...that Sir Bob taught the band to play.

I remember Sunday 25th November 1984 very clearly indeed. I was in my first term at university, living on campus in Dalton Tower. I didn't have a TV - not many of us did - and I hardly ever watched anything on telly. On that Sunday though, I was sitting in the TV lounge on the ground floor, watching the BBC news. I remember being very excited by their report of the recording session that had been going on since that morning, for a charity single put together by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure. Some of my favourite artists, particularly Duran Duran, who I loved, were on it. So many famous people, all coming together for the people of Africa, 'leaving their egos at the door' as they famously said. (I didn't realise until Midge Ure's Band Aid documentary on BBC Three, a fortnight ago, nearly 20 years later, how close Boy George was to not being on it. He was in bed in a New York hotel that morning, and was forced by Geldof's nagging on the phone to get on the last Concorde to London that day, only arriving at the studio in the evening.)

I couldn't wait to hear the single after watching the news report, but I distinctly remember thinking, when they said it would be released eight days later, that they would never make it in time. In the end of course, they did, and on Monday 3rd December, I walked to HMV in New Street and bought the single on 7" and 12". On Sunday 9th December, 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' deposed Frankie Goes To Hollywood's 'The Power Of Love' and flew straight to the top of the chart, with Wham! entering at number 2, giving George Michael vocals on the top two singles (and a million-seller which never made it to number one). Band Aid and 'Last Christmas/Everything She Wants' both stayed in those positions for the next five weeks, with Band Aid selling 3.5m copies, becoming the best-selling UK single since records began.

I can hardly believe the recording session was twenty years ago today, but the date of the recording is actually preserved forever as part of the recording itself, as anyone who ever played the B-side or 12" of the 1984 release might remember. Bob Geldof speaks over the backing track, after mixing the single through the night, saying;
"This record was recorded on the 25th of November 1984. It's now 8am on the morning of the 26th. We've been here 24 hours and I think it's time we went home, so from me, Bob Geldof, and Midge, we'll say good morning to you all and a million thanks to everyone on the record. Have a lovely Christmas. Bye."
The B-side and the 12" mix also feature spoken bits from some of the acts involved, plus the people who wanted to be there but couldn't make it on the day; David Bowie, Paul McCartney and an embarrassing bit from Holly Johnson, clearly recorded down the phone!

Wherever you went in December 1984, you heard the Band Aid single. People really did buy it as Christmas presents, and it seemed that every house we visited over the festive period had the single lurking near the record player. I've mentioned this before, but I had a Christmas holiday job in the kitchen of a posh restaurant that year, washing up and putting crosses in the bottoms of sprouts. We threw away any desserts that had been started, even if only one slice had been eaten. I will never, ever forget the feeling of pushing expensive cakes down the waste disposal, singing 'Feed the world' along with the radio.

And so, twenty years on, we await the appearance in the shops of Band Aid 20's version. The shops are stocking a million copies. No single has sold a million in the UK since Will and Gareth both did in 2002, and singles sales are at an all time low. It will be interesting to see how it does...
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