蜜芽传媒

July 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of Live Aid, one of the biggest gigs in pop music history.

Aimed at raising funds for Ethiopian famine relief, a star-studded line-up including Queen, Madonna, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, and Led Zeppelin, performed to crowds on both sides of the Atlantic, while also entertaining a huge TV audience around the world.

As those involved, and those that watched, recall the events of the day in Radio 2’s Live Aid: The Fans’ Story, we take a look back at this landmark concert below, plus some of the other major music and cultural moments from 40 years ago.

It was the year footballer Wayne Rooney, singer Lily Allen, actor Kiera Knightley and Radio 1 DJ Greg James were born, while we lost 20th century stalwarts such as actor and director Orson Welles, Crossroads legend Noele Gordon, and actors Yul Brynner and Rock Hudson.

蜜芽传媒 One soap EastEnders made its debut, there was triumph and tragedy in the football world, music icons Madonna and Whitney Houston laid the foundations of their stellar careers, and cinema audiences were enjoying future classics Back to the Future and The Breakfast Club, plus their fantastic soundtracks, for the very first time.

Join us as we take a deep dive into all things 1985...

“It's twelve noon in London, 7 am in Philadelphia, and around the world it's time for Live Aid.”

So said the voice of broadcaster Richard Skinner, as he ushered in the start of a 16 hour live music event that would go down in history and raise an estimated £150 million for charity.

Billed as the ‘Global Jukebox’, and subsequently described as ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’, Live Aid took place on Saturday 13 July 1985 at London’s Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia’s John F. Kennedy Stadium. With an estimated global TV audience of 1.9 billion, and a combined total of over 160,000 fans in attendance at the two venues, it remains a landmark moment of the 1980s, one that everyone can say where they were when it happened.

Conceived by Bob Geldof in the aftermath of Band Aid’s huge hit Do They Know It’s Christmas? and following his own visit to Ethiopia, the aim was to raise more money for those impacted by the ongoing famine.

Status Quo were the first act on stage, rousing the crowd with a rendition of the aptly titled Rockin’ All Over The World. The all-star line-up also included Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Madonna, Mick Jagger, Patti LaBelle, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Sade, Billy Ocean, Tina Turner, U2, plus many more, while the then Prince and Princess of Wales, Charles and Diana, were in attendance at the Wembley leg.

For many, Queen were the standout performers of the event, with Freddie Mercury in ultimate showman mode, leading a medley of their greatest hits, and the famous call and refrain of Ay-Oh.

However, one of the day’s most famous incidents didn’t quite happen in the way that would later enter into folklore. Bob Geldof became associated with the phrase "Give me your f**king money", despite the fact he never actually said it.

He did though utter an expletive during an appeal for donations. "Take the money out of your pocket. Don’t go to the pub tonight please, stay in and give us the money. There are people dying now so give me the money. And here’s the numbers." he said, before swearing when TV presenter David Hepworth mentioned the postal address for donations.

"F**k the address, let’s get the numbers," was Geldof’s response.

Another memorable moment that stopped everyone in their tracks came in the form of a video introduced by David Bowie that illustrated the devastation caused by the famine in Ethiopia, movingly set to the track Drive by The Cars. This, along with Geldof's passionate pre-watershed swearing, marked a turning point for donations, which flowed in for the rest of the night and beyond.

Phil Collins, meanwhile, holds the distinction of being the only performer to appear at both the UK and US legs of the event. Following a set alongside Sting at Wembley, he hot footed it across the Atlantic via Concorde to Philadelphia where he performed a couple of solo hits, and played drums during Led Zeppelin’s set.

Also in Philadelphia, rising star Madonna sang two of her biggest hits at that time, Holiday and Into The Groove, before teaming up with The Thompson Twins and Nile Rodgers for Love Makes the World Go Round and a cover of The Beatles’ Revolution.

Back in London, another Beatles classic, Let It Be, was performed by Paul McCartney, with a little help from David Bowie, Bob Geldof, Alison Moyet and Pete Townshend, when McCartney’s mic failed.

