge came across amazingly well, the adult in the room, commanded respect without ever needing to raise his voice.
Midge came across amazingly well, the adult in the room, commanded respect without ever needing to raise his voice.
I'm a bit of a Boy George fan, he's a local lad for me and I'm looking forward to watching this. My wife saw if over the weekend and said George (O'Dowd) was exactly what you'd have expected which is reassuring
I love how a bunch of the artists arrived in fancy cars and Bananarama appeared out of a beat-up hatchback VW lol
A good watch….can’t believe it’s forty years ago..and how gorgeous Keren from Bananarama looked
Do you find out if they ever answered the question?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9dl22gz3vloRevolutions said:Do you find out if they ever answered the question?
Oh. Well that didn’t turn out like they’d hoped.RocknRollDave said:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9dl22gz3vloRevolutions said:Do you find out if they ever answered the question?
This is the new 40th anniversary version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je7k8LGmjNA
Oof, that’s rubbish, innit?Keiko said:This is the new 40th anniversary version:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je7k8LGmjNA
Pretty much the only good bits are the bits from the original, except maybe the Darkness guitar parts.
It could be worse...RocknRollDave said:Oof, that’s rubbish, innit?Keiko said:This is the new 40th anniversary version:...
Pretty much the only good bits are the bits from the original, except maybe the Darkness guitar parts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlUqVrxeDqM
^^^ Yikes!
As an aside to the whole Xmas Charideee thing....
George Michael keeps going up in my estimation, as a singer and a person. I'd watch this to get a glimpse of the characters of the original line up. Twas a different world back then.
RocknRollDave said:Oof, that’s rubbish, innit?Keiko said:This is the new 40th anniversary version:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je7k8LGmjNA
Pretty much the only good bits are the bits from the original, except maybe the Darkness guitar parts.
I quite like it, but could do without Dizzee Rascal's contribution.
One of the things I hate is the current commentary that it is some sort of colonial racism blah blah.
For me it was the pop industry at the time doing something with good intention. It was not some intellectual thesis on Africa just a pop song that raised 8 million in its first year to help people. Now people are upset at the lyrics and saying people should complain about it and it should be banned
the older I get the more I hate the 21st century lol
the older I get the more I hate the 21st century lol
Just ignore it mate. A lot of noise being whipped up by a bunch of self-righteous twats with nothing better to do. God forbid they should instead use their time to better the lot of those less fortunate than themselves.Jez6345789 said:One of the things I hate is the current commentary that it is some sort of colonial racism blah blah.For me it was the pop industry at the time doing something with good intention. It was not some intellectual thesis on Africa just a pop song that raised 8 million in its first year to help people. Now people are upset at the lyrics and saying people should complain about it and it should be banned
the older I get the more I hate the 21st century lol
I don't like Geldof, but he did a top job here.
I think this is an excellent article that discusses the naïveté of Western ideals where the strong desire to help is often just a stop-gap that never really fixes things, the problems with trying to distribute aid in countries with corrupt governments, the issue of a stigma being attached to the recipient country and people, and many more of the complexities surrounding what (looking retrospectively) amounts to knee-jerk reactions - a bit like the obviously smaller scale "GoFundMe" that is started up by well intentioned people that haven't really thought about how the money will help.
One thing that resonates from a quote made in the article is the very thing that has caused controversy at the time and now. Read the section entitled "Lessons from Band Aid".
Its message of hope, charity, and idealism moves us, which is part of its magic.
"There
was a charming naivete about this song", Sting said years later, while
speaking to Ure. "I think a more sophisticated song wouldn’t have
worked. It had to be a kind of Christmas carol, nursery rhyme, simple,
idealistic vision. And that’s exactly what it was".
I recall at the time thinking to myself (and voicing out loud) that the pitiful starving skeletal people sifting through dust for grass seeds to eat would not have known or given a shit what day of the week it was because their singular focus was to try and stay alive, so "Do they know it's Christmas time at all" seemed such a naïve, trite and pathetic thing to sing about. I think Sting summed it up quite well, although hearing that line every Christmas still jars me.
I'm just glad Sam Smith didn't turn up wearing a tinfoil nappy, a peacock tail feather head dress, and nipple tassles, or else the outrage would have been off the scales. Had Gregg Wallace been in the line up God knows what kind of backlash there would have been.
It's interesting, I suppose I always interpreted it as we, in the west, are fully aware It's Christmas because of the decorations, the celebrations, the festivities, over indulgence, and gifts, but it won't feel like that for them (as in the people affected by the war and famine in Ethiopia), rather than do they actually understand the concept of Christmas.Revolutions said:Oh. Well that didn’t turn out like they’d hoped.RocknRollDave said:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9dl22gz3vloRevolutions said:Do you find out if they ever answered the question?
I understand the area has a very rich biblical/Judeo/Christian history, but tbf I've no idea how they celebrate the birth of Christ.
We do seem to have had a habit of thinking of Africa as a country, or lumping all Africans together, rather than a massive continent with many different countries, and peoples, though.
This evening I am dog sitting so Bertie the retriever and I might watch the documentary.
I do quite dislike when Band Aid is added to those Christmas compilations you hear in supermarkets,etc. Not only do the lyrics become more wince inducing year by year but as a bit of nostalgia it takes me back to mental images of starving children.
Romesh Ranganathan did some travel shows a couple of years ago and one of them was in Ethiopia. The famine and the western image of Ethiopia is all a bit dated and embarrassing now, it’s like someone visiting the U.K. and all they know about us is based on a documentary about the miner’s strike.
As a bit of pop history it’s interesting but I think it probably needs leaving in the past.
It might not have been the right thing to do, and it certainly wouldn’t be done now that we have a better understanding of such things, but, for all its flaws, I remain impressed and heart-warmed that enough people who didn’t HAVE to do anything about a situation thousands of miles away were nevertheless driven enough to do SOMETHING ABOUT IT that it happened at all.
Of course there was a PR spin to be had by all who were part of it, of course there was probably more ‘snow’ in the toilets than there ever will be in Africa, of course the song is dreary and trite.
But…what a thing to pull off.
Of course there was a PR spin to be had by all who were part of it, of course there was probably more ‘snow’ in the toilets than there ever will be in Africa, of course the song is dreary and trite.
But…what a thing to pull off.
I like the new arrangement and the melancholy chords over the verse. Quite a good rewrite IMHO.
Ahh yes, I plan to watch that. It was a wonderful thing at the time, I remember the original documentary, such a feel good factor.
I'm kind of agreeing with the modern feeling that it's time to knock it on the head though rather than to keep wheeling a new one out every once in a while - the whole cultural sensitivity thing, the naivety of the lyrics. Perfect for the time, but we are better informed now. Let's not forget though that the song has made a vast amount of money for the cause, whether or not some Africans get annoyed by it.
I'm kind of agreeing with the modern feeling that it's time to knock it on the head though rather than to keep wheeling a new one out every once in a while - the whole cultural sensitivity thing, the naivety of the lyrics. Perfect for the time, but we are better informed now. Let's not forget though that the song has made a vast amount of money for the cause, whether or not some Africans get annoyed by it.
I started watching the documentary last night but fell asleep at some point, I think not long after a sweaty Phil Collins was shown recording his drum parts. I don't know if I can be bothered to go back and watch the rest of it.
The most striking things were how young they all looked - particularly Weller - and how weird it was seeing the engineer bloke chain-smoking the whole time. And Tony Hadley is very tall.
The most striking things were how young they all looked - particularly Weller - and how weird it was seeing the engineer bloke chain-smoking the whole time. And Tony Hadley is very tall.
In Martin Kemp’s autobiography Tony Hadley is painted as the thick member of Spandau Ballet. Just before Band Aid the crisis in Ethiopia was all over the news and a journalist asked Tony what he thought about Ethiopia “ I think we are playing there on the next tour” cue much forehead slapping by band mates. Every time I see Tony on TV I think about this.Philly_Q said:I started watching the documentary last night but fell asleep at some point, I think not long after a sweaty Phil Collins was shown recording his drum parts. I don't know if I can be bothered to go back and watch the rest of it.
The most striking things were how young they all looked - particularly Weller - and how weird it was seeing the engineer bloke chain-smoking the whole time. And Tony Hadley is very tall.
[ as best as I can remember this story!]
That seems about right. Martin was the cool one, Gary was always a bit "pretentious, moi?", Tony seemed a bit dim and the others were just anonymous. They all seem like likeable chaps when they appear on anything nowadays, though. I'm surprised the falling-out with Hadley was so (apparently) permanent.EricTheWeary said:In Martin Kemp’s autobiography Tony Hadley is painted as the thick member of Spandau Ballet. Just before Band Aid the crisis in Ethiopia was all over the news and a journalist asked Tony what he thought about Ethiopia “ I think we are playing there on the next tour” cue much forehead slapping by band mates. Every time I see Tony on TV I think about this.Philly_Q said:I started watching the documentary last night but fell asleep at some point, I think not long after a sweaty Phil Collins was shown recording his drum parts. I don't know if I can be bothered to go back and watch the rest of it.
The most striking things were how young they all looked - particularly Weller - and how weird it was seeing the engineer bloke chain-smoking the whole time. And Tony Hadley is very tall.[ as best as I can remember this story!]
I think Martin was asked to join the band primarily on the basis of being good looking. Well, we've all been there...Philly_Q said:That seems about right. Martin was the cool one, Gary was always a bit "pretentious, moi?", Tony seemed a bit dim and the others were just anonymous. They all seem like likeable chaps when they appear on anything nowadays, though. I'm surprised the falling-out with Hadley was so (apparently) permanent.EricTheWeary said:In Martin Kemp’s autobiography Tony Hadley is painted as the thick member of Spandau Ballet. Just before Band Aid the crisis in Ethiopia was all over the news and a journalist asked Tony what he thought about Ethiopia “ I think we are playing there on the next tour” cue much forehead slapping by band mates. Every time I see Tony on TV I think about this.Philly_Q said:I started watching the documentary last night but fell asleep at some point, I think not long after a sweaty Phil Collins was shown recording his drum parts. I don't know if I can be bothered to go back and watch the rest of it.
The most striking things were how young they all looked - particularly Weller - and how weird it was seeing the engineer bloke chain-smoking the whole time. And Tony Hadley is very tall.[ as best as I can remember this story!]
A fascinating watch, I found. George Michael comes across particularly well - quite shy and reserved but very much knows what he’s doing when it comes to singing, making suggestions for tweaking the melody to suit his voice.
Midge Ure - clearly running the show, in terms of producing the track, and really working his socks off.
Bono, pre-superstardom, seems a bit nervous and lost.
The only one who comes across as a bit of a spoiled diva is Boy George.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0025gmy