The Musicians Who Were Conspicuously Absent from Live Aid
And why they weren't there.
Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, all of whom were conspicuously absent from Live Aid (Getty Images)
This story is part of our continuing coverage in honor of Live Aid Week in Philadelphia. Check back daily for more Live Aid fun.
We’ve been talking a lot this week about the performers who were at Live Aid, from lousy Led Zeppelin to hometown heroes the Hooters. But what about the artists who didn’t play the event?
Michael Jackson
The only thing that could have made Live Aid a bigger spectacle than it was would have been Michael Jackson moonwalking across the JFK stage, three years after he changed music history with Thriller. He hadn’t yet embarked on a tour of his own — that wouldn’t happen until 1987.
Jackson was asked to perform at Live Aid but didn’t, explaining he was too enmeshed in his studio work for Bad. “Michael is just about living in the studio,” a Jackson representative told the New York Times of the decision. Some in the music world have speculated that the real reason was that control-freak Jackson would have had to relinquish creative oversight of the production, which sounds much more believable. Jackson did, however, co-write “We Are the World.”
Bruce Springsteen
How could the Pride of New Jersey not cross the bridge to delight fans at JFK? These were very much Springsteen’s, um, glory days, with Born in the U.S.A. released about a year before Live Aid. The videos for the title track and “Dancing in the Dark” were on MTV constantly.
But Springsteen was spent, having just returned from a major tour and getting married to his first wife. So he declined. Ironically, he’d played a three-night run at Wembley the week before Live Aid and let its organizers use some of his equipment for the show. It’s been said he’s regretted not taking part.
Pink Floyd
The British psychedelic band notoriously broke up in 1983, four years after smash concept album The Wall. Rumors swirled that Pink Floyd would reunite at JFK for Live Aid, and that probably would have worked out better than the barfy Led Zeppelin reunion did. Organizers asked Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters to get the crew together for Live Aid, but he wanted to bring his new band — an offer that was refused.
On the other side of the pond, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour played at Wembley for Live Aid but didn’t do any Pink Floyd songs. He was merely the guitarist for Bryan Ferry.