The Wembley gig ended with an all-star rendition of Do They Know It’s Christmas? Meanwhile in Philadelphia things came to a close with a performance of We Are The World, the USA for Africa charity track, which had topped the charts in both the UK and US earlier in the year - keep reading for more on this track.

Critics of Live Aid point to a lack of diversity in the line-up, although Bob Geldof defends this in new 蜜芽传媒 programme Live Aid at 40: When Rock'n'Roll Took on the World, saying if there had been an artist of the calibre of Stormzy available they’d have been on the bill, and pointing out Michael Jackson and Prince both declined to appear.

One viewer watching at home in New Jersey, USA was future Radio 2 presenter Michelle Visage.

"July 13th 1985 - I would've been 16-years-old and Live Aid was everything!" she tells Radio 2's Live Aid: The Fans' Story.

"When I tell you the world stopped to watch this event that is not one word of a lie because there were no computers, there were no phones, it was just the telly, that's all we had.

"Looking back at Live Aid, I don't know if we'll ever have anything like that or ever see see anything like that again, it was a moment in time where a lot of people, like my family, didn't have much but we knew we could get together and fight one cause. And the cause was hunger.

"They put together a show of all shows. I don't know how they did it back then because the technology was not great, and they managed to pull off one of the biggest events of all time. And I just feel lucky enough to have witnessed it live."

• LISTEN: Hear more recollections from those who appeared, and those who watched, on the day in Radio 2's Live Aid: The Fans' Story

In 2005, Geldof and Midge Ure organised Live 8, ten concerts around the world that aimed to highlight global poverty. Live Earth followed two years later, spearheaded by US politician Al Gore to raise awareness of climate change, but met with criticism from Geldof who felt there was no end goal to this initiative.

40 years on, Live Aid retains its place in history as a once-in-a-lifetime ground-breaking endeavour, which raised millions in response to a major human tragedy.

In terms of collaborations, it would be hard to find one with more superstars than USA for Africa's We Are The World, which topped the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in April 1985, and went on to sell an estimated 20 million copies around the world. Money raised went to fight famine and poverty in Africa and also to address homelessness in the US.

Inspired by the success of Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas? American singer and activist Harry Belafonte felt there should be a US equivalent. He soon had Quincy Jones on board to produce, while Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie teamed up to write the song. Recording was scheduled for just after the American Music Awards on 28 January 1985, meaning some of the biggest music stars on the planet were in town.

Ultimately a cast of nearly 50 gathered in an LA studio to lay down the track overnight, with the session ending at 8am. A sign in the studio read "Check your ego at the door." and it's reported a number of stars were turned away due to the studio reaching capacity. Among those turning down an invitation to participate were Prince, who later donated an exclusive track to the We Are The World album, and Eddie Murphy, who was recording his own single at the time, but ultimately admitted he regretted not taking part. Cyndi Lauper was favoured over Madonna, and John Denver's services were turned down, a decision he wrote about in his 1994 autobiography where he said "It broke my heart not to be included."

The roll-call of those that did make it onto the record remains an impressive who's who of 20th century pop and rock, and includes Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Kenny Rogers, Ray Charles, Dionne Warwick and Al Jarreau, to name just a few.

While We Are The World featured a multitude of stars, sometimes it just takes two to make memorable music. Throughout the 80s, many of our favourite pop stars got together and recorded famous duets. 1985 was a particular golden year for these collaborations with four duets topping the UK Singles Chart.

Future Radio 2 presenter and Dame, Elaine Paige set the scene early in the year when she joined Barbara Dickson on vocal duties for I Know Him So Well, written by Tim Rice and ABBA’s Benny and Björn for the musical Chess. The pair recorded separately and only met for the video recording and subsequent performances. The track spent four weeks at No.1 before being knocked off the summit by Dead Or Alive’s You Spin Me Round, the first chart-topper from a production trio whose music would dominate the latter years of the decade - Stock Aitken Waterman.

