Toronto Radio Time Machine; Live Aid 1985

QUEEN ~ "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS";




THE WHO ~ "LOVE REIGN OVER ME";


37 years ago this week on July 13 1985; Live Aid, a benefit concert for the people of Ethiopia then suffering through a terrible famine and the largest benefit concert in the world at the time, took place with two simultaneous shows in London and Philadelphia as well as being broadcast worldwide in TV. Smaller concerts were also held in the Soviet Union, Canada, Japan, Yugoslavia, Austria, Australia and West Germany and parts of these shows were also aired.

DIRE STRAITS & STING ~ "MONEY FOR NOTHING";


Best known now (musically at least) for sets by Queen (that kicked off their comeback), a Black Sabbath reunion with Ozzy, a Led Zeppelin reunion (with Phill Collins), a Who reunion, Dire Straits (with Sting) and U2. The sets by U2, Dire Straits and Simple Minds helped make them major stadium stars, although in the case of Simple Minds it would not last. In checking out the line-up I see there were several last minute additions not on the poster including Black Sabbath (with Ozzy), Tom Petty, Madonna, The Hooters, Tina Turner, Paul McCartney, Cliff Richard, Four Tops, RUN DMC, George Thorogood w/Bo Diddly & Albert Collins, BB King (via satellite from Holland) Prince (ditto), Loudness (from Tokyo), Autograph (from Russia), Kool & The Gang (from a studio), Pat Metheny, CSNY, The Beach Boys, Joan Baez, Teddy Pendergrast (in his first appearance aftr being paralyzed in a car accident) and Dylan with Keith Richards & Ron Wood closing the show. Most acts did from one to three songs bout a few got slightly longer sets. Phill Collins actually played both shows as he palyed London then hopped on the Concorde and flew to America to play with Zeppelin. As I recall the set with Dylan, Keith Richard and Ron Wood was a complete trainwreck as was the Zeppelin set as it was obvious none of them had bothered to rehearse.

U2 ~ "SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY";


The concert was a by-product of the "Do They Know It's Christmas" single the previous year arranged by Bob Geldoff and Midge Ure and the following singles in America ("We Are The World") and Canada "Tears Are No Enough"). I was too young to have actually seen any of these bands but as a New Wave kid watching on TV I was primarily there for U2, Simple Minds, Pretenders, Ultravox and Adam Ant in that order.

SIMPLE MINDS ~ "DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME";


In Toronto one oddity was that the only radio station that simulcast the entire concert was the tiny campus station CKLN (rival CIUT did not go on air until the next year) using their cable feed. CKLN had been on air since 1981 and was by this point known as a station which played underground and avant garde music and most of the bill was totally mainstream but among the New Wave acts who had been on the CKLN/campus charts only a few years earlier; U2, Simple Minds, the Pretenders, Ultravox, the Boomtown Rats, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Style Council, Adam Ant, Sting (in the Police), the Cars, Alison Moyet (in Yazoo), Paul Young (in the Q-Tips), Tears For Fears (including as the Graduates), Run DMC and Judas Priest plus Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Paul Simon's "Graceland" & Neil Young's "Trans" albums. Although by 1985 some of these acts certainly still got some airplay on CKLN along with other campus stations that were less aggressively avant garde than CKLN.

THE PRETENDERS ~ "MIDDLE OF THE ROAD";




By contrast here are the actual CKLN Charts for July/85; The Jesus & Mary Chain (and it's early wall-of-feedback era too, Hell Yeah!), Nick Cave, Black Flag, the Barracudas, Deja Voodoo, REM, Talking Heads (their last decent album), Discharge, Robert Fripp, Jah Wobble, Psychic TV, Rain Parade, Primal Scream, A Certain Ratio, Del Amitri, the Redskins (best name for a Marxist Mod band ever), Slaughter (the Toronto Thrash band not the later US Hair Metal band), Living Proof, Suzanne Vega, Roy Orbison's comeback album and the soundtracks for "Repo Man" & "Return Of The Living Dead". About the only bands here that could have possibly been asked to play Live Aid would have been Talking Heads if they had not essentially stopped touring by that point and maybe Robert Fripp with King Crimson who also were not touring. I could possibly see Suzanne Vega doing "Luka" in a studio via satellite. REM had not yet made the jump to stadium status by that point. Mind you it would have been cool if early Jesus & Mary Chain and Deja Voodoo had played. And by cool I mean a glorious clusterfuck of historic proportions. I don't think the TV audience was ready for that.

THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN ~ "NEVER UNDERSTAND";


BLACK FLAG ~ "NOTHING LEFT INSIDE";


BLACK FLAG ~ "LOOSE NUT";


DISCHARGE ~ "NEVER AGAIN";


THE BARRACUDAS ~ "SUMMER FUN";


THE REDSKINS ~ "KEEP ON KEEPING ON";


A CERTAIN RATIO ~ "SHACK UP";


DEJA VOODOO;




DEJA VOODOO ~ "STRANGE";


DEJA VOODOO ~ "CEMETARY";


BLACK SABBATH ~ "WICKED WORLD";

BLACK SABBATH ~ "THE WRIT";


BLACK SABBATH ~ "WARNING";


BLACK SABBATH ~ "F/X";

For MTV's 30th Anniversary, the first 20 videos MTV ever played

Aug. 1 was the 30th anniversary of MTV's first broadcast and here is the list of the first twenty video ever played on air;

THE BUGGLES ~ "VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR";




