Live Aid at 40

Originally posted here; there's nothing more I can say about this but today being the 40th anniversary seems momentous. Just one more great thing about the Magical Music Year That Was 1985. Although while talking about it earlier this morning it dawned on me that thanks to my discovering an oldies station and then the bands that would form the music I wanted to play & be a part of, The Ramones/Replacements/R.E.M. etc almost immediately after Live Aid, it was the last time in my life that the music I liked the most was also the popular music of its day. Which is a bummer, but the heart wants what the heart wants and life is shirt, motherscratchers. 🤷‍♂️

You people know I love Live Aid, all the excitement about the event itself and what it was trying to do, so you'll excuse me if I sprinkle in a few thoughts from over the years here:

I was at the perfect age for this - old enough to be taking music "seriously," but still young enough that "music" to me meant a lot of the bands that were a big deal at the time, like Duran Duran or the Hooters. Had it come a year later when I was into The Ramones and The Replacements I prolly woulda pooh-poohed it as "wussy shit."

Were it not for school shooting legend Brenda Ann Spencer, would Bob Geldof have been in the position he was in years later to put on Live Aid? Is it possible millions of lives have been saved by this teenage mass murderer? 🤔🤷‍♂️

32 38 40 years to the day since Live Aid and still nobody's explained why Rick Springfield was introduced by Joe Piscopo.

Paul McCartney's anticipated finale was one of the many highlights of the show and he was the only Beatle to make an appearance...so why was his name not on the poster?

Anyways, I for one never get tired of hearing about how it call came together.