This week it's all kicking off for Band Aid 30 - Bob Geldof planning a few more versions because what he heard in the studio was so impressive, Emeli Sande and other artists complaining about the lyrics, Damon Albarn and co complaining about the message, the single flying to number one and becoming the bestselling single of the year.
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30 years ago today... it was all a bit different. Before the advent of social media and sophisticated One Directioners charting their worship like a military operation, a bunch of pop stars merely rocked up, many bleary-eyed on a Sunday morning, to record a song hastily written by Boomtown Rat Bob Geldof and Ultravox frontman Midge Ure.
Band Aid's original recording was made at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, West London, and released in the UK four days later. Bob Geldof hoped they would pocket enough change to send money to help relieve the famine in Ethiopia that he'd shed tears over when it was broadcast on the news. What he ended up with was $24million to create a separate relief fund, the inspiration for charity singles to be recorded in other countries around the world, a live concert in London and Philadelphia broadcast to nearly two billion people across the globe, and a new environment in which it was almost expected that celebrities would use their star power to help people less fortunate.
An impressive amount of hairspray for a Sunday morning - Simon Le Bon and his Duran bandmates
Mark Ellen recently told HuffPostUK about his experience as one of the few journalists inside the studio on that memorable day... and he remembers a tension in the room, full of 38 pop stars, many of whom had been happily slagging each other off in the press.
Mark remembers it being one person in particular who broke the ice – Jon Moss, drummer with Culture Club.
“He suddenly ran up and threw his arms around Phil Collins, and shouted, ‘you’re my hero’ and suddenly the atmosphere in the room got much warmer.”
Who was your favourite performer of the day? Check out the video above, and some vintage pictures of the arrivals below... Boy George isn't there, because he was still in bed in New York, and had to be summoned by a terse Bob Geldof.