Band Aid 2014.....Really?

[DuchessofNorks]

Ok, I get that its a good cause but seriously?? ANOTHER rehash of that same song? Plus, Geldof has recruited One Direction for the new version

AIBU to think its time to "rip off the band aid" so to speak? The least they could do is write a new song...

at the snow line. My husband has been making that same point for YEARS! The line they have replaced it with is god awful though.

Agree with you Gawjushun about him and his unholy tax dodging ways. I feel he is highly hypocritical asking the general public to donate when he has more money than the average celebrity.

Additionally, who needs to buy it when every radio station, music channel and bloody shop will have it blaring out every half hour over the next month?? We are certain to hear it repeatedly for Christmases to come, too.

i haven't seen the duchess of norks around this way since the last band aid single.

An interesting thing pointed out when these are re released is that in the original song (I was also 21), there were only 3 females - bananarama. Seems mad really.

It's not THAT bad is it!? People are going on as if they'd done a cover of Another One Bites The Dust!

Ir1na that, is genius!

what exactly is the money going to?

yes, i know- 'saving people' but how?

it just seems like more white saviourism to me, sorry

I think Ebola was mentioned. I reckon they're aiming to provide isolation centres, staff training and hygiene equipment etc, which is very good indeed. Certainly it will save many lives. Especially if they involve Medecins Sans Frontieres or similar.

It is being debated in BBC1 now.

The young 'Liberian Citizen' is a bit odd. I understand each if her issues, but don't understand her stance or why, when challenged by the oddly abrasive Rantzen, she simply moves on to her next objection, which sort of dilutes her reasoning.

It is a real pity she is allowing Rantzen to shake her as she has some really interesting points. Then again, so does Rantzen.

And Ebola is at the centre of the new version of the song... all monies raised go to the Trust who will parcel it out in the usual manner, hopefully with less being diverted this time!

Did anyone watch Damon from Blur's comments on Channel 4 news last night? He came up with a lot of good points, basically saying this was a terrible idea as people from the developed countries don't have a clue about what the third world need, and rush into money raising schemes because they think they are a good idea, when infact they are not, but "lessons have been learned" from the first single as a vast majority of the money raised was spent on guns.

I think this is a terrible idea. Bob Geldof is a passionate man but this has been rushed into, again.

yes, i know it is intented to 'help' with the ebola crisis, but i can't find anything that specifies how exactly

this is one reason why i am reluctant to buy the single. i would prefer to give to MSF who explicitly explain how their money is used.

I think i find western aid kind of cynical- there was a really thoughtful article about it at the height of the KONY2012 craze written by a nigerian writer - here

i know people mean well but that isn't really good enough, or commendable in and of itself

Then give to MSF.

I did the original in 85 and what followed changed how I saw charity and donations forever. I wouldn't donate to Live Aid again because of what I learned from the first. But this Live Aid may well be the very first, eye opening charity call for some people.

They may well rush to be 'white saviours', as those of us who were alive back in 85 did, if we are honest. But then they too may grow up into more thoughtful charity supporters.

I really could not care how much money is diverted, how naff the song/performers are, how much tax Geldof sidesteps or how anyone else wants to slate it. If it does for this generation of hitherto unthinking teens what it did for mine, it can only be a good thing in the long term.

I wonder if a modern version of this would actually have more impact if you could only download the single if you added your name to a petition with a list of approved organisations to donate if you wanted to.

So in the case if the Ebola epidemic a petition to Roche (or whatever pharmaceutical company) or pressure a government to invest in treatments and cures?

It's better than rather patronisingly flinging a bit of cash into the ether and feeling like you've done your bit.

this is exactly why this is so problematic!

it doesn't matter how much money is siphoned off because the most important thing about this is how it makes teens in the uk feel, how it changes them

just ugh.

why are these other very real people being used as props to make western people feel good and humanitarian? everything about it is repellent

I'd still say that there will be people for whom flinging cash at the record would be their first step... not everyone is as educated about charity, aid and donations as posters here seem to be.

And we all had to start somewhere, even if that first step was misguided. Live Aid, for all of its original foibles, has continued to exist, learn from its mistakes, develop and continue to give aid in Africa. It is not preserved in aspic, maintaining its 85 shape or form.

How about this?

Credible West African musicians, and if you download it from i-Tunes the money goes to MSF.

I think it's a bit disingenuous to criticise the original lyrics, wasn't it written in about 10 minutes flat? It's always easy to criticise with the benefit of 30 years of hindsight

Respect to Adele.

Dislike sanctimonious Geldof, Bono and all the rest of them, and dislike the way Geldof has said what he has said about her. Go Adele!

"Geldof said Oscar-winner Adele 'ignored' his plea for her to sing on the re-recorded Do They Know It's Christmas Time? single.

'Adele is doing nothing, she's not answering the phone,' the Irish Band Aid organiser told Dan Wootton of the Sun on Sunday.

'She doesn't want to be bothered by anyone... She's bringing up a family you know. Some people just don't think they can't make any impact by coming along.'

A representative for Adele told The Sun: 'Bob and the organiSers spoke directly with her management but at no point was she confirmed. Adele is supporting Oxfam's Ebola Appeal with a donation.'

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2836338/Adele-ignores-Sir-Bob-Geldof-s-calls-Band-Aid-30-charity-single.html

She's probably as sick of it as the rest of us. It's like Slade remaking their bloody Christmas song. The UK public have had enough of it.

Urgh, what a snide. So anyone who declines to take part doesn't care? What a colossal douche.

Without wanting to minimise the historical impact in the 80's the world has moved on. The issues are different, general knowledge is different, society is in general, different.

It is lazy and conceited to keep flogging the same dead horse and expecting it to have the same impact as the original. If you want to recapture that original moment then it takes effort. Team up with some African artists - make it a truely global effort which is much easier to do these days than in the 80's.

Ignite a bit of bloody passion. Warbling the same old tired tune is just a reminder to a lot of people of the criticism of previous years and detracts from the issue they're supposedly attempting to highlight.

Can I just point out that, having read these, I feel some of the new lyrics are terribly ignorant?

Solome Lemma makes a very good point here...

*Solome Lemma, co-founder of grassroots response initiative Africa Responds, said there were "other ways Geldolf and his famous friends to contribute".

"While the original Band Aid single raised the profile of the Ethiopian famine and money, it left Ethiopia, and really the rest of Africa, with a terrible legacy that painted us as famished, poor and downtrodden," Lemma told Channel 4 News.

"If Geldof was really committed to using his platform as a musician, then work with African artists. There are a multitude of artists from the three most affected countries - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea - and the rest of Africa that he could have bought on to do a different song. The first one was flawed in every way, including the terrible, patronising lyrics," he said.*

And what is the deal with the Adele thing? Is she not allowed to be busy raising her own child? He has been utterly disrespectful towards her!

Well, it's not as bad as I expected.

Of course Bono made it much better ;)

Am finding all the moaning about charity events on MN at moment a bit depressing

Having whinged the other day about how much I hated the song - now, actually, I think good on them. Anything that raises awareness, that raises cash etc has to be better than doing nothing. And I do trust Geldof to make sure the cash is channelled to Medicin Sans Frontieres and the other organisations that are doing such good work. Given what the man's already suffered this year, he should be applauded for making the effort.

Given what the man's already suffered this year, he should be applauded for making the effort.

Yep, he looks run down and broken, much respect to him for doing this at this point of his life.