When you hear Do They Know It’s Christmas, it is a beautiful song. However, when you listen to the lyrics, it is a really fucked up record. Yet, every year, we still listen to it and sing along.
The single, which was released in 1984, came about when Bob Geldof, Midge Ure, and Trevor Horn decided to write a song to help those who were suffering from starvation in Africa, and they asked their musician friends to join them on the track. It worked.
On November 25th, we are getting a new version on streaming music services, which is a mashup of the previous releases, Band Aid (1984), Band Aid 20 (2004), and Band Aid 30 (2014).
On Band Aid – 2024 Ultimate Mix you will hear a young Sting sing alongside a young Ed Sheeran. A young Boy George with a young Sam Smith. A young George Michael beside a young Harry Styles. The young Bono with an older Bono, Chris Martin with Guy Garvey, the Sugababes and Bananarama, Seal and Sinead O’Connor, Rita Ora and Robbie Williams, Kool and the Gang and Underworld.
The voices sing on against the Band Aid house band of Paul McCartney, Sting, John Taylor (bass), Phil Collins, Roger Taylor, Danny Goffey (drums), Thom Yorke (piano), Paul Weller, Damon Albarn, Midge Ure, Johnny Greenwood, Gary Kemp and Justin Hawkins (guitar).
That ear-piercing screech you heard that broke some of the glasses in your house has now been explained.
It was Mariah Carey’s reaction to Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, knocking her song All I Want For Christmas Is You from the top of the Billboard charts.
That’s right, the 65-year-old tune is #1 on the Top 100 charts for the first time ever. Knocking Carey down to #2.
And now I know why it is so cold in Los Angeles, hell froze over. And Carey went from Santa’s little helper to Satan’s. So, in the words of Geena Davis in The Fly, “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”
Congrats to Lee. She is proving at 78 you are never too old to live out your dream!
It is not even Labor Day, and pumpkin spice products are all over the place. That means that the Christmas season is not too far behind.
Actually, it is here. That is because Dolly Parton released an unreleased track from her album A Holly Dolly Christmas Ultimate Deluxe called A Smoky Mountain Christmas.
While the record won’t be available until October 14th, that doesn’t mean we can’t get into the spirit now. Because nothing says ho, ho, ho like 90 degrees weather outside. The boys’ chestnuts are roasting from the heat and not from the fireplace.
If it was anyone else but the Country darling debuting a Christmas Carol in August, I would be giving them grief. But she is Dolly Parton, and she can do anything she wants because she is Dolly Parton.
Growing up in NYC, we spent our Christmases watching the Yule Log on WPIX. It was one of my favorite holiday traditions. Sadly, like all good things, it came to an end.
However, Oscar Mayer brought it back with a twist. As in, they twisted their bacon around the wood. And now I am happy it is cold outside because I am going to spend the day inside watching it and dreaming of a bacon Christmas. Which is not very Kosher.
Billy Idol released a remastered version of his 2006 Christmas album this year. To celebrate it, he stopped dancing with himself, and he danced with his granddaughter to his take of Jingle Bell Rock. Poppy Rebel might not even be 18 months old yet, but she already has the Jingle Bell Hop down, thanks to her loving grandfather.
When it comes to Idol, he hasn’t been that tough Punk Rocker we got to know in the ’80s ever since I heard his holiday album, and this solidifies it. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Now let’s talk about his record Happy Holidays. It has been my favorite Christmas album ever since I heard it. Forget Perry Como, Mariah Carey, and Michael Bublé; Idol owns this season. The others are just fruit cake as compared to him.
