Anyone watch the making of Do They Know Its Christmas Doc on BBC

[I8toys]

Such a lovely slice of nostalgia. I now have major crush on Midge Ure - such a lovely creative and extremely calm man in the face of potential chaos.

Lovely to see the process and the genius of a young George Michael and Boy George bringing in the smut and humour.

What struck me most was

a) how amazingly talented and professional George Michael was in comparison to everyone else present (and I was not and am not a particular fan of his so I am not biased. He was also the only act who nailed it at the Freddie Mercury concert imo).

b) what a little diva Boy George was! I've always adhered to the message that was put out at the time that all the artists turned up without an ego and just collaborated together to produce the single. Well, watching this documentary, I don't think that applied to Boy George. He arrived late (ok, not his fault if he had to fly in, but the optics weren't great), fully made up when most people were in their Sunday slops, instantly starts smirking and being provocative, fluffs his lines, (he got there in the end but his voice initially was cracked and out of tune) and then bangs on about all the bitching and back biting that normally takes place between artists. I think most of the bitching and back biting maybe revolved around him because he was the one dishing it out?

I don't know why the dig about Boy George's make up. That was his image. I don't suppose he had ever been seen without make up. He would have been unrecognisable. There were others there in full make up.

I imagine 84 was his peak addiction year.

I suppose it just set him apart from everyone else there, and I mentioned it more as a rebuttal of an earlier poster saying how scruffy they all looked. But you are right, he wouldn't have been Boy George without the make up. Again, image over substance.

Ah, nostalgia..
I worked in the records department at WHSmiths in Hull at the time as a Saturday job. I remember us shifting huge boxes of the BandAid single..as soon as one box was empty another one appeared beside us at the till..
Even the act of physically going to a shop and buying “a single” seems so quaint and old fashioned now!
I remember when I went to university in ‘86 several of people had the BandAid line up picture as a poster for their student bedroom..seems very odd now!

I didn’t think this at all. And frankly, if I’d just got off a transatlantic flight, I’d have been more like Malcolm Tucker — I thought he sounded pretty good from the off, considering.

Read the Wiki entry. It’s quite interesting. They started with the big chorus before recoding the individual bits, which is why it sounded so chaotic, and why Tony Hadley sounded so nervous because every9ne was listening to his solo.

Apparently Status Quo gave everyone cocaine and were very hungover.

Bob G said only three people he asked refused to do it but has never said who (people like David Bowie who weren’t available recorded messages for the B-side).

And that’s Midge Ure singing the guide track all day.

Loved it the fashions, hairstyles etc my era.

@Piggywaspushed

The conductor was Trevor Horn and flat cap guy was called Stuart Bruce.

Yes, I am watching it rn . Haven't got as far as that but can see Trevor Horn beetling about.

It's sad actually seeing all the dead people. I feel like I want to warn them :(

Thank you, @BarkLife — I was vaguely admiring both of their professionalism in challenging circumstances.

The Wiki entry also suggests that Marilyn showed up uninvited thinking it would be good publicity, and Midge Ure and Bob Geldof let him. I’d completely forgotten how big he’d been a couple of years earlier…

@UnrelatedTo

Sorry I think I tagged the wrong poster!

George Michael, Midge Ure, Trevor H and the engineers definitely came out on top in terms of their creativity, drive and effort.

I didn't think I could love GM more, but he just lifted everyone around him both musically and attitudinally, and was so humble.

Maybe Boy George was tired, but I got the impression he was just shit stirring.

Blooming heck, I have just read about what happened to poor Jill Sinclair.

I don't see the same Boy George at all. First thing he did when he came in was fuss over a baby which I thought was lovely. And he sang his bit well and improved it I thought.

I liked Paula saying they didn't vie 'for cheekbone space'.

Saw a TV interview about this years ago and Human League said it was put across to them as "do you want to do a song with Bob Geldof" and said thats the reason they refused.

I agree. Stock, Aitken & Waterman got their hands on it. The 2004 one was bad too

I agree his singing was good. Gary Kemp and Paul Weller came across well too.
Always miss George Michael at Christmas, so talented and a kind person.

Amazing what was achieved in 24 hours, loved all the kids dotted around too.

I read that Boy George wasn't in the whole group singing part or in the photo because they did all that before he arrived later in the day. I love Boy George!

I’m guessing they didn’t get asked because it was all very last minute and Tracy Chapman, Enya and Andrea Corr weren’t yet famous.

Bono looks scarily like his daughter Eve Hewson in the documentary

"I can't believe noone on here has yet addressed the fact that the money did not get to the people it was meant to."

Can someone please explain?

They're all American, though? They had their charity single, We Are The World?

Sorry,, I know a couple are English. But I guess not all of them were available the day the Band Aid one was recorded.

Maybe Boy George was tired, but I got the impression he was just shit stirring.

Nah, he was just being Boy George. He seems like a very tricky character to work with.

I loved the whole documentary, it gave all the nostalgic feels. Especially when George Michael was talking to Paula Yates saying he was a bit concerned Wham's new single was going to be kept off the Number One spot (not that he reallly minded of course). When he said "it's called Last Christmas" I got a real "oof" feeling - little did he know how it would become one of the best- loved Christmas songs of all time.

It did and still does.