As much as I try to keep The Memory Tourist a place of positivity, it was difficult for me to pass up this particular topic. For me, there’s nothing that feels as cynical or lazy as a charity single. While the cause is often worth spreading attention to, it’s done in such a way that either draws more attention to the artist or comes across as a sonic mess. What does singing a song truly do besides point out something self-righteous about yourself, that you wallowing on those high notes is somehow going to solve all of the world’s problems? Then again, I don’t understand the duets of the 1980s that insisted on having dueling vocalists trying to poorly sing over each other, which is what charity singles often are but multiplied by 20 or 30 people.
So yes, while I can see the positive intent of songs like “We Are the World” or “Do They Know It’s Christmastime?” I find that they often only work because you’re trying to recognize all of the vocalists, doing some perverse game of imagining what two different performers would sound like if they collaborated on a song that didn’t waste their talents with bland harmonies and inconsequential lead vocals for 12 seconds. These are cries for compassion, but as time goes on, all we remember are the massive group of artists singing, self-satisfied in a booth thinking they changed the world.
While message songs, in general, are iffy the closer to the nose they get, I do think that there are some that do a decent job of transcending its intent and making you feel the empathy that these songs are supposed to be about. Among the primary examples is Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” which is a phenomenal song by a great artist, whose quietness is self-reflecting on the tortures of war, finding metaphorical tears falling over the album as he tries to make sense of the world. With just one singer, this song achieves what those hacky charity singles couldn’t. He makes you care, finding something inside of you that reaches for humanity instead of asking “Was that Eddie Murphy?”
To be honest, it’s difficult to be so cynical about the charity single because they’re straightforward with their goal. They’re not about any long-term quality. They’re about spending precious air time to make money for great causes. It’s a form of altruism that’s frustrating because, on the one hand, it’s the smartest way to draw attention. On the other, it’s a pointless decay of what music can do as some great unifier. It isn’t how many people you get on one song, but the content of the song itself.
Though, to be fair, none of them compare to The Generation X Charity Single™. The best that you can say about the aforementioned examples is that they all took some time to craft out lyrics and base it around their own melodies. There was a concerted effort that makes you think that one or two of the people cared about what they’re doing. While they could never be as interesting as they wanted (you had to keep the message clear), they at least brought something of substance.
But for Gen X’ers, there is one in particular that has been a bit lost to time. Some would say that it’s for a good reason. However, it’s difficult to look at the bigger picture and want to believe that this was going to be a bigger triumph. It was the story of an AIDS single that got hijacked by a national tragedy, and while it perfectly encapsulated the emotional response of both, it’s difficult to argue that it was ever about AIDS, to begin with.
The song was recorded the week before September 11, 2001. Featuring U2’s Bono and a host of guests, it was meant as a single to raise awareness about the spread of AIDS in Africa. The massive collaboration was designed to be something even bigger than what came before. Sure there would be groups singing together, but there would be R&B and hip-hop flavored portions that were all going to ask the important question of our times which was, as you can guess, “what’s going on?”
I think the reason that this bothers me is that it’s first and foremost a bad cover of the Marvin Gaye classic. Any individual could’ve brought out a more successful cover, but would the impact still be the same? The truth is that nobody on this recording has the harmonies to make the melodies as tender and sweet. Bono sounds too haggard. Christina Aguilera’s voice is too punctuated. Aaron Lewis of Staind (remember them?) just sounds like he’s depressed the entire time. Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit (now of phenomenally bad movies like The Fanatic (2019)) sounds like he dropped into the wrong recording booth.
It’s… it’s a mess. Even those artists that sound like they’re taking things sincerely don’t exactly feel like they belong there. While we know what this cover is trying to achieve, on a production note one has to ask: what is going on? Eve and Nelly will blast out with a rap verse here, A.J. McLean of The Backstreet Boys is there just wandering around. There’s no real emphasis on certain artists that makes it all feel like a waste of resources. It’s essentially a “remixed” version of Gaye, with more verses that have a manic fusion to the whole thing.
It’s an amazing time capsule of music in 2001. Maybe it’s because of my age, but I’m able to recognize most of the artists. It’s still incredible to think that there’s a song that included Gwen Stefani (pre-solo career), *NSYNC, Nas, Jennifer Lopez, Lil Kim, Jermaine Dupri, Destiny’s Child (pre-breakup), Nelly Furtado, Usher, Jagged Edge, Ja Rule (now of Fyre Festival lawsuits), and Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction. There’s more, but that only shows how much is crammed into this four-minute headache.
