‘Hear N’ Aid’: The heavy metal answer to ‘We Are the World’
Pop music was in a particularly strange part of its development during the 1980s. The advent of new musical technologies and innovations led to a remarkably diverse range of artists populating the singles charts on a weekly basis. As the decade moved on, however, pop music was undoubtedly at risk of becoming uninspired and formulaic. This change was perhaps best exemplified by the influx of charity singles, namely Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ and ‘We Are The World’ by USA For Africa. A lesser-known charity single of the time, however, came in the form of ‘Hear N’ Aid’ and ‘Stars’.
It was Band Aid who kicked off the charity single craze, bringing together a cast of British pop stars like Bono, Duran Duran, Paul Weller, George Michael and many others. Their 1984 single, organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, raised $24million dollars to combat the famine in Ethiopia, and the track made it to Christmas number one the same year. Band Aid spawned countless other charity efforts in its wake, most notably ‘We Are The World’, the American answer to ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’
Written by Michael Jackson alongside Lionel Richie and organised by Quincy Jones, ‘We Are The World’ included contributions from the likes of Paul Simon, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and many other legendary names. The single reportedly raised $44.5m for humanitarian aid to Africa. In both these cases, however, the music and personnel were largely limited to mainstream pop stars, which led the heavy metal outfit Dio to begin concocting their own charity single for the hard rock and metal world.
Dio was first formed in 1982 by Ronnie James Dio after the singer departed from the line-up of Black Sabbath. Given his position as the former singer of Sabbath, Dio had amassed a lot of contacts within the world of heavy metal and hard rock. So, when the singer set about recruiting musicians for a charity single in 1985, in the wake of Band Aid and USA For Africa, he was able to arrange an impressive roster of artists.
Much like the other charity singles of the time, Dio’s effort, released under the title ‘Hear N’ Aid’, was created to help raise money for famine relief in Africa. For the track, Dio sought help from all sorts of metal musicians, including members of Blue Öyster Cult, W.A.S.P., Mötley Crüe, Twisted Sister, and even the comedy metal band Spinal Tap. The album released by ‘Hear N’ Aid’ also featured performances from Motörhead, Rush, and Kiss.
Heavy metal during the 1980s was often seen as an impenetrable boys club, and ‘Stars’ seemed to support those claims. There were no female musicians included on the track, not even the big hitters of hard rock like Suzi Quatro or Joan Jett. Hence, the single was largely representative of the inherent sexism within rock music at the time, which is not a great angle for a charity record.
Reportedly, licensing issues meant that ‘Stars’ could not be released until 1986, by which time mainstream audiences had become somewhat fatigued with uninteresting charity singles. This delay added to the issues surrounding the single, which culminated in the fact that it failed miserably to live up to the colossal impact of ‘We Are The World’ or ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas.’
Upon its initial release, the record released just over $3m for famine relief in Africa. Of course, $3m is nothing to sniff at, but Dio’s efforts to bring charity singles to the heavy metal world were, all in all, fairly lacklustre.
