I haven't heard the new version, but the original was pretty awful as well. And to be fair, they've only had 2 days to mix the darned thing. I'm just going to donate £10 or whatever to the Band Aid trust...

Damn fine idea!

I did wonder whether some of the better bands not represented on BA20 could produce something original and fresh. It could be a battle of the band(aid)s - bound to raise more cash too. I won't be buying BA20, but if say Franz Ferdinand, the White Stripes etc did something (an album, perhaps?) I'd buy that.

If nothing else, this suggests we've got nothing better in the UK in 2004 than Busted, Katie Melua and a song dreamt up in an afternoon by Midge Ure and Sir Bob. Looks like cultural bankruptcy to me...

There was a charity album called "Help" featuring tracks buy Orbital, Radiohead, The Stone Roses, Suede and a host of other indie/alternative bands. Each artist recorded their contribution on September 4th 1995 and the album sales raised money for children caught up in the war in Yugoslavia at the time.

That was a brilliant album for a very worthy cause. Perhaps the artists involved in Band Aid 20 should do something like that.

But as mentioned below, anything that draws attention to and helps the Sudanese in Dafur and elsewhere is to be applauded no matter what you think of the actual song.

Yeah, a Help type album would be far better than this rancid pile of shite. Undoubtedly, though, the cause is a good one, but the song is still shit. Really shit. Painful to listen to. That's my only point.

It's like Children in Need... make a donation then watch a film on video rather than 12 hours of shite telethon TV with soap stars singing badly in drag

Any contribution that helps to provide aid or raise awareness of genocide in Darfur is better than no contribution at all.

To see why please read my Nov 15 post "The New Killing Fields in Darfur, Sudan" at http://passionofthepresent.org

Two million Sudanese have been slaughtered over the past 15 years.

UN figures for past 6 months (they provide no figures for the previous 13 months) confirm death toll in Darfur as 70,000.

10,000 each month are still dying in camps from malnutrion, disease and violence.

Experts estimate the death toll over the past 20 months up until this Christmas could reach 300,000.

Rwanda in slow motion.

Band Aid 20 will bring awareness to a whole new generation (including some of the participants) and remind those who remember the original song that things are very much worse in Darfur 20 years later.

The men, women and children of Darfur need all the help and publicity they can get. Please spread the word. Thank you.

Hey, Ingrid, hold your horses. I never said that the cause was not a good one, or that people shouldn't donate. I just said the song is shit. Which it is.

Just had to say, couldn't agree more (on both accounts).

Instead - go buy the Live Aid DVD - which promises to be much better...

Hold my horses about such a deadly serious issue? You've got a nerve. The aim of the Band Aid 20 single is not to entertain or please, it's to generate publicity, raise awareness and funds for Darfur.

You use the words "save the world from this abomination" in your post in the context of a record aimed at getting publicity for people who are living the most dismal lives on this planet, and yet you have not been able to find those words in the context of crimes against humanity in Darfur.

You say you would buy the record if it meant radio stations promise not to play it. You even go as far as to title your post: "Please ban Band Aid 20". Ask yourself what the refugees, who are desperately waiting for help from the outside world, would think of your post?

If you think the cause is that important, what have you done about it?

Seven months ago (when the death toll in Darfur was 10,000 and mainstream news reports were few and far between) I linked to a post saying "bloggers haven't done a whole lot to change the world - now seems like a hell of a time to try and start" and followed it with a post that linked to female bloggers who have writing skills - including yourself - here is the post:

http://meandophelia.blogspot.com/2004/04/women-around-world-stand-and-unite.html

Instead of writing a few lines at your blog to raise awareness in the blogosphere, you left a comment at my post saying you would fear that any comments you made on your blog would seem trite or specious no matter how well meant.

As you know I live near you and have communicated with you in support of your blog. I've even invited you to visit and posted in support of your career. Earlier this year there was a London meet up for bloggers that I would have loved to attend and meet you all and buy you a drink but could not for health reasons.

The week before the meeting, as a way of being friendly and joining in, I emailed you and sent you £30 to buy drinks on my behalf for Pete Barr-Watson, Joi Ito, Stephanie and yourself, which you kindly thanked me for.

It was something I would have done myself had I been able to attend and I figured it would have cost me that in expenses anyway. But I never heard a word after that. It would appear you simply pocketed the £30 and did not even offer to buy drinks.

If £30 is so meaningless to you (it's not to me - I live on a disability living allowance) I suggest you buy £30 worth of the Band Aid single and give them away to the nearest school for handing out to a generation who, if all had your unhelpful attitude, may live to experience Band Aid 40.

I'm not going to debate my attitude over the Band Aid 20 single, as you have made up your mind. You are entitled to disagree with me, which you clearly do, and that's fine.

I apologise for the £30, I had meant to refund it, which I have now done. It's my fault it's taken this long, and for that I am sorry. I had forgotten at the meal about the money, and the next day when I saw Joi and Pete Joi had put everything on his tab. All I can say is that my forgetfulness was not malicious, just stupid.

However, you've obviously been unhappy about this all this time, why didn't you email me? I'm not an evil person, I would have apologised just as profusely for my forgetfulness then as I do now and would have sorted it out straight away. But the money is back in your PayPal account now, so please do with it as you see fit.

u r all fucking insane!! its a great song!! what r u talking about? Let me guess you dont like music! it goes to a cause, i bought the video and i cant wait for the single to be released on cd, i heard the original song from 1984 on the radio. if u think the song is shit..u are a piece of shit! wheres ur heart? ur an ass hole!! BAND AID 20!! FUCK YEA!

That song is an ubelievable travesty. The condesencing and banal lyrics, the shoddy mixing and the halfhearted performances all add up to a rank pile of dogshit. It's an insult to the people of Darfur, and to anyone on the receiving end of charity work.

Remeber that scene in "love, actually" with the has-been star singing "love is all around" in a dreadful (hilarious), tuneless drone? That's about as much effort as I imagine anyone involved in this aural vomit can possibly have given to the song, from writers and producers to performers. And that's what's so offensive. For fucks sake.

Also, Ingrid, your righteous indignity would be a little more convincing if you could actually read - no one here's making fun of people dying, making fun of the song IS NOT THE SAME THING. You would have done great work during the inquisition, I'm sure, with your fabulous ability to overeact and condemn out of context. Lighten up! Have a McAfrica! Or sell your computer for cash to give to charity! That's more convincing than masturbating your angelic self-image by arbitrarily defining others as callous anonymously on the internet.
QED.