The only thing that fascinates me is the reality that this may be the best encapsulation of music transitioning from the 20th century into the 21st. This is a place where 90s music culminated in grunge rock, hip-hop, rap-rock, alternative rock, nu-metal, and bubblegum pop. There was also the R&B phenomenon of the early 2000s. It’s maybe one of the last decades when rock and pop coexisted on the charts in respectable ways.
It really was a more inclusive time for music. Even if it’s fusing in interesting ways today, I feel like the age of the rock star has faded. Nothing will be more symbolic of this than Aaron Lewis being on this recording. Of every performer here, Staind is the most difficult to fully explain because all they were was a nu-metal band who gained success singing about how miserable they were, eventually transitioning into more of a dad-rock sound when they realized that was selling better. They’re not particularly great, which makes their few years of success more astounding that it overlapped with a song featuring Beyonce and Bono. Somehow even Fred Durst makes more sense than Lewis, who always sounded like he was singing himself into a coma.
That’s the issue with this song. It has so many ideas going on that never fully gel. There are moments that may sound like they’re on the verge of a good idea, but they’ll mostly disappoint you. It’s the type of song whose big takeaway will not remind you of AIDS in Africa. While there are passive lyrics about world peace, it feels like a self-indulgent cover that, again, makes you wonder all these years later “What’s Fred Durst doing there?” Really, the sincerity of the other singers feels dropped when Durst hits the mic. Even the backing track feels like it shifts to something totally different.
I think the reason that this gets considered a 9/11 single is because of the way it was marketed. While recorded beforehand, Bono and crew thought that it was enough of a plausible charity single for 9/11. They decided to co-op between The United Way’s September 11th Fund, and Artists Against AIDS Worldwide. I guess that’s fine, as the whole idea of this being an AIDS single disappeared by the time it was released in October. Maybe it was more prominent in 2001, but for me, it never felt like it was for anything besides 9/11 because, like I said, the lyrics have a heavy bent towards understanding the madness of the world around them.
Before I go further, I will say that there were good songs about 9/11 that was released even more immediately. While I’m not a country music aficionado, I think that Alan Jackson’s “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?” captures the immediate emotional response so perfectly that I think no song has come close. It’s ultimately a song about loving your neighbor and trying to see the best in each other. Maybe one day I will talk about how it takes the listener through an incredible journey, from coast to coast, and plays to a time that is sadly gone (remember when country stars watched CNN?). Everything about it is straightforward and uplifting.
“What’s Going On?” as done by The All-Star Tribute is a nightmare in clarity by comparison. While it probably captures the sound of differing ideals coming together in search of meaning, it doesn’t really amount to much. Even the music video feels like a throwaway. Despite a clever idea to have artists like Stefani unwrap headbands that have different words on them to symbolize how unified we are, it’s all a bit ridiculous. Everyone’s just wandering around. The message isn’t clear other than everyone looks concerned. What are they concerned about? The music video fails to make a clear message in part because they hijacked someone else’s song to juxtapose on somebody else’s cause.
I’ll give “Do They Know It’s Christmastime?” one benefit: at least it's fluid. From the beginning, it has a consistent harmony that the listener connects with. It may be the most grotesque example of it, but it sticks with you so effectively that they, for reasons that escape me, still play it every December. There’s a reason that “What’s Going On?” isn’t played anymore. While it blends everything popular at the time into one microcosm, it’s all so haphazard that it doesn’t make sense musically. You’re distracted by so much that you don’t even know what the point is. “We Are the World” tells you to make the world a brighter place. All that Bono does here is reveal how cool his connections are, that he can work with everyone from The Neptunes to Moby.
And, in one of the least inspired parts of this story, is the album itself. If you liked this song and wanted to hear more, then there’s good news for you. Chris Martin of Coldplay has a song on here… that’s just another version of “What’s Going On.” Yes, if you want nine whole tracks with slightly different versions of the same song, then this is for you. That’s how little effort was put into this. Instead of just cutting losses and having rock stars on one cover or rappers on another, they cram everyone on one spot and leave the rest as this unappealing filler. Who wants to buy that? Why would anyone want that on their shelf when donating $15 free of reward will save you the embarrassment?
I guess the positive is that at least U2 learned from this and gave out their music for free.
I know that not everything I described here was a charity single, but I feel like they all are songs about purpose and meaning in unjust times. There are ways to get others to listen, and The All-Star Tribute fails spectacularly that I haven’t been able to forget it. It’s so horrible and dated, making me dislike artists that I otherwise have a fondness for. It lacks any meaning or originality. It couldn’t even come up with its own song not once, but nine times. Maybe it’s just Bono trolling us all, making us ask “What’s Going On?” while the song plays nine times, never getting any better and not solving a single thing. That’s the only way any of this makes sense.
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