Global Disaster Idol

Since when is an international disaster a song competition? Aren't we all on the same team?

Last night, the Saturday Night Live debut of We Are The World 3: Raising Awareness of the We Are The World 2 Disaster hopefully has officially nailed this trendy coffin of charity song remakes into the ground.

We Are The World 2 is beyond tragic. In fact I remember my friend making a joke about it, which I sincerely thought was only a bad joke until the headline of the remake hit the next day. He suggested rallying for people to donate to NOT remake it, and I think that may have been a more financially sound path.

I still have both the 45 single and the making of the original We Are The World on laserdisc (yes I said laserdisc). And I watched it countless times because the song was great and the musicians were - get this - a bunch of really talented and famous musicians that came together for a common important cause in an unexpected and impressive way.

It's completely opposite to today's concepts. You can almost hear the songs being made as the news coverage unfolds, like a vending machine.

We've got competing tunes altogether, to name but a few:
Cowell's remake of 'Everybody Hurts"
X Factor/Britain's Got Talent z-list doing 'The Prayer"
Depp/MacGowan/Cave/etc. remake of 'I Put A Spell On You' (helpful tip - skip to 3:45 for Depp).
Note - Is this a knowing nod to voodoo, or completely random song choice?

A sign that the gen public are officially bored too is that the spoofs are more popular than the remakes. And nobody is considering it poor humour because it's such a mess in the first place.

Huey For Haiti, the first spoof of WATW 2, is brilliant, it pretty much sums up the whole mess, for just me and me.

Didn't Band Aid 2 teach anyone a lesson? Or Clooney? It's not like there were 4 competing telethons, and his show was full of A-listers AND (mostly) amazing live music which was sold online. Why even bother with WATW 2?

Honestly, it just makes me sad. The way music is so commoditized, it mocks the very power of music when we do sloppy things like these soulless versions.

With the devastating Chilean quake, I fear what will come next from the music industry - I think 'Livin' on a Prayer' is one of the few left to remake. My ears already hurt.

Can we just get back to uniting together on really amazing songs? Why can't Black Eyed Peas donate all profits from their new #1 'Imma Be'? Or we follow Rage's success and resurrect an old brilliant song and donate those profits, uniting the public in its buying power?

Why are competing for the same cause?

Create music responsibly, please.

Click HERE to go to the full Blog