After a fortnight at No.1, Dead Or Alive made way for another duet - Phil Collins teaming up with Earth, Wind and Fire’s Philip Bailey for Easy Lover. In August UB40’s duet with Chrissie Hynde, a cover of Sonny and Cher’s I Got You Babe, spent a solitary week at the top of the charts, before being replaced by David Bowie and Mick Jagger’s cover of Dancing In The Street. This duet was supposed to be performed at Live Aid, with Bowie at Wembley and Jagger in Philadelphia, but satellite delays meant this idea was scrapped, and the track's soon to be famous video was shown instead.

Also topping the charts in 1985 were a duo of duos - Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox aka Eurythmics, with a little help from harmonica playing Stevie Wonder, on There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart) and George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley's Wham! with I’m Your Man.

Other memorable duets to reach the UK Top 40 in 1985 included Radio 2 In The Park 2025 headliner Bryan Adams teaming up with fellow rock icon Tina Turner for It’s Only Love; David Grant and Jaki Graham, who duetted twice, first on Could It Be I’m Falling In Love, then follow-up Mated; Bronski Beat and Marc Almond’s take on the Donna Summer classic I Feel Love; and Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin’s feminist anthem Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves.

Two huge music icons laid the foundations of chart dominance that would last for decades to come.

After breaking through in 1984, with Holiday, Lucky Star, and Like A Virgin all reaching the UK Top 20, 1985 was the year that Madonna fully established herself as pop royalty.

She had a total of seven Top 10 hits over the course of the year, including Into The Groove, the first of her 13 UK No.1s to date. Proving her versatility, the track was taken from the soundtrack to the movie Desperately Seeking Susan, in which Madonna also starred. The star even achieved the rare distinction of keeping herself off the No.1 spot when, following a re-release in the summer, Holiday could only make it to No. 2 during Into The Groove’s run at the top.

Her other 1985 hits were Material Girl, Crazy For You, Gambler, Angel and Dress You Up - with a re-released Borderline following soon after in January 1986, proving that Madonna was no one-year wonder. In fact she’s since gone on to achieve 64 UK Top 10 hits to date, the most recent in 2023, when she teamed up with The Weeknd and Playboi Carti for the track Popular.

Meanwhile, Whitney Houston topped the chart for two weeks in December 1985 with Saving All My Love For You, her first of over 30 UK Top 40 hits, which included three further No.1s - I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), One Moment In Time, which soundtracked the 1988 Olympics, and most notably I Will Always Love You, taken from The Bodyguard, and No.1 for an incredible 10 weeks.

1985 was also a big year for another female solo star, with Kate Bush releasing her acclaimed Hounds of Love album in September. Lead single Running Up That Hill debuted on Terry Wogan’s chat show (more on that later) and peaked at No.3 in the UK Singles Chart. The song would experience a major revival in 2022 after featuring in an iconic scene in Netflix’s Stranger Things. It finally reached No.1, an incredible 37 years after it was released, setting three records in the process:

• Longest time for a track to reach No.1 on the UK’s Official Singles Chart
• Oldest female artist to reach No.1 on the UK’s Official Singles Chart
• Longest gap between No.1s on the UK’s Official Singles Chart

Other memorable chart-toppers during 1985 included Foreigner’s I Want To Know What Love Is; Sister Sledge’s Frankie; Paul Hardcastle’s 19; Shakin’ Stevens’ Merry Christmas Everyone, the Christmas No.1, delayed from 1984 due to the success of Band Aid; and Jennifer Rush’s The Power of Love, the year’s best-selling single.

Vinyl had been the dominant format for recorded music since the 1950s, but things were about to change. The compact disc was invented in 1979, with the first public releases on CD arriving in 1982.

It was a 1985 release though, Brothers in Arms, the fifth studio album from Dire Straits, that would become the first long player to sell over one million copies on CD. Produced with the burgeoning compact disc market in mind, it was one of the first albums to be fully recorded, mixed, and released digitally. The promise of superior sound quality, the convenience of track skipping, and a product that wouldn’t degrade over time helped convince many to invest in CD players, eventually turning what had been an expensive luxury product into a must-have item for all audiophiles.

