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Why didn't Michael perform at Live Aid 1985?

I could imagine he just didn't want to perform live. He has not performed without his brothers up to that time. He always played it safe at his tours (almost same setlist since Destiny tour), he wanted to give people a great show (not just him standing on stage singing). So he probably wanted to have his first ever solo concert in front of a very large audience at his own chosen time. Thriller songs would have needed a lot of dance rehearsals, costumes, special effects etc. He was not ready for that I believe. He probably still had to decide how his solo career should be. Besides that he didn't like to permorm live. Grammy Awards 88 was lipsynced as was almost anything else that was not his own tour.
 
filmandmusic said:
You can be incredibly annoying but I’ve got good news for you, there are half a dozen others here who are even worse
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Using a concert to raise money for starving people in African countries to promote himself & his record is not a good look. That probably wouldn't really work anyway. Some of those British groups/singers were not popular in the USA before or after they performed at Live Aid. Including Bob Geldof's band.
 
DuranDuran said:
Using a concert to raise money for starving people in African countries to promote himself & his record is not a good look. That probably wouldn't really work anyway. Some of those British groups/singers were not popular in the USA before or after they performed at Live Aid. Including Bob Geldof's band.
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I don’t know how that raising money aspect worked but I assume they would have even made more money if MJ and Prince participated. Them not joining isn’t a particularly positive look either imo.

The people involved with the Queen biopic gladly enhanced Queens image and stardom as artists by including the Live Aid part of their career, I’ve not seen anyone reacting to it negatively. I believe the scenes were a big part of the films success and everyone involved is now gladly spending the money they earned because of it.

In the end I’m cynical enough to believe most artists performing there only saw the benefits for their own career and less so for the poor people.

The way you reacted to my post is as if it isn’t even allowed to enjoy the concert because it was meant to raise money and not to entertain the fans of the participating acts. It was both, the artists/fans AND the poor people benefited from the project.

Sorry for my reaction to your post, I should not have reacted the way I did but your reply frustrated me.
 
PurpleThriller said:
ridiculous how Frenzy's never replied to this,by far..
he's just a big troll but,i have to admit,he's not as worse as Richie & The Gang (they shall start a band though,what do you think? An Invincible era tribute band or something,even better 😍😍..like that would be such a surprise to a whole lot of people and the concept would be welcomed in warm spirits,aren't I right? 🥰)..
anyway,sorry..back to the discussion..
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@PurpleThriller, are you on drugs?
DuranDuran said:
Using a concert to raise money for starving people in African countries to promote himself & his record is not a good look. That probably wouldn't really work anyway. Some of those British groups/singers were not popular in the USA before or after they performed at Live Aid. Including Bob Geldof's band.
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The artists/acts by performing at the 1985 Live Aid promoted themselves and their albums and, at the same time, they also raised money for starving people in African countries.

It was a win-win situation (for the artists/acts and for the starving people in African countries).
 
mj_frenzy said:
The artists/acts by performing at the 1985 Live Aid promoted themselves and their albums and, at the same time, they also raised money for starving people in African countries.
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How is that since some performed covers they hadn't recorded themselves, or old songs? It was Teddy Pendergrass' first appearance after his accident and he didn't have a current record out to promote. The remaining members of Led Zeppelin weren't even together before they appeared at Live Aid with Phil Collins on drums and they still weren't after. Zeppelin didn't approve their footage to be released on the later DVD, so it's not there.
filmandmusic said:
I don’t know how that raising money aspect worked but I assume they would have even made more money if MJ and Prince participated.
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As I mentioned earlier Prince did participate. He didn't appear in person, but sent an exclusive video with Wendy & Lisa from The Revolution, an acoustic version of the same song that he gave to the We Are The World album.
 
DuranDuran said:
How is that since some performed covers they hadn't recorded themselves, or old songs? It was Teddy Pendergrass' first appearance after his accident and he didn't have a current record out to promote. The remaining members of Led Zeppelin weren't even together before they appeared at Live Aid with Phil Collins on drums and they still weren't after. Zeppelin didn't approve their footage to be released on the later DVD, so it's not there.
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Teddy definitely had benefits from being there after the accident, I’m sure it helped him get another contract.
Led Zeppelin could very well be the only artist not wanting to capitalize on the project then, it also seemed like a pretty unprepared undertaking with a broken up band and a different drummer, maybe they weren’t content about how the gig went for them. Perhaps Phil Collins and the Zeppelin members didn’t agree to release it as Collins was never a member in the first place. There could he so many reasons why they didn’t want it included on a dvd.
DuranDuran said:
As I mentioned earlier Prince did participate. He didn't appear in person, but sent an exclusive video with Wendy & Lisa from The Revolution, an acoustic version of the same song that he gave to the We Are The World album.
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That’s only half hearted imo

Oh well it is perfectly possible I’m too cynical but I doubt it. Money and prestige that is what it is all about…
 
Why are we still arguing about this. MJ couldn't make it. That's the only reason. Prince, didn't wanna go. When did he ever do something he didn't want to? When did either of them?
 
Live Aid was in summer of '85, Captain EO wasn't until a whole year later in Sept of 1986, so no.

I also doubt that he was yet cocentrating on Bad to the exclusion of Live Aid,

I agree with whoever said it was probably more brand-related decision

It would make sense for him not to want to detract from We Are The World which had been released a few months earlier in January of '85.

It makes me wonder for the first time how many other artists who participated in WATW also participated in Live Aid ...or not.

:chinrub:
 
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MichaelD said:
That's when it was relased, filming began on July 15, 1985. Literally two days after Live Aid.
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Hm. Interesting. Where did you find that as I was looking for the shoot dates.

Still not sure it woud have to intefere if he didn't want it to. It makes sense to me that the release of WATW had to be a factor.
 
SoS said:
It would make sense for him not to want to detract from We Are The World which had been released a few months earlier in January of '85.
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Maybe there another reason. Maybe MJ was thinking about an actual WATW concert, and didn't want to appear at Live Aid just because he wanted the two of them to be sufficiently different.

SoS said:
It makes me wonder for the first time how many other artists who participated in WATW also participated in Live Aid ...or not
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Easy enough to cross-check the lists...
 
SoS said:
It makes me wonder for the first time how many other artists who participated in WATW also participated in Live Aid ...or not.
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A few of them were also on the 1985 song Sun City by Artists United Against Apartheid. This song got little airplay in the USA though, unlike We Are The World. Probably because Sun City was more of a political protest song. I have the VHS, maxi single, album for it.
 
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