Pop Culture Made Waves - Popular Culture Impacts the World

Many don't understand or appreciate the power of popular culture. Over the last several decades, popular culture and its icons have often led the way in helping those in need and responding to emergencies and crises. They have been an integral part of the humanitarian aide and social change movements.

Here are just a few examples:

Live Aid

"Live Aid became the focus of everyone's frustration and anger and shame. Very quickly, it became a sort of phenomenon."

- Bob Geldof

More than 70,000 people packed Wembley Stadium 10 years ago for a concert which was watched on television by 1.4 billion people in over 170 countries worldwide. A total of £70 million was raised for famine relief - still the most money raised for charity by a single event - and used to fund projects in Mozambique, Chad, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, the Sudan and Ethiopia. (The people of Bermuda were the most generous of all, giving the equivalent of £1.50 per person.) Band Aid and Live Aid were never intended to become permanent institutions: once the money was spent, the offices were closed and the Band Aid Trust now encourages people to support other charities working in Africa.

Farm Aid:

"The fight to save family farms isn't just about farmers. It's about making sure that there is a safe and healthy food supply for all of us. It's about jobs, from Main Street to Wall Street. It's about a better America."

- Willie Nelson, President, Farm Aid, 1985

Since its beginning, Farm Aid has granted over $17 million to more than 100 farm organizations, churches, and service agencies in 44 states. Many Farm Aid grants are used for direct services, including food and emergency aid, legal assistance, and hotlines. These services have helped thousands of struggling farm families across the country stay on the land.The remainders of Farm Aid funds are distributed as program grants to promote outreach, education, and the development of long-term solutions for the problems facing rural America.

Popular Music & Social Change

MEGA-EVENTS: by Denise M. Dalaimo

Popular music forced a level of cross-cultural communication that governments had resisted for years.

• Some African famine relief music projects:
• Live Aid: $67 million to feed starving people in Africa
• Great Britain: Band Aid: "Do They Know it's Christmas?" (37 artists)
• Canada: Northern Lights: "Tears Are Not Enough"
• U.S.: Sun City LP featuring 50+ rock, rap, rhythm & blues, jazz, salsa artists


• A number of rap groups including Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions participated in "Self-Destruction," the anthem of the Stop the Violence Movement, protesting black-on black crime. They have continued to protest the explosive conditions that continue to exist in communities of color.


• Artists ranging from U2 and Talking Heads to John Cougar Mellencamp and Belinda Carlisle donated 27 hit songs to a compilation album and split the proceeds between Greenpeace and the Soviet-based Foundation for Survival and Development of Humanity.


• A number of Western heavy metal acts including Ozzie Osborne, Motley Crue, and Bon Jovi participated in the Moscow Peace Festival, the first Soviet mega-festival to be broadcast worldwide.


• Our Common Future: environmental extravaganza at Lincoln Center. Bob Geldof, Richard Gere, Sting, Midnight Oil, Herbie Hancock, et al.


• Amnesty International's Human Rights Now tour (21 dates in 18 countries): Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Tracy Chapman made all dates and participated in press conference.


• AMFAR (American Foundation for AIDS Research) Dionne Warwick "That's What Friends are For," included Elton John, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder. All of the profits (including artists, record company, producers, publishers, and participating unions) were donated to AMFAR.


• Local Issues: Springsteen rallied when 3M proposed closing its New Jersey plant; Little Steven organized to help the Native American community.