'Do They Know It's Christmas?': Band Aid benefit at 40

In 1984, Ethiopia was hit by a devastating drought that destroyed most of the African country's harvest. Almost 8 million people were affected by famine. The number of dead could not be counted, but estimates vary between 500,000 and a million.

Images of starving people, especially children, were beamed around the world and triggered an unprecedented willingness to donate.

Among those touched by the reports was British musician Bob Geldof, who immediately decided to take action. Together with his fellow musician Midge Ure, singer of Ultravox, he assembled an all-star supergroup to record a benefit song for the victims of the famine.

Recorded on November 25, 1984, the single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was released at the beginning of December that year, accompanied by a music video with all the participants.

It brought together the greatest British pop stars of the era: Sting, Paul Young, Boy George, George Michael, Phil Collins, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, U2, Bananarama and many more.

The single exceeded the producers' expectations and reached the top of the charts in 14 different countries, including Germany.

Geldof's idea of ​​gathering superstars in the studio for a good cause caught on.

It inspired entertainer and peace activist Harry Belafonte to record another charity single in January, 1985. This one would, however, include Black singers, who, Belafonte noted, were largely absent in Geldof's project.

He was joined by Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones as producers.

"We Are The World" was created in just a few days and brought together stars such as Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, Cindy Lauper, Al Jarreau, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson and many others.

Germany also came up with its own offering. The charity song titled "Nackt im Wind" (Naked in the Wind) was recorded by the hitmakers of the time: Herbert Grönemeyer, BAP, Wolf Maahn, Nena, Heinz Rudolf Kunze, Alphaville, Klaus Lage, Udo Lindenberg, Peter Maffay and more.

Many of these musicians came back to the studio in 2014 to record a German version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the 30th anniversary of the original song.

Several new versions of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" have also been re-recorded with new stars over the past four decades.

A stereotypical image of Africa

Despite all the enthusiasm for the benefit project, the lyrics of the song also drew criticism from the beginning — starting with the title of the song. Ethiopians do know it is Christmas; they were among the earliest adopters of Christianity in the world, and it is still the country's most important religion.

Critics claimed the song had a colonial perspective and employed condescending generalizations about Africa. The line sung by Bono of U2 about those affected by the famine seemed somewhat callous: "Well tonight, thank God, it's them instead of you." Bono didn't want to sing the lyric, but others have pointed out its sarcasm, with the line highlighting selfish Western views of distant tragedies. 

Midge Ure, who co-wrote the lyrics, wrote in his autobiography that we should rather focus on what the song achieved: It collected more than 8 million British pounds (today's equivalent of more than €13 million) to aid disaster victims.

The 'white savior' anthem

Nevertheless, criticism persisted over the years, whether with the 2004 version recorded with Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams and Dido, or with the updated 2014 version, which raised funds for the Ebola crisis in West Africa.

Among the stars invited for the 2014 version was British-Ghanaian musician Fuse ODG, who refused to join the project. He "worried that this would play into the constant negative portrayal of the continent of Africa in the West," he wrote in The Guardian at the time.

Fuse explained that even though campaigns like Band Aid collected huge donations, they also reinforced harmful stereotypes about Africa and thus stifled economic growth, investment and tourism in the region.

Now, 10 years later, a special remix version of the single is being released on November 25.

Fuse hasn't changed his position about the song, which has been referred to as the "white savior anthem," condemning it for fueling "pity rather than partnership."

"As Africans, we don't want other people to tell our story," Fuse wrote on Instagram. His posts have since sparked a larger public debate.

Ed Sheeran also distancing himself

Fuse's arguments have convinced Ed Sheeran. The singer was part of the anniversary recording 10 years ago, together with One Direction, Angelique Kidjo, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Bono, Sinead O'Connor and other stars.

Sheeran, however, no longer wants to be included in the 2024 version, which remixes voices from the past four decades' recordings.

But that will be difficult, since the single is already completed and ready to be released.

If he had been asked, Sheeran wrote on Instagram, he would have "respectfully declined" to have his vocals used on the new Band Aid single. 

Bob Geldof, however, never tires of defending the song and the idea behind it. He told 1News: "This little pop song has kept hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people alive."

Nevertheless, radio stations such as the Swiss broadcaster SRF are currently thinking very carefully about whether or not to include the song in their Christmas program this year.

This article was originally written in German.

Correction: An earlier version of this article mistakenly credited the singer Annie Lennox as appearing on the single 'Do they know it's Christmas?'