"Do They Know It's Christmas" and "We Are the World"

[gamecockcat]

Having heard DTKIC several times this season, it got me to thinking.

Both songs were HUGE hits and raised a lot of money for Ethiopia (which was subsequently squandered by the corrupt Ethiopian government, of course, but that's neither here nor there). My question: if both songs were performed by only one artist would either song have been a hit? Certainly, bringing together the big names in pop music to sing was a great idea and selling point. But, is either song good enough to have been a hit on its own?

Personally, I like DTKIC better but if, let's say, The Boomtown Rats (Geldof's band) had released it, would it have been a hit? If U2 had released it - a hit? Is it a good enough and catchy enough song to have been a hit? Same for WATW. If Lionel Ritchie, co-writer, had released it - a hit? Springsteen?

I have my doubts about both songs.

 

[WildcatFan1982]

They are both garbage

"Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you". WTF Bono?!

 

[_Mav_]

Springsteen?

Springsuck would have called it 'Do They Know It's Saturnalia?'

 

[JumperJack]

There won’t be snow in Africa? No ****.

 

[WildcatFan1982]

There won’t be snow in Africa? No ****.

It does in fact snow in parts of Africa

 

[funKYcat75]

We Are the World could have been a regular single with the right artist. Compared to everyone else in the choir not named Ray Charles, only Michael Jackson could have taken that to the charts, though.

Do They Know is pretty ******, but I bet Bowie or Elton John could’ve made something out of it.

 

[Tskware]

It does in fact snow in parts of Africa

Kilimanjaro, to name one place

 

[stuway]

The answer is no, they both suck. It was #1 because of the cause and because most songs that go to #1 suck. Modern mainstream music is piss

 

[UKGrad93]

Where nothing ever grows
No rain nor rivers flow

Evidently the writers need to look at a map of Africa. It has some major rivers.

Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

Yes actually, because white people colonized it.

 

[_Mav_]

For the uninitiated among you, this is the definitive, classic commentary on We Are The World/USA For Africa:

 

[mrhotdice]

It does in fact snow in parts of AfrKil

 

[mrhotdice]

It snows in the Sahara

 

[Anon1634865921]

It does in fact snow in parts of Africa

And now we know....the rest...of the story!

 

[gamecockcat]

They are both garbage

"Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you". WTF Bono?!

Well, to be fair to Bono, he didn't write the song.

 

[gamecockcat]

We Are the World could have been a regular single with the right artist. Compared to everyone else in the choir not named Ray Charles, only Michael Jackson could have taken that to the charts, though.

Do They Know is pretty ******, but I bet Bowie or Elton John could’ve made something out of it.

I don't know. We are the world is about a 2-2.5 minute song that added about 20 choruses to make it a 6 minute song. It's not exactly finger-snapping, toe-tapping catchy, either. As much as I love Ray Charles who could presumably make Happy Birthday a hit, not sure even Ray could've made WATW a hit.

 

[Dore95]

It is hard to overstate how ubiquitous We are the World was in 1985. I mean, it was everywhere. They played it at school every morning on our middle school "tv network" because the cause was so important. People were sick of it.

So, to answer the question, both of those songs really sort of suck and it was the "cause" that drove the popularity.

BTW, We are the World was recorded on the eve of the AMA's in 1985. All of the attendees showed up with their entourages in limos, with security, etc.. But, Springsteen flew in solo to LAX, rented a corvette, and drove to the studio, parked, and walked across the street to the building like the OG he is.

 

[_Mav_]

Springsteen flew in solo to LAX, rented a corvette

Flying private jets and driving Corvettes isn't the everyday-common-working-man-of-the-people-type stuff you think it is, but rather completely in line with the reality that he's a hypocritical poser.

 

[CAT Scratch FVR]

We are the World was an awful song.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

DTKIC is an awful song. Only to be outdone by John Lennon's ****** Christmas song.

 

[UKGrad93]

Both of these songs suck. Blatant virtue signaling by all the artists on them. Line up and sway while belting out the **** lyrics. All while riding around in limos, private jets and rented corvettes. Wonder what the carbon footprint was.

 

[Saguaro Cat]

Do they know it's Christmas could've been a hit on its own. Some decent New Wave hooks that were time appropriate.

We are the world was just star power. The lyrics, the music, and even some of the voices were all bad.

 

[gamecockcat]

Just thought of this: 'there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time'. While there may be a bit of snow on the mountains, almost all of Africa is in the southern hemisphere and Christmas Day is right in the middle of summer in Africa. So, yeah, there probably won't be any snow this Christmas or any other Christmas unless you're at 12,000+ feet in the mountains.

 

[BlueVelvetFog]

DTKIC is an awful song. Only to be outdone by John Lennon's ****** Christmas song.

..and this unflushable turd by Paul McCartney

 

[*CatinIL*]

I love Geography!

 

[chroix]

I have personally seen snow in Africa. In your face Bono.

 

[chroix]

Devo could have turned either one of these turds into classics. Possibly Iron Maiden too.