Eldergays: Did You Buy the Single for "We Are the World?"

We didn’t technically buy it but my siblings and I received a group copy with our Easter candy in 1985.

We thought that was swell.

OP, it was huge. Or at least seemed so.

On tape!

I didn't but I would have had I had the money; I was 5 at the time.

No, but I did get the Band Aid single on 45. There were Christmas wishes on the B side. Bowie did his best posh voicey-voice and Bono kinda fucked his up. Ha.

I didn't like it, and I thought the whole idea was tacky.

I thought this was a terrible song and a rip-off of Band Aid. And of course Michael Jackson 'we are the children' in that falsetto was so cringe.

Just a shitty song that you could not escape.

I loved Band Aid's song - and it just fit better because unlike the US, the UK is obsessed with their Christmas #1 song. We don't have that here, but I wish we would adopt it.

I also bought the Live Aid single, but not this one. "We are the World" came after Live Aid

Springsteen's gritty caterwauling ruins it for me.

Did people actually like that shit back then?

It's no better now. Just imagine how Billie Eilish or whoever she is would sound. And you KNOW Beyonce would only do it for ten million.

R8, “We are the World” was recorded early in the year and released in the late winter/early Spring. Live Aid was in July.

I remember when I was at work and heard it played on Muzak that one-time that radio stations across the country played it at the same time. You knew it was special then.

I went through a phase of streaming this on YouTube and imitation-singing all the voices in my house.

It really was a terrible single which is a shame considering all the talent brought together. I remember there was a version some of the stations would play where they had an overbearing British voice introduced who was singing each snippet in a voiceover. In they style of "Do you have anymore grey poupon?".

Fuck no. Even as an emerging gayling I knew this song was utter shit.

As cloying as it is, I remember people saying that the Canadian effort, “Tears Are Not Enough”, was terrible.

While the intentions were good, these songs all made very little impact on the famine.

But boy did everybody from the producers to the performers to the consumers all pat themselves on the back.

I was give the single by an Aid Worker.

I ate it.

Do They Know It’s Christmas is a better song, but We Are The World is better performed.

I bought the album.

r7 "so cringe"

Oh, dear

Bought the single and the album. The album has a couple of treats — Tina Turner’s cover of the Motels’ “Total Control” is the best track on it.

It was terrible r15. Someone made me a mix cassette of all three to listen to while driving.

I liked it...then. I never bought singles. When Princess Diana died and I was sad my neighbor gave me the the single of Elton John's Candle in the Wind. I didn't even know they made such things still. It's still in its case with the pretty bow around it somewhere, 30 years later.

I loved Ray Charles, Steve Perry, Willie Nelson, Stevie Wonder, even Kenny Rogers.

Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan sucked and still suck.

I was in college when it had its world premier on the radio, someone blasted it out their window with their speakers. It was fun identifying who the singers are by their voices and hearing it for the first time, and of course seeing the video was fun later, but it quickly grew tiresome on the radio, and I honestly don't remember if I ever bought the song.

Prince wasn't there. SNL parodied his absence with "I am also the world"

no, OP.

No, but I snapped up Kidney Now the day it dropped.

Same, r14. I was in elementary school at the time and even at such a young age I thought the song was lame and stupid. I did like Do They Know It's Christmas, however.

I bought it. 1985 was quite the year with this song being at number 1 in the spring, and every radio station in the world playing it at the same time. Of course it was all a prelude to Live Aid, which felt like a holiday the day it was on. The Live Aid documentary on CNN is great, and brings back so many memories like it was yesterday. Damn 40 years has gone by in the blink of an eye.

Do They Know It’s Christmas is catchier, but the patronizing, numbingly stupid lyrics sink it.

Yes, but were any poors helped by these dueling songs?

Or was it really just about the music?

I had my first sexual experience at 15 and it just happened to be on the radio while we were at it.

[Quote] Was this a big deal that people liked and supported? Did it end up helping people?

no and no There was no need to buy the single this song was rammed down your throat at every opportunity

It reminds me of another nauseating 80s song sung by Paul Mccartney and Stevie Wonder and lyrics that sound like they were written for 3rd graders.

‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ was no ‘There’s No One Quite Like Grandma’ just as ‘We Are The World’ was no ‘Bangladesh’. I was at a JC Penney’s outlet store the morning every radio in the nation was urged to play the ‘WATW’ simulcast. I was a little devastated that I was the only person in the store to take notice. I knew the song was tiresome, but I’d hoped people had come to care. The consumerist apathy was hard to take, as was the older generation’s cynicism. At least people tried to make a difference. I’m hopelessly dopey and still bought Dionne Warwick’s ‘Hans across America’, and I can’t recall at all what that effort was for.

HANDS across America.

Ebony & Ivory was abusive, but it was number one for seven weeks as I recall. I perceived the world, my generation as being as racist as ever, but I can’t deny that by the end of the decade mixed couple dating and pregnancy was everywhere. I like to think the agony of that song as the quickening that stirred a change in the nation’s conscience. Well, that and bussing.

For tax purposes

Hell no, the song sucks.

All reasonable people agree that it is a great song. There's nothing to be done with the rest.

I don’t think thats any of your business.

No way it was so boring.

Steve Perry was exquisite.

There you go R38! Charitable deductions!

When we!

[quote] No, but I did get the Band Aid single on 45. There were Christmas wishes on the B side. Bowie did his best posh voicey-voice and Bono kinda fucked his up. Ha.

As a toddler, Paul McCartney’s spoken bit marked the first time I became aware of him and I hated him instantly. (The second time was Ebony and Ivory). Slick and pretending to be raucous; STFU. Obviously I came to recognize his musical gifts but I never warmed to him after than inauspicious start.

[quote]"We are the World” was recorded early in the year and released in the late winter/early Spring. Live Aid was in July.

I think that poster meant the Band Aid song preceded We Are the World.

What the hell is a "cassingle?"

I had the album. Prince was criticized for not being part of the single, so he provided a cut for the album

[Quote] What the hell is a "cassingle?"

Ahhh, those lasted a hot minute—a single on a cassette

Hell no. It's a terrible song. I preferred 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'

Why buy it? It was on the radio every 15 minutes or so.

[quote] Ahhh, those lasted a hot minute—a single on a cassette

If you consider 15 years a hot minute.