Last week, Toronto kicked off the 2006 International AIDS conference with a concert headlined by Alicia Keys. Earlier this month, Jay -Z revealed his "Water for Life" Initiative to the UN. Madonna is buying a village in Malawi, Brangelina have their babies and so the beat goes on.
From the celebrity collaborations such as "We Are The World," "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and "Tears Are Not Enough," the culture of benevolent music is back in style with as much retro vigour as Duran Duran or Cyndi Lauper.
Band Aid, headed by Bob Geldolf (Boomtown Rats), and Midge Ure (Ultravox), lead the way from the very first stanza. In response to the famine in Ethiopia in 1984, Geldof and Ure summoned a groundbreaking gathering of the hottest UK artists of the day from U2, to Bananarama and US stars Jody Watley and Kool and the Gang. "
Do They Know It's Christmas" is still popular and receives regular radio rotation each Christmas throughout North America and the UK (U.K. #1, 1984, 1985). In a 2005 remake, some of the original artists were joined by current UK pop stars. There was controversy over the renowned Bono line of "tonight thank God its them instead of you," caused squabbling between Bono and Justin Hawkins from The Darkness - ironic given that Bono and Sir Bob fought over this line in the original recording of the song.
Band Aid was a charity frontrunner for future international efforts. In April of 1985, Quincy Jones assembled a roster of American chart toppers, including Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Hall & Oates, and even Sir Bob himself, as USA For Africa recorded "We Are The World"(USA, U.K., #1). Despite the star power, the concert, reunion and re-release effort did not match up to Band Aid. However, from Willie Nelson's Farm Aid to Diddy's Vote or Die, rallying music to mobilize the masses remains popular in the US.
A Canadian collective, Northern Lights recorded "Tears Are Not Enough" under the direction of megaproducer David Foster, then- rising star Bryan Adams and writing mastermind Jim Vallance (Ozzy Osborne, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper). While Foster, Vallance and Adams represented top floor of Canadian music along with Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray, Oscar Peterson and other classic musicians, the recording represented a career climax for the likes of the Parachute Club, Corey Hart and Rough Trade.
