Do They Know It's Christmas?
Band Aid
Category
Musical instruments, devices and recordings
Date
25 Nov 1984
Materials
Vinyl record with paper label in centre
Measurements
305 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
London
Collection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 672566.1
Summary
A vinyl record, the twelve inch single version of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ by Band Aid. The record contains three songs; ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ on Side One and the standard mix of the same song and ‘Feed The World’ on Side Two. Each side of the record has a white paper label in the centre which has a logo at the top of a globe showing Africa shaded out with a knife and fork on either side of the globe and ‘FEED THE WORLD’ printed above it. There is a Phonogram records logo to the left of centre on each label and the records catalogue number ‘FEED 112’ is printed to the right of centre. The specific song titles on each side are printed at the bottom of the label with various song writing, production and copyright credits. ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ was written by the musicians Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in response to a BBC TV news report by Michael Buerk about the famine in Ethiopia that was first aired on 23rd October 1984. It was recorded in a single day on 25th November 1984 at the Sam West Studios in London by a ‘super group’ featuring many of the leading pop and rock musicians of the time including members of Wham, U2, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, Status Quo, Duran Duran and Bananarama, all of whom were persuaded by Geldof to appear for free. The record was produced by Trevor Horn and was released on the Phonogram (UK) and Columbia (USA) record labels on 3rd December 1984. The single is estimated to have sold over 3.8 million copies in the UK and raised over £8 million pounds for charity in the twelve months following its release. It was the UK’s biggest selling single of all time until 1997.
Provenance
Vinyl record recorded by Band Aid on 25th November 1984 and released on the Phonogram (UK) and Columbia (USA) record labels on 7th December 1984. Purchased by the National Trust Museum of Childhood via Discogs on 4th March 2020 as part of the Collecting Cultures 'Exploring Childhoods' project.
Makers and roles
Band Aid, band Phonogram Inc., record label Columbia Records, record label