#10: Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid (1984)

Written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure.

Unbelievably, Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid has brought up major controversy as I had eluded that this song, written to raise money for the famine in Ethiopia, would crack my elusive top 10. Comments like "no way is that playing at my house at Christmas" or "are you kidding me?" are typical responses to me mentioning of Geldolf's classic being on my list.

I even struggled with putting it on my list at all; in fact, at one point in the preliminary construction process of my list I had Do They Know It's Christmas? as high as # 2. I settled by placing this song at # 10, giving it the credit I believe a contemporary song deserves but not putting it atop where "the classics" belong.

With Adam Clayton on bass, Phil Collins on drums and many of the top Brit/Irish artists of the early 80's lending their vocals including; Bono, Sting, Boy George (in his prime), and the incomparable George Michael I believe this song transcends time and country and grounds us at a time of year where a great deal of overindulgence occurs. This is a time of year to reach out to the less fortunate but many find Geldof's message depressing and not representative of the ideal Christmas that they want to lead, as Bono contemptuously points out in the haunting lyrics "well tonight thank God it's them instead of you."

In fact, Bob Geldof would tend to agree with the distractors that argue this song has no merit being on any list, unless that list involved the worst songs of all time. Earlier this year, Geldof told Australia's The Daily Telegraph that "[he is] responsible for two of the worst songs in history. One is Do They Know It’s Christmas? and the other one is We Are The World." He follows it up by saying "Any day soon, I will go to the supermarket, head to the meat counter and it will be playing. Every fucking Christmas."

Well Bob, I think that is exactly the reason I regard it so highly and have placed it on my list.