Bob Geldof has admitted that Do They Know It's Christmas? drives him "f***ing mad". The Band Aid classic was first released in 1984 and has since gone on to be become a staple on festive albums and playlists.
In the process, the track has raised in excess of £200 million to help fight famine in Africa, the Daily Mirror reports. But Sir Bob, one of the masterminds of the project and co-writer of the song, is sick of hearing it.
He told the Radio Times: "The song has a life of its own. It raises money every time it’s played in every f***ing supermarket.
"It’s Mistletoe and Wine at vegetables, Slade at baked beans, Wizzard for tea and coffee and Band Aid at the butcher’s counter. I mean… It drives me f***ing mad at Christmas. But there it is.”
The original 1984 version of the song features many of the decade's biggest stars including of Bono, Boy George and Phil Collins. It went to number one in the charts and far exceeded Sir Bob's expectations.
He said: “I thought £100,000 would be raised. But it didn’t stop and I thought, ‘Wow, what the hell’s going on?’’’
And it has subsequently gone through several updates, including a 1989 version, which starred Banarama, Kylie Minogue and Sir Cliff Richard among others. A 2004 effort with artists including Jamelia, Robbie Williams and Dizzee Rascal also reached number one.
The most recent version came in 2014, after Sir Bob was approached by the United Nations, who told him they needed a 20% increase “across the board” in the effort to fight Ebola. One DIrection, Ellie Goulding and Emeli Sandé were among the artists to feature on this version.
At the time, Sir Bob said: “This is not about nostalgia. I don’t like doing this stuff, it’s quite boring doing it and organising it, it’s quite embarrassing calling people you don’t know and other artists.”
