CHRIS MARTIN STICKS UP FOR BAND AID 20

The Coldplay singer says that people should buy the single whether they like it or not…

COLDPLAY’s CHRIS MARTIN has defended the BAND AID 20 single, saying that people should buy it regardless of whether they like it or not.

’Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, which hit the number one spot in the UK singles chart for the second week last night (December 12), has attracted some criticism over it’s allegedly ‘patronising’ and ‘inaccurate’ lyrics.

Martin said: “What, of the words? I’ve encountered a lot of cynicism about this Band Aid thing and I think it’s kind of nonsense because to me it’s not about the song or about the words, it is about the images you sometimes see in the videos. But to me it would be no different if a bunch of pop stars were just standing about banging pots and saying we’re interested in this thing that’s going on in Africa.”

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He added: “It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, we could all be doing a headstand together it’s just a fact that enough people from one culture are coming on TV basically and saying ‘What about this problem?”

During an interview on The Jonathan Dimbleby Programme screened on ITV1 yesterday, Martin said; “I think, you, people say that song’s rubbish, or the words are rubbish… it’s like if you pass a busker and didn’t give him some money because you thought the song he was playing was terrible but you could see that he was a bit cold.

“You know what I mean. The music doesn’t really matter, not to put a slight on the song that is, it’s got some nice changes, but you know I don’t think anybody did it for musical reasons.”

The singer, who is set to release the new Coldplay album in March, also expressed his fears over the potential “apocalypse” of global poverty. He said: “I’m like anybody else, you