Most years, no festive singles enter the canon of Christmas classics. But in 1984, there were two. And while we celebrated 40 years of Last Christmas on the cover of our first Big Issue Christmas magazines, a new BBC film charts the day that year’s Christmas number one, Do They Know It’s Christmas? was recorded by Band Aid.
On Sunday 25 November 1984 Bob Geldof and Midge Ure welcomed the biggest names in pop music to Sarm Studios in Notting Hill, West London, to make Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?, which would go on to raise millions for famine relief in Ethiopia.
The chaos and creativity was captured on film. But much of it has never been seen. And, as the new film shows, there are magic moments, from the mundane to the monumental.
- George Michael’s incredible generosity went far beyond Band Aid
- Midge Ure: ‘Music kept me away from gangs’
There are spine-tingling scenes as Bono inches his way towards his iconic delivery of ‘Well, tonight, thank god it’s them instead of you’ and then there’s the silliness of Sting feeding Phil Collins a biscuit as they file in for the group photograph.
There’s Boy George turning up late to inject some camp and chaos before recording an effortlessly beautiful, soulful vocal take and George Michael showcasing his absolute mastery of melody – improving Midge Ure’s guide vocal line on the spot – and the joyous, relentless back-and-forth banter between Status Quo’s Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt as they prepare for their solos.
There are questions too. Why is Culture Club drummer Jon Moss closer to the vocal mic than Bananarama? And were our pop charts really so male and pale back then?