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Pop stars 'too lightweight'
27/02/2003 13:31 - (SA)
London - Singer George Michael, who has spoken out against a US-led war on Iraq, says most other pop acts are too lightweight to carry off a peace protest song.
The former Wham! frontman criticised plans by Lee Ryan of British boy band Blue to gather stars for a paean to peace.
Ryan said last week that he hoped to approach stars such as Justin Timberlake, Pink and Kylie Minogue for a song in the spirit of Band Aid, the 1984 record in aid of Ethiopian famine relief.
But Michael said the prospective participants were too young and politically naive to carry it off.
"I'm begging, I'm hoping that there will not be a Band Aid 2 because the reality is that very, very few people in the industry now, that you're hearing on the radio, make their money from their own hearts and minds," said Michael, who performed on Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas? in 1984.
"They make their money from singing the words of others, and so therefore the weight of something called Band Aid 2 would be incredibly slight," he told the British Broadcasting Corp's Hardtalk programme.
Ryan said last week that he had written a song called Stand Up As People, whose chorus runs: "When are we gonna stand up as people/Realise that as people we're all equal/We don't want no world war sequel/For the love of God think of the people."
He said proceeds from the single would go to charities such as Warchild, which helps children affected by war.
Last summer Michael released Shoot the Dog, a song and video satirising US foreign policy in which British Prime Minister Tony Blair was depicted as President Bush's obedient poodle.
At last week's Brit Awards, R&B singer Ms Dynamite performed a retooled version of Michael's hit Faith, with lyrics expressing opposition to war in Iraq. - Sapa-AP
- SAPA
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South Africa