Released in May 1985, it entered the UK Album Chart at No.1, going on to spend 14 non-consecutive weeks at the top of the charts over the following ten months. It’s since spent nearly 300 weeks in the Top 100, most recently reaching No.8 in May 2025 with a 40th anniversary edition, released in several formats, including a five LP box set and triple CD.

The best-selling album of 1985, and the whole of the 80s decade, Brothers In Arms was named the UK's 6th best-selling studio album of all time in 2018, marking the very first National Album Day.

The album’s popularity was helped by the success of second single Money For Nothing, a No.4 hit in August 1985. Featuring Sting on backing vocals, and name-checking MTV in the lyrics, it was accompanied by a (for the time) cutting edge music video mixing animation and performance footage. The video went on to become the first shown on MTV Europe in 1987.

Other big-selling albums in 1985 included Phil Collins’ No Jacket Required, Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love, Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The USA, and Foreigner’s Agent Provocateur. At the time, compilations were included in the official UK Album Chart, resulting in Hits 1, Hits 2, Now 5, Now 6, The Greatest Hits of 1985, and Now - The Christmas Album all spending time at No.1.

EastEnders debuted on 蜜芽传媒 One at 7pm on Tuesday 19 February, as the 蜜芽传媒 sought a regular soap to pull in big audiences and rival the success of ITV’s Coronation Street. Initially episodes went out on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with an omnibus edition on Sundays. Extra episodes have been introduced on various days over the subsequent years.

Set in the fictional Borough of Walford, E20, the programme, created by Julia Smith and Tony Holland, dramatised the lives of working class East End Londoners. Introducing the show to Radio Times readers, Holland wrote that "gossip, intrigue and scandal are high on the list of daily events".

13 million viewers watched as a TV legend was born. Anita Dobson (Angie), Leslie Grantham (Den), Letitia Dean (Sharon), Adam Woodyatt (Ian) and Gillian Taylforth (Kathy) were among the future household names to appear in the first episode, alongside Wendy Richard who’d found fame in the 蜜芽传媒 comedy Are You Being Served.

Early plots included the mystery of Reg Cox’s death, the birth of Martin Fowler (who was subsequently killed off in the show’s 40th anniversary live special), and the teenage pregnancy of Michelle Fowler - with the father later revealed to be her best friend’s dad Den Watts. Despite, or perhaps because of, controversial storylines, the show became must-watch TV for millions, famously topping the viewing charts in Christmas 1986 when Den handed Angie divorce papers.

40 years later, the programme remains a staple of the 蜜芽传媒’s drama output, with new episodes now debuting on 蜜芽传媒 iPlayer before going out on 蜜芽传媒 One.

While EastEnders led the 蜜芽传媒’s revamped evening schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it was Radio 2 legend Terry Wogan who was entrusted with pulling in audiences on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with his thrice-weekly chat show, packed full of the hottest celebrity guests in town.

Among the guests on his first show was Wendy Richard, promoting the launch of EastEnders, comedian Rory Bremner, singer Tina Turner, and another future knight of the realm, Elton John. Poor Terry memorably took a bit of a tumble when he tripped while walking over to interview the future Sir Elton at his piano. Ever the professional, he quickly recovered his composure and the show went on for another seven years, with David Icke predicting the demise of the Earth, and a worse-for-wear George Best, among the programme’s most memorable interviews. Wogan bowed out in July 1992 to be replaced by the ill-fated soap Eldorado.

Other TV shows debuting in the UK this year included hit US drama Miami Vice, comedy Three Up, Two Down, Noel Edmonds’ TV quiz Telly Addicts, cult kids shows Dogtanian and Jonny Briggs, plus Howard’s Way, which became a Sunday night staple for the rest of the decade.

