As Band Aid marks 40th anniversary critics take aim at Africa stereotypes

Bob Geldof, pictured left with Midge Ure, defended the original 1984 track, saying it had kept ‘hundreds of thousands if not millions of people alive’. Photograph: Larry Ellis/Getty Images

Forty years ago this week, a group of pop stars gathered at a west London studio to record a single that would raise millions, inspire further starry projects, and ultimately change charity fundraising in the UK.

Do They Know It’s Christmas, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure’s festive charity behemoth, would go on to raise almost £150m for famine relief and development in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa. To mark the anniversary, on Monday a new version of the single – its fifth – will be released under the name Band Aid 40.