If you were alive in 1985, you were glued to your television watching music history unfold at the Live Aid Concert.
Pop royalty including Duran Duran, Madonna, the Rolling Stones, Queen and many more brought 16-hours of nonstop live music to the masses.
Now CNN is taking fans back in time with a four-part docuseries on the historic concert’s 40th anniversary.
“Live Aid: When Rock ‘n’ Roll Took On the World” tells the story of the concert that featured just about every major music act of the time to two stages. One in London and one in Philadelphia- all to raise money for famine relief in Africa.
But the series goes beyond the live concert, profiling the two mega-hit singles that led up to it. Both Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas” and USA for Africa’s “We Are the World.”
Part One: ‘A Band Aid’ Airs July 13
The docuseries will air in four parts over four consecutive Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET on CNN on July 13, July 20, July 27 and August 3.
The first episode is titled “A Band Aid.” It features Irish rocker Bob Geldof, who spearheaded efforts to raise money for relief efforts in Ethiopia after seeing a news report on the BBC in late 1984. The Boomtown Rats frontman wrote “Do They Know It’s Christmas” alongside Midge Ure, lead singer of Ultravox.
Geldof and Ure took their tune to some of the biggest pop and rock stars of the time, including U2, the Police, Duran Duran, Culture Club, Banarama, Wham, Phil Collins and Paul Young. The recording of “Do They Know It’s Christmas” quickly became the fastest-selling single in U.K. history and raised just under 11-million dollars for Ethiopia it’s first year, according to Radio X.
A preview clip from episode one features U2 lead singer Bono and Bob Geldof talking about the emotional lyric Bono was assigned in the song. Bono sang, “Tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.”
“I was a little uncomfortable,” Bono admits. “You can tell that ’cause I’m doing the shy thing,” he said putting a hand on the side of his face, “Which is a dead giveaway. And then, of course, really relaxed by the line Bob gives me,” Bono said sarcastically.
Bono put aside his discomfort, explaining, “I’m Irish. Bob Geldof’s Irish. We have a folk memory of famine. I just said, ‘OK, I will attempt to be worthy of that cruel prayer.’”
Part Two: ‘The Global Jukebox’ Airs July 20
“Do They Know It’s Christmas” not only sold millions of records. It inspired “We Are the World” in the U.S.
Part two of the docuseries, titled “The Global Jukebox,” focuses on the ripple effect Bob Geldof’s efforts had. That includes not only “We Are the World,” but also the Live Aid concert in 1985.
“The Global Jukebox” premieres July 20.
Live Aid’s YouTube Channel Celebrates 40th Anniversary with Playlist
The Live Aid YouTube channel is also celebrating the 40th anniversary of the historic 1985 concert.
Starting at 7:00 a.m. Sunday, July 13, the channel will offer more than ten hours of performances from the concert, which began at 7:00 a.m. ET on July 13, 1985. The concert went on for an epic 16 hours, with performances at both London’s Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium.
In the audience in London were Princess Diana and Prince Charles.
Performers included Madonna, the Rolling Stones, Queen, Elton John, Paul McCartney and a long list of others.
You can check out the Live Aid 40th Anniversary playlist on YouTube here.
You can watch the first episode of CNN’s “Live Aid: When Rock ‘n’ Roll Took On the World” Sunday, July 13 at 9:00 p.m. ET on CNN.
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Where to Watch the Live Aid 40th Anniversary Docuseries