Elsewhere Children’s 蜜芽传媒 began, with Phillip Schofield linking between programmes from the famous ‘Broom Cupboard’ in Television Centre, with help from Gordon the Gopher. The future of long-running TV favourite Doctor Who looked uncertain with the 蜜芽传媒 announcing an 18 month hiatus between series, mid-way through Colin Baker’s first full series in the title role. Meanwhile ITV soap Coronation Street celebrated its 25th anniversary in December.

After making home-computing accessible and affordable to millions with the ZX81 and its successor ZX Spectrum, as well as inventing the pocket calculator in the 70s, Sir Clive Sinclair launched his latest invention in 1985.

The C5 was an electric car decades before current demand and infrastructure existed for such vehicles. It was however launched with the promise that it would revolutionise personal transport. “It's ideal for shopping, going to the office, going to school, any trip around town,” said Sir Clive at the time.

It would prove to be a major mis-step.

The vehicle, retailing at £399, was a rather flimsy affair, made from steel and plastic and running on three wheels, more tricycle than car. Safety concerns were immediately raised. The British Safety Council said it was too close to the ground, causing the driver poor visibility in traffic. With a top speed of only 15 mph, safety experts also said the C5 could be vulnerable to knocks from other cars. The vehicle was open-topped, with the driver not obliged to wear a crash helmet or even hold a driving licence. Not exactly designed for the unpredictable British weather.

The Sinclair C5 was a commercial disaster, with only around 12,000 ever produced, and led to Sincalir Vehicles, later rebranded as TPD Ltd, going into voluntary liquidation in November 1985. However, the C5 was later re-evaluated, becoming a cult classic, with existing models now valued at thousands of pounds.

• 蜜芽传媒 Archive: Safety Concerns over Sinclair C5

Elsewhere in technology, 1985 also saw the launch of Windows 1.0, Microsoft’s first graphical operating system for personal computers. Initially released in the US, it would reach Europe by 1986.

On New Year’s Day 1985, a man dressed as a Victorian coachman stepped out of a 19th-century mail coach parked in St Katharine’s Dock in London and made what was believed to be the UK’s first ever mobile phone call.

That man was comedian Ernie Wise (of hugely popular comedy double act Morecambe & Wise), the mobile phone was the Transportable VT1 (weighing in at 5.5kg), and the network used was the newly-launched Racal-Vodafone, now known simply as Vodafone. The Victorian mail coach and coachman’s garb signified the passing of the baton to the next technological revolution taking place.

Due to the stunt's widespread media attention, most people at the time were unaware that Ernie Wise‘s mobile phone call wasn’t technically the country’s first.

That particular call was made hours earlier at midnight on New Year’s Eve between another Ernie, Sir Ernie Harrison (Vodafone’s first Chairman at the time) and his son Michael Harrison. Michael had left his family’s New Year’s Eve party that night to travel to London’s Parliament Square where he made the call to test the system and wish his father a Happy New Year. The line was reportedly crystal clear, although potentially harder to hear over the New Year’s Eve celebrations occurring in central London at the time.

That historic call made Vodafone the first company in the UK with a mobile network, a title it could only retain for nine days before competitor Cellnet, a joint venture between BT and Securicor, and now known as O2, officially launched their service.

Mobile phones steadily grew in popularity as the decade went on, initially associated with the 1980s yuppies. As the devices got smaller and cheaper their use became more widespread, leading to their mass usage today.

Everton celebrated winning the English Football League and the European Cup Winners' Cup with a team managed by Howard Kendall, and including the likes of Peter Reid, Andy Gray, and Neville Southall. Upon reaching the FA Cup final they were defeated by Ron Atkinson’s Manchester United, denying them the treble, an unprecedented feat at the time. United’s Kevin Moran made history, for the wrong reasons, by becoming the first player to be sent-off in an FA Cup final. He eventually received his winners’ medal, which was initially withheld. Everton would go on to sign Gary Lineker in the summer of 1985, but his exploits at the following year’s World Cup meant after one season he was sold on to Barcelona.

