POO: Worst moment in Live Aid

The Thompson Twins version of Revolution is even worse than it's been described as here! FUKCIN HALARIOUS!!! I mean shit, I wanna own this DVD just for that because if I ever get down that will be the perfect thing to drag me out of the doldrums. That is FUNNY.

And Steve Stevens too, Billy Idol's guitarist! It's WAY over the top. I feel so sorry for Nile Rodgers. Let's not blame him, okay? This is not his fault.

And for fuck's sake even the singer of the Thomspon Twins has a mullet, now! WHY?

And the look on Madonna's face when she hugs the lady from the Thompson Twins afterwards is priceless...she looks so revolted by what she was just heard/was involved with.

Duran Duran's Union of the Snake is pretty poor, too.

And more mullets, too. Groan. I think even Nick Rhodes has one. I can't look.

Okay I can take a lot of things, but I can't take Nick Rhodes with a mullet. That's where I draw the line.

INXS was an example of a band that were still on a creative roll in 1985. Wikipedia tells me Listen Like Theives came out in 1985. But I thought it was 1984. I'm shocked.

Oh my god now they're doing "Don't Change" I'm going to die.

And Michael Hutchence avoided a mullet! He has Princess Di hair, but no mullet.

It's very subtle, though. He gives the impression of a mullet without actually having one.

The Bob Dylan performance is fantastic, but something in my brain says "he should not be wearing that sparkly earring".

Much as I love her, Chrissie Hynde's outfit was just trying too hard.

I don't buy the Who-were-regular-guys-not-rock-Gods defense. Townshend tried to salvage the thing with jumps and windmills and a good haircut and falling down but Daltrey was just intent on showing off his chest muscles. A couple times he didn't even seem interested in, y'know, singing the song.

i never said the who were regular guys. i said they were the who, flaws and all. big difference.

Hahah. Amen to that!

Roger = Flaw.

Roger = Flaw.

zing!

If there's something better in the world than Madonna's performance at this thing, then please let me know.

Simple Minds' "Don't You Forget About Me" was a new record in 1985.

Pete Townshend had the only haircut of the entire festival that still holds up today.

That's because he didn't need to use a Goodyear blimp's worth of hairspray!

This thing was one of those inexplicable events that when you see it you kind of love it, and yet you know on some secret limbic level how bizarrely and awkwardly of-its-time it will always appear. Of course, we never thought there'd be an extant record of it as Geldof explicitly requested it be left for subjective-memory playback only.

And Bimble's right -- Madonna was magnificent. I remember that being true at the time and I wasn't disappointed when I saw it again for the first time this weekend. Originally, I watched it with people who were ridiculing her -- "what were they thinking of, allowing teen dance music onstage at such an important event?" -- and I was the lone voice in the room defending her at the time. She fucking knew this would launch her skywards: "People of the world, now I know you're mine"! Awesome.

Sting, Branford Marsalis and Phil Collins were surprisingly good.

Oh, but worst moment: I'll agree with that Thompson Twins abomination. And Elton was pretty lost and coked up, doing his strange old befuddled uncle impersonation.

Simple Minds' "Don't You Forget About Me" was a new record in 1985.

I remember being disappointed, though not surprised I guess, that they did their "American hit"; I was really hoping for something like "Someone Somewhere in Summertime". But yeah, how did Simple Minds avoid U2's fate -- they seemed destined to be massive at the time? In some ways, they really dodged a bullet there.

Victim of timing, I think. Remember, Once Upon a Time came out in either late 1985 or early 1986, I forget which, and "Alive and Kicking" was huge and all, as were some follow-up singles. But U2 were kinda perfectly positioned in 1987 to conquer the world PRwise (and did), and more than that had a further follow-up album and film next year. Constant MTV rotation didn't hurt, and by the time Simple Minds came back, they did so with Street Fighting Years. Death knell right there!

I've rented the Breakfast Club. It's all over.

I
WANNA

BE
AN
AIR
FORCE
MAJOR

I'm going to try Once Upon a Time for the first time...

"Are we going to be like our parents?"

"no...it just happens, your heart dies"

"no one cares"

"I CARE"

Dear Mr. Vernon: We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did was wrong, but we think you're crazy to make us write an essay, telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. You see us as: a brain, an athlete, a basket case, princess, and a criminal. Correct? That's the way we saw each other at 7 o'clock this morning. We were brainwashed.

OK dude can you srsly not recite the entire breakfast club script on here? Come on man.

Wasn't he interesting. --Og re: Napoleon.

Ned is wise. But I still don't think -- necessarily -- that it was a bad thing for Simple Minds to avoid their "destiny". I mean, we'll still have New Gold Dream.

(</ Bogart >)

I was thinking about the artists who weren't featured and why. Michael Jackson, Prince, hell, even Boy George. Anyone know why they weren't there?

prince said he didn't want to be on the USA for AFRICA single. so he wasn't invited for this.

also Depeche Mode offered their sercvices only to be told to stick it.

Yeah, Simple Minds just jumped the shark on their own. They didn't need anyone's help.

IIRC Bruce Springsteen had just gotten married and was on his honeymoon, and Michael Jackson was on tour with the Jacksons.

ALL of this stuff is now on you tube. so many lols.

Bryan Ferry = still the best dressed and moussed.

I vaguely remember Bryan Adams being pretty awful

I was thinking about the artists who weren't featured and why. Michael Jackson, Prince, hell, even Boy George. Anyone know why they weren't there?

In 1985, Michael Jackson was probably sitting in his oxygene tent, playing with his monkeys and snakes and wondering about how to be able to buy the remains of the Elephant Man. I was pretty much surprised when he made "Bad" and it appeared the guy was able to make music at all. For a while, he acted like Syd Barrett there.

Bahahaha. Damnit I could swear I heard the reason about Prince once but I can't remember what it was now. Is it just in this thread already and I'm too lazy to search for it?

Hell, I don't care either. I could talk about Live Aid all day. I could watch my favourite parts of Live Aid a good 300 more times before I could possibly get tired of them, if I even would at that many. I had just scored the job I'd long dreamt of when I last posted a zillion messages to this thread at once last year. I had a perfectly good reason to go nuts at the time, you see. I was very happy and very, very scared.

35 years ago today. It probably isn't fair to single out Elton but the first couple of minutes plus of his performance are hilarious.

0.56 incoherent slurring
1:01 nose pinch!
1:04 incredible 'shreds' video style guitar howl
2:04 appalling whining for a few seconds

He gives it his best go but as the comments underneath attest it sounds mostly bloody awful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy371rkUCr4

Cat Stevens turning up with his guitar to resume being Cat Stevens after years of reclusivity.

He made it to the forward running order. But not to the actual show.

He went back to "not being cat stevens" for another 20 years or so.

All I remember is Simon Le Bon way flubbing a high note in that James Bond song, and the control-room guy quickly cutting to a shot of the bass player wincing. I rewound that part a few times.

― Lie Bot, Saturday, June 9, 2007 3:37 AM (thirteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K0jE-Nr5Io