Band Aid II

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Band Aid II was a second version of the British charity group Band Aid, which in 1989 recorded the song Do They Know It's Christmas? again. The original had been written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the famine in Ethiopia. Geldof had been moved by reports by the BBC journalist Michael Buerk. The first Band Aid, a supergroup of popular British and Irish musicians, recorded the song in a single day in November 1984 at Sarm West Studios in London, with Trevor Horn hosting the studios.

Music and breakthrough

The original came out on 7 December 1984, went straight to number one in the United Kingdom and stayed there for five weeks. It was one of the best-selling singles of its time and within a year raised eight million pounds for Ethiopia. The success inspired We Are the World by USA for Africa and the Live Aid concert in 1985. In 1989 the re-recording followed with other musicians, in the line-up referred to as Band Aid II. Kylie Minogue sang the first line in that version. This version too reached first place in the United Kingdom and became a Christmas number one. Later versions followed in 2004 and 2014.

Influence

The song is built from a verse and a bridge, in which individual singers can each sing a line, and a chorus that the whole ensemble repeats. As a result it lends itself well to changing line-ups. Band Aid II showed that the idea of a charity single with famous names still worked after the first wave, although the song also drew criticism for its lyrics.

Listening