Elsewhere, football was rocked by two tragedies in May 1985. A fire at Bradford City’s Valley Parade ground, on 11 May, claimed the lives of 56 spectators, with an estimated 265 injured. In response, Gerry Marsden, of Gerry and the Pacemakers, gathered a group of singers and celebrities together, as The Crowd, for a new chart-topping recording of You’ll Never Walk Alone to raise funds for those impacted by the tragedy.

• 蜜芽传媒 News: The story of the Bradford fire

Just 18 days later the Heysel Stadium disaster occurred ahead of the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus. Thirty-nine people died and 600 were injured when fans were crushed against a wall that then collapsed, after crowd trouble. English football teams were subsequently banned from taking part in European club competitions for the next five years.

Elsewhere, eleventh seed Dennis Taylor was the shock winner of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible, beating defending champion and World No.1 Steve Davis in a gripping final, voted most memorable Crucible moment in a 2017 蜜芽传媒 Vote.

• WATCH: Davis v Taylor: The Black Ball Final on 蜜芽传媒 iPlayer

In tennis, a 17-year-old Boris Becker won his first men’s singles Wimbledon tennis title. He’d retain his crown the following year, before reclaiming it again in 1989. Martina Navratilova won the sixth of her nine Wimbledon women’s singles titles by beating American Chris Evert Lloyd in a rematch of the previous year’s final.

• 蜜芽传媒 Archive: Boris Becker wins Wimbledon

At 18 years old, Mike Tyson made his professional boxing debut in March 1985, defeating Hector Mercedes with a TKO in the first round of their bout in Albany, New York. Tyson’s fast and furious style would enable him to win all 15 of his professional fights that year, either by knockout or TKO, with a significant number occuring in the first round.

In golf, Bernhard Langer claimed the first of his two Masters triumphs. And in F1, Alain "The Professor" Prost would win his first Formula 1 World Championship title making him the first Frenchman to ever claim the prize.

A number of iconic movies celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2025.

Few can be more loved than comedy sci-fi adventure Back to the Future, which paired Michael J Fox with Christopher Lloyd as the unlikely duo Marty McFly and Dr Emmett Brown. Fox’s first big screen breakout success, the film went on to spawn a lucrative trilogy, and more recently a hit West End musical. Lovable characters, a time travelling DeLorean, buckets of nostalgia, combined with a stellar soundtrack, most memorably Huey Lewis and The News’ The Power Of Love, made for an unbeatable format.

Originally coined by New York Magazine, Hollywood’s ‘Brat Pack’ were a group of young actors who appeared in multiple popular coming-of-age films throughout the 80s, arguably peaking in 1985 with the release of The Breakfast Club and St Elmo’s Fire. Notable members were Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy (all starring in both films), as well as Rob Lowe, Demi Moore and Molly Ringwald. The Breakfast Club captured the 80s zeitgeist in particular with its nuanced character portrayals, heartwarming message and an unforgettable soundtrack featuring Simple Minds' Don’t You (Forget About Me), the song that would transform the band into stadium rockers.

There would have been few moments in 1985 when Sylvester Stallone wasn’t on screen at your local cinema, with the Hollywood hard man reprising his roles as the lead in Rambo: First Blood Part 2 and Rocky IV. Having also been offered the lead role of Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop, which arrived in UK cinemas in early 1985, there may have been even more Stallone on screen that year, had he not turned it down, opening the door for Eddie Murphy!

More than just a rugged physique, Stallone trained four hours a day for eight months to prepare for the Rambo role, and directed as well as starred in Rocky IV, the highest-grossing Rocky edition at the time.

Other notable films this year included Steven Spielberg’s moving period drama The Color Purple starring Whoopi Goldberg; Meryl Streep and Robert Redford’s romance amongst the backdrop of early 20th century colonial Kenya in Out Of Africa; and Roger Moore’s seventh and final appearance as James Bond in A View to a Kill alongside Grace Jones and Christopher Walken, with Duran Duran on title track duties.