Hearing Aid

A couple of rockers prominently associated with music-based “Aid” events turned 60 in the past few days.

On Wednesday, Bob Geldof hit the mark.  You may know Geldof from his song with the Boomtown Rats titled “I Don’t Like Mondays” (which is featured below).  You may also know him as the lead character in the film Pink Floyd–The Wall.  Additionally, you may remember him as one of the developers of Band Aid, which brought together famous pop musicians to record the single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia in 1984.  Geldof followed that up by developing and coordinating the live concert event Live Aid in 1985, which featured 16 hours of music in London and Philadelphia to raise more money to aid the economies of African nations.

Meawhile, on Friday, John Mellencamp (a.k.a. John Cougar or John Cougar Mellencamp) hit age 60.  Mellencamp is more known for his pop chart success (which Marc Majers noted here on Tunesmate on Thursday) than Geldof, particularly through hits like “Jack and Diane,” “Hurts So Good,” “Pink Houses” (which is featured below), and a host of others.  Yet, you may also recognize Mellencamp as a cofounder of Farm Aid–an annual concert established to aid family farmers in the United States that was inspired by Geldof’s Live Aid and that remains a yearly event today.

The question Tunesmate wants to know as we celebrate the 60th birthdays of these two important musicians is “Which one is more significant in pop music history–Geldof or Mellencamp?”  Please cast your vote below.

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