Every year, there are plenty of pop songs that never make it to Number One on the Billboard “Hot 100”, despite being popular, like in the Top 10 for weeks, for example. Because these series are about the pop songs that reach Number One, that means some pretty big hits are left out entirely unless I add extra posts. This post is about two of those songs of 1984.
In December 1984, two Christmas songs were released that both became Number One hits in the UK and other countries, though not on the “Hot 100”. Both songs were loved by some, and loathed by others, but both are still played on pop radio at Christmas. On December 4, 1984, the first of the two songs was released: ”Last Christmas” by British duo Wham!. Three days later, December 7, 1984, saw the release of the charity single ”Do They Know It's Christmas?” by a mostly UK and Irish supergroup Band Aid. The two songs endure to this day.
I’ll talk about the two songs in the order they were released, beginning with “Last Christmas”:
“Last Christmas” spent five consecutive weeks at Number 2 on the UK chart, being kept from Number One by “Do They Know It's Christmas?”, a song on which George Michael was also a featured singer. So, he sang on the Number One song in the UK, but it wasn’t his own. After fans streamed the song a record number of times, George Michael's dream was finally fulfilled in 2023 when the song was finally the Christmas Number One.
The song is essentially about the ex-girlfriend of George Michael's character, and the music video has a visual allusion to the lyrics, one it’d be easy to miss—as I did until I read about the video at the ink. There’s a scene where Andrew Ridgeley's character is wearing a jewelled brooch, and it's upside down. Later in the video there’s a flashback scene in which Michael gives the broach to the woman who apparently “gave it away” to Ridgeley. According to the music video director, Andrew Morahan, the brooch originally belonged to Ridgeley's grandmother
I was as aware of this song back in the day as I am now, and I appreciated (and still do) the strong 1980s pop vibe of the song, and the power in George Michael’s voice. However, I became fully aware of the song in the social media age, in 2010, when folks began taking part in “Whammagedon”, the object of which is to avoid hearing the original version of “Last Christmas” until Christmas Day (remixes and covers are allowed). It was intended as a bit of fun, but it's kind of negative, really, so some folks invented different versions. I was aware of one called “Reverse Whammagedon” in which the object is to gain points by hearing the original version, and that means no worries about hearing it on the radio or in shopping malls—in fact, if someone does hear it, it helps them. I prefer that version.
This year, the BBC released a documentary about the song called “Last Christmas Unwrapped”, to celebrate the song’s 40th anniversary. That documentary was shown by TVNZ, though it was either Christmas Eve or Day, so I didn’t see it (it may be on TVNZ+, the broadcaster’s streaming service; I haven’t checked). People I know who did see it thought it was good. Update: This evening, after I published this post, I watched the documentary and thought it was very, very good. They talked about the video, and how most of the cast in the video were their real-life friends, which is why they all seemed so comfortable around each other, and why they seemed like they were genuinely having fun )(and, also, the wine was real…). Basically, the video reminded me once again why I loved the music of Wham! and George Michael so much.
The song “Last Christmas” reached Number 2 in Australia (7x Platinum), 2 in Canada (9x Platinum), Number One in New Zealand (2x Platinum), 2 in the UK (7x Platinum), as well as 3 on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100” and their “Dance Club Songs” charts, and was also Number 7 on Rolling Stone “Top 100”. It was also certified 7x Platinum in the USA. (it’s worth mentioning that certifications are cumulative, in this case, 1984-2024).
Next, the second song released, “Do They Know It's Christmas?”:
This song had a who’s who of mid-1980s pop music artists from the UK and Ireland, and the sound definitely reflected that. There was a lot of criticism of the song, both about some of the lyrics, and the well-off white people deigning to help black Africans. The first had some merit (even in 1984 I thought some lyrics were a bit cringey), the second I understood, but didn’t fully agree with: When there’s great need, those who are best positioned to raise money and awareness—like pop music artists—should do so. However, more serious criticism was that the song reinforced negative stereotypes about Africa, leading to lost opportunities to make money to help end the crises the songs several versions were intending to help ease. The sequels were Band Aid 2 (1989), Band Aid 20 (2004), Band Aid 30 (2014—with some of the most contentious lyrics re-written), and Band Aid 40 (2024), the latter a remix of earlier versions.
I bought the 12-inch single of the 1984 song back in the day, and part of it featured spoken word recordings from various artists, including a charity message from David Bowie. I made Bowie's recording the outgoing message on the phone answering machine my partner at the time and I had in December 1984—and I have absolutely NO memory of how I did that in those analog days.
Still, the original version raised a lot of money, some £8 million in its first year—including, it turns out, the royalties from "Last Christmas" which George Michael chose to donate to famine relief. That’d be some £24,248,000 in today’s money (today, roughly NZ$54,104,562, or US$30,484,585).
Ultimately, the song “Do They Know It's Christmas?” reached Number One in Australia, Canada, New Zealand (Platinum), the UK (Silver), but in 1984 it only reached Number 13 on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100”, though it would eventually achieve Number One. It was also ultimately certified 4x Platinum in the USA.
It’s certainly true that every year there are plenty of pop songs that never make it to Number One, despite being popular. Many of them are more interesting to me than maybe these two are, and if it hadn’t been for my malaise and ennui this year, and the neglect it caused for this blog, I may have talked about some of those other songs. However, things are as they are, and it’s it’s still true that these two songs both took off in unconventional ways. They’re still part of pop music culture forty years after they were first released, and that’s pretty good for what were essentially very specific songs associated with Christmas.
I’ll publish the finale for this year’s series on December 31 (NZDT, of course).
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1984” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 1 – January 21, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 2 – February 4, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 3 – February 25, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 4 – March 31, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 5 – April 21, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 6 – May 12, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 7 – May 26, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 8 – June 9, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 9 – June 23, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 10 – July 7, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 11 – August 11, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 12 – September 1, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 13 – September 22, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 14 – September 29, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 15 – October 13, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 16 – November 3, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 17 – November 17, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 18 – December 8, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 19 – December 22, 2024
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