Originally published at: "We Are the World" is 37 years old today | Boing Boing
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When alive, Michael only touched children. In death, he touches us all
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If you are of a certain age, this was one of those songs that was every where for a little while.
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And were it not for this post I would have gone on in blissful forgetfulness.
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I totally forgot this happened on my birthday… 
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Well, happy birthday?
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Happy Birthday, knoxblox! An artist was born this day in history.
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For the folks in Africa, yes. 
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One of the oddest moments I had when living in Nairobi was walking through the supermarket one day when We Are the World started playing on the music system.
Then there was the time at dinner on safari when one of the folks at the table next to us had a birthday. The entire staff came through singing in Swahili, which was cool. Afterward the guitarist stayed to play some festive birthday music. Like Simon & Garfunkel’s The Boxer. Nothing says “Birthday” to me like:
Asking only workman’s wages
I come looking for a job
But I get no offers
Just a come-on from the w***es on Seventh Avenue
I do declare there were times when I was so lonesome
I took some comfort there
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This is much better music:
Chumbawamba was not a one-hit-wonder. They were doing smart, anti-capitalist rock for many years before Tubthumbing and most of it is just sublime.
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The thing that has always annoyed me about all the articles about this song, is that almost all of them completely ignore the work Bob Geldoff and and Midge Ure did with Do They Know It's Christmas? - Wikipedia. As if Jackson and Jones came up with the idea completely out of nothing, and took all the credit.
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Blink twice and 37 years passes by double time march; but WOW, I’ve haven’t seen Nag on the Lake since I stopped reading RSS feeds ala Pocket after Google Reader was killed off. Still miss those days when the volume button was the primary way to quickly browse RSS feeds.
At least the Wikipedia article mentions the influence
Soon after the UK-based Band Aid group released “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in December 1984, musician and activist Harry Belafonte began to think about an American benefit single for African famine relief
Bob Geldof is standing in the back next to Harry Belafonte
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Oh, I know the people involved knew of Bob and Midge’s work, but the MEDIA, in particular the US mainstream Media seemed to ignore this completely.
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I’ll admit it’s been 37 years and my memory might be lying to me, but as an avid consumer of MTV in those days I remember being well aware of Band Aid and it’s influence on We Are the World when it came out. And I seem to remember a lot of coverage of Bob Geldof in the lead up to Live Aid. So I don’t think “ignored by the US media” is quite as accurate as “forgotten in the intervening years”.
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It was an accident.
Speaking of iconic images, you were in the ensemble for the Live Aid, “We Are the World video.” How did you snag that gig?
Totally by accident. My father and I were interviewing business managers in LA and we walked into this office of a talent manager, and realized we were in the wrong place. I was looking for a money manager, not a talent manager. I had managed myself at that time and always have. But he said, so long as you are here, would you like to come and join this “We are the World” thing.
I thought how do I fit in here? Well, we did sell a few million records with the Blues Brothers and in my other persona I am a musician, so I showed up and was a part of it but it was totally by accident.
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Apparently Cindi Lauper had prepared to do a supergroup version of Thriller.
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