In October 1984, a BBC report led by Michael Buerk was released surrounding the famine that plagued Ethiopia in 1984. The report sent shockwaves through the media and was broadcast across 425 television stations worldwide.
In response to the report, Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats and Midge Ure of Ultravox collaborated in writing “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” as a charity record to raise money in the name of the catastrophe.
The duo reached out to many prolific British and Irish musicians to form a charity supergroup known as Band Aid. Since then, the group has featured the likes of Paul McCartney, Bono, Harry Styles and Ed Sheeran, among many others.
The original song, released in 1984, was performed by Geldof, Ure, Phil Collins, John Taylor of Duran Duran and several other contributing artists.
After its first release in December 1984, the song reached No. 1 on the United Kingdom singles chart the following week. The track was the fastest-selling single in the U.K. chart history until Elton John surpassed it in 1997 with “Candle in the Wind.”
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Production of the song was extremely rushed due to the constraint of releasing it in time for Christmas. This led to some poorly calculated lyrics that have been an ongoing controversy as new versions continue to be released.
These include “It’s a world of dread and fear/ Where the only water flowing/ Is the bitter sting of tears,” and Bono’s infamous proclamation, “Thank God it’s them/ Instead of you.”
“What (Band Aid) failed to understand was that Africa is a large place, and the generalization that all people who come from the continent require help from ‘the white man’ to survive is dangerous,” Ije Teunnissen-Oligboh wrote for the Independent.
The song’s aftermath was not solely the promotion of egregious perceptions and generalizations of African life, as it was initially created to raise money and awareness for supporting Ethiopians in a time of crisis.
To be fair, this goal was achieved. In an interview with LBC, Geldof and Ure confirmed that Band Aid has raised over $200 million and that 100% of profits from any Band Aid release goes directly to charity organizations.
In July 1985, Geldof and Ure organized the Live Aid festival to raise more funds for the famine in Ethiopia. The pair brought together a prestigious group of superstars for this festival, including Queen, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin and countless others.
Live Aid proved to be one of the largest television broadcasts of all time, as an approximated 1.9 billion viewers tuned in to watch the “global jukebox” — nearly 40% of the world’s population at the time.
For the release of the Band Aid 30 version in 2014, the group changed the message to provide relief for the Ebola crisis. They reached out to Fuse ODG, a British-Ghanaian artist, to perform vocal parts for the release.
Fuse ODG respectfully declined the offer, telling the Guardian, “While they may generate sympathy and donations, they perpetuate damaging stereotypes that stifle Africa’s economic growth, tourism and investment, ultimately costing the continent trillions and destroying its dignity, pride and identity.”
Fuse ODG elaborated on the dishonesty he would be showing by participating.
“For the past four years I have gone to Ghana at Christmas for the sole purpose of peace and joy,” Fuse ODG said. “So for me to sing these lyrics would simply be a lie.”
Sheeran joined Fuse ODG on the list of artists who rebuked the song. Sheeran’s voice appeared on Band Aid 30 and Band Aid 40, and the singer has since apologized for being a part of both releases.
“A decade on and my understanding of the narrative associated with this has changed, eloquently explained by (Fuse ODG),” Sheeran said, as he admitted that Band Aid did not seek his permission before adding his vocals to Band Aid 40.
Beyond Sheeran, the Band Aid 40 “2024 Ultimate Mix” has included Styles, Sam Smith, Thom Yorke and various vocal performances from previous releases.
Each version that has been released has seen minor lyrical changes, but the sentiment remains. The “2024 Ultimate Mix” still contains white savior attitudes with lyrics such as “Give a little help to the helpless/ Feed the world, let them know it’s Christmastime again.”
Despite this, NPR reported that the most recent version, put out on Nov. 29, raised over $1 million within the first few minutes of its release.
The ethics and morals of releasing such a song prolific with misinformation and exaggeration littering the lyrics are certainly something to be questioned, but “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” did spearhead many extraordinary charity efforts.
