Back on the keyboard here in the blog palace of all things improbable to put a blast from the past together for your eyes only. The strain from all these recent shootings in America from Baton Rouge to Minneapolis to Dallas to pick any-city-in-our-nation wears on me to the point where I find myself looking for any escape from today's reality. I bunker in my little music room a lot of days burning LPs onto my hard drive and remember the occasions many of these records played in my everyday long ago.
A week ago a record I bumbled onto, and decided to pop on my USB line to the audio command module, was Tonic For The Troops by the Boomtown Rats. The Rats were fronted by Bob Geldof, who you may remember played Pink in the excellent movie adaptation of Pink Floyd's album, The Wall. If you're really old you may also remember Bob was, also, the driving force in putting together the greatest rock show and charitable event ever done in this or any other lifetime, Live Aid. As I burned my LP copy of Tonic For The Troops I remembered Midge Ure and his band Ultravox. I burned some Vienna, as well, and thought of these two Irish rockers going all balls for the greater good. The two of them with help from music business stalwarts formed Band Aid, created Live Aid all those years ago.
A quarter of the world's population watched the broadcast on July 13, 1985 which translates to about three billion eyeballs and three billion ears witnessing a seminal event. It was Joey's On The Street that jogged my old brain to ponder that historic concert and wonder what day would mark the anniversary this summer.
Thirty one years is a long time in any life. A lot can happen. A lot can be forgotten. In July of 1985 the Soviet Union was in year 6 of their Afghan war and occupation, which would ultimately bankrupt the country and break it apart becoming the new Russia we know today. Ronald Reagan was in the first year of his second term in office with the Iran-Contra affair just about set to blow along with CIA drug trafficking allegations and the rise of the crack epidemic in major cities of the US. The Savings & Loan industry was reeling and a year away from total collapse. Boris Becker, now Novak Djokovic's coach, won Wimbledon at the age of 17 as an unseeded entry. Africa was suffering from drought, war and famine at horrific levels that shocked the world. No Internet for the public, No cellular phones.
The biggest bands of the 1970s, The Eagles, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin were all defunct by the summer of 1985. Each group had been gone from the scene for 5 years. Robert Plant was on tour in the US in the summer of 1985 and in a hastily made decision went to Philadelphia to play with Jimmy Page while using Phil Collins on the drums. It did not turn out so swell.
Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, Prince and Bruce Springsteen ruled the charts. Of these 1980s heavyweights, only Phil Collins appeared on the stages of Live Aid. Jackson and Stevie Wonder boycotted the event over the lack of black artists. Prince sent a video clip. Springsteen's management thought the concert and broadcast was no big deal and declined Geldof's invitation. David Gilmour played for Bryan Ferry, who was minus Roxy Music, and was going solo. Sting had left The Police and appeared with Branford Marsalis, who would gain a wide audience as Jay Leno's bandleader on The Tonight Show from 1992 through 1995. The Rolling Stones were in the throes of the Mick versus Keith grudge match, which is why Mick appears with David Bowie and Tina Turner in videos while Keith and Ronnie appear with Bob Dylan. Were the Stones through? This was a burning question in 1985. Seems funny that the guys are still touring in 2016. You can't make this shit up.
All artists waived all their copyright titles and donated their time and talents. On that one July 13th day $80 million dollars was raised to combat hunger in Africa. It helped that U2, Queen and Eric Clapton put on virtuoso performances that riveted the crowds and television viewers. It was a magical day for goodness in the modern world. The Concorde still flew and took Phil Collins from Heathrow to Philadelphia International while so many in the world watched him take off and land. Everything seemed possible. Nothing seemed impossible. Hope and best wishes held the day.
In 2005 I bought the DVD of Live Aid. I'm playing it here in Thrasher Condo-land this week. Geldof and Ure wanted the event to be forever a memory with the broadcast tapes destroyed. Some of the US footage was per the request, but fortunately the BBC and MTV saved a lot of the footage. 2005 also spawned Live 8. Another huge event of music to thwart misery in the world. Live 8 was a series of concerts done on July 2, 2005 targeting the G8 nations for more support to Africa. It will always be remembered as the final Pink Floyd concert where all four founding members played onstage together for the first time in 24 years and for the last time. A curiosity is that July 2 was to have been America's Independence Day. That's the day Congress voted to declare our independence from England. But, signing day on the 4th became our fireworks day.
I've ordered Live 8 this week, even though it suffered in the ratings here in North America at the time it happened a decade ago, because the US had replaced the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and our government was destroying the Middle East in Iraq, the event still shone through as a testament to humanity's better spirit. We should remember and celebrate the positives from time to time and hope that some young people today find a mechanism to move our culture away from guns, violence and death glorification to honoring peace love and happiness for all our communities.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed the trip from Memory Lane.
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