Bob Geldof: Hearing Band Aid drives me 'f****** mad'

Bob Geldof is not a fan of hearing Band Aid's 'Do They Know It's Christmas' when he's out in public.

The 1984 single, which is one of the best-selling songs of all time, is thought to have raised more than £200m to fight famine and Geldof is the one behind the track.

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Speaking to the Radio Times about the legacy of the song, Geldof offered some thoughts: “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."

He added: "I mean… It drives me f***ing mad at Christmas. But there it is.”

Geldof also revealed that the song raised money he could only dream of: “I thought £100,000 would be raised. But it didn’t stop and I thought, ‘Wow, what the hell’s going on'."

The original Band Aid song, released in 1984, featured contributions from the likes of Bono, George Michael, Sting and all the members of Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet among many others.

Another version was released five years later in an extra fundraising effort. The 1989 edition, which included vocals from Kylie Minogue, Cliff Richard and Bananarama, became the ninth best selling single of that year.

A further update was done in 2004 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the original and saw Bono return to provide vocals. Other musicians who appeared on the track included Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams, Coldplay's Chris Martin and Dizzee Rascal.

The latest version of the charity single was released in 2014 to help raise money to combat the ebola outbreak in Western Africa. Some of the artists to appear on the song were Ed Sheeran, all of the members of One Direction and Rita Ora.

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