For those of you frustrated at the crapness of Band Aid 20, there's some comedy in sight... and you can still help charity!
The website BandAidDilemma is urging fans of real music to buy as many copies of the single as possible and destroy them, on camera, in amusing ways and send in the resulting images.
Now that's charity worth giving to with the bonus of not having to listen to the new crappy remake.
1984's Band Aid single was of a time, an era, a political climate.
2004's Band Aid is a pisstake and should be seen as such.
With the single's release today, many are glowing about how this latest stab at charity will be Christmas number One, thus making the world a safer, happier, more charitable place. That's without the media-created cat fight between Bono and that Darkness guy over who'll sing what line.
One of the numerous websites covering the non-event of today's single release interviewed an obviously overeager member of staff at HMV.
This hack purports that the new version will sell a million copies "if it captures the imagination like the original". With radio stations up and down the country banning it due to it's overwhelming duffness, I can only one form of imagination it's capturing.
He then goes on the further claim, "In 1984, people bought multiple copies to give to family and friends as presents. If the same happens this year, sales could even exceed two million."
In 1984, charity among popstars was a new thing, seeing people dying on TV was a new thing, the singles chart was a thriving entity, yada yada yada.
I am actually tempted to place a bet with William Hill that something worth being Number One at Christmas will.
With the latest travesty of music calling itself Band Aid 20, it makes you wonder where Band Aids 3 - 19 ended up. Thankfully FreakyTrigger has unearthed the dirt on the lost children of Band Aid.
One can't help that any of these alternate versions would be better than the dross that is Band Aid 20.
Still, it's going to be fun over the next six months to cross off the Band Aid 20 roster as each act fades into obscurity. Pens at the ready!
With news of yet another Band Aid iteration making the rounds for Christmas Number One, I have to wonder whether we need it at this point.
Do They Know It's Christmas? was an event of a particular time. That particular time was when the record industries were more about the music, artists had longevity and music actually had the power to change and define people's lives.
Today, with music as just another commodity and cynicism running rife, Band Aid III could be seen as free publicity for the "here today, gone tomorrow" artists taking part or as some sort of overall ploy to up the sales of the Live Aid DVD hitting shelves in November.
Lest us not forget the forgettable Band Aid II that came out in the late 80s to showcase the artists of the PWL stable - Sonia, Kylie, Jason Donovan, etc.
The main difference between Band Aid and Band Aid II is probably the longevity of the artists who took place. Of the artists who were on the 1984 original recording, many are still enjoying success 20 years later, either in the same group or as a solo artist - George Michael, U2, Paul Weller, David Bowie, Sting, Duran Duran to name a few.
Of Band Aid II, the only artist anyone still can recall is Kylie... and Sir Cliff.
In 20 years time, how many of the karaoke winners on Band Aid III will people remember. Scratch that, in 6 months time, how many?
I concur with the sentiment, send money to Africa... again, I just don't concur with destroying people's memories of a simpler time.
-- LINK: Wikipedia