1. The Buggles ~ Video killed the radio star
2. Pat Benatar ~ You better run
3. Rod Stewart ~ She won't dance
4. The Who ~ You better you bet
5. PHD ~ Little Susie's on the up
6. Cliff Richard ~ We don't talk anymore
7. The Pretenders ~ Brass in pocket
8. Tod Rundgren ~ Time heals
9. REO Speedwagon ~ Take it on the run
10. Styx ~ Rockin in the Paradise
11. Robin Lane & The Chartbusters ~ When things go wrong
12. Split Enz ~ History never repeats
13. 38 Special ~ Hold on loosely
14. April Wine ~ Just between you and me
15. Rod Stewart ~ Sailing
16. Iron Maiden ~ Iron Maiden
17. REO Speedwagon ~ Keep on loving you
18. The Pretenders ~ Message of love
19. Lee Ritenour ~ Mr. Briefcase
20. The Cars ~ Double life

(The final video of the first day was "Carouselambra" by Led Zeppelin)

PAT BENATAR ~ "YOU BETTER RUN";



The generational breakdown was;

From The Old Guard; Rod Stewart (twice), Cliff Richard, Todd Rundgren, The Who (4)

From The New Wave; The Pretenders (twice), The Cars, The Buggles, Split Enz, Pat Benatar, Robin Lane & The Chartbusters, PHD (7)

From The Stadium Rockers; REO Speedwagon (twice), April Wine, 38 Special, Styx

Plus one from Metal (Iron Maiden) and one from Jazz Fusion (Lee Ritenour).

Geographically the breakdown is;

From the USA ~ REO Speedwagon (twice), Pat Benatar, Todd Rundgren, The Cars, 38 Special, Styx, Robin Lane, Lee Ritenour (8, or 9 if we count REO twice)

From the UK ~ The Who, Rod Stewart (twice), Cliff Richard, The Pretenders (twice), PHD (5, or 7 if we count the Pretenders and Rod Stewart twice)

Plus one from New Zealand (Split Enz) and one from Canada (April Wine).

Gender wise there is less balance with only three females (unless we count The Pretenders).

THE PRETENDERS ~ "BRASS IN POCKET";



The biggest lack of balance though can be seen in one area. The list is completely lilly white, with not one black artist in the bunch. This is no anomaly either, the policy of MTV in the early years was too play as little black music as possible so as to not offend middle America. There were a few acceptable black black artists of course; Stevie Wonder, Lionel Ritchie, Dinah Ross, Donna Summer, The Commodores, Pointer Sisters along with some vintage footage of Motown artists and Jimi Hendrix. But that's about it. Hip Hop? Forget it. Hip Hop actually had been around for a few years by then, mostly in New York and a few other urban centers in the North East, however most black neighbourhoods didn't have cable yet and would not be seeing MTV anyway (most rural areas wouldn't be getting it either), and the MTV brass were desperate not offend their mostly white suburban viewers and the advertisers who love them.


ROBIN LANE & THE CHARTBUSTERS ~ "WHEN EVERYTHING GOES WRONG";



This Lilly White policy started to get them flack from some in the media fairly quickly and during one interview David Bowie once caused a scene when he dared to ask one of MTV's unctuous hosts ON THE AIR why they didn't play more black music. What blasted the white wall of MTV though was Micheal Jackson and "Thriller".


THE WHO ~ "YOU BETTER YOU BET";



Micheal Jackson had actually been on MTV's "acceptable" list already for his previous "Off the wall" album as well as for his older Jackson 5 videos. However the "Off the wall" Jacko was a young, clean cut, smiling boy next door type. "Thriller" Jacko wore a leather jacket, a sneer borrowed from Elvis and dance steps borrowed from James Brown and MTV was reluctant to touch that one until Jackson's record company and management threatened to boycott all their artists from MTV until MTV caved in. Which they did with whatever dignity they could manage. As we all know "Thriller" only turned out to be the biggest selling album of all time a wielded a series of number one hit videos. Suddenly MTV looked like geniuses and just as suddenly they were looking around for the next Jacko.


SPLIT ENZ ~ "HISTORY NEVER REPEATS";




And then up popped Prince. Actually he had also been around for awhile and even recorded a couple of albums which sold quite well on the black music charts and got good reviews from both black and white critics. However white top 40 radio wouldn't touch him. Partly due to his X-rated lyrics but also due to his dirty-old-man costume of raincoat, heels, lipstick and speedos. After seeing the squeaky clean Jacko dominate the charts and airwaves Prince went back to his closet and came back with a look that combined James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and Adam Ant along with a slightly more slick sound that would take him to the top as well, not only with black audiences but white one too. Thus did MTV contribute to the breaking down of racial barriers on the American airwaves, even if they had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the alter.


APRIL WINE ~ "JUST BETWEEN YOU AND ME";



Later MTV's latent conservatism (born of caution not politics) would cause them to completely miss out on the new post-punk American underground of the 1980's and 90's to the fury of the likes of The Dead Kennedys and others. It would be hard to deny that by then they deserved it too. I have written elsewhere on here comparing MTV with Canada's Much Music (who had their 25th anniversary last year) and there's no doubt that we got the better deal even before MTV gave up on music entirely and started turning out comedy jams and those loathsome reality TV shows. Still there was once a few years when MTV was the most powerful music broadcaster on the planet. And it wasn't always a bad thing.

THE DEAD KENNEDYS ~ "MTV GET OFF THE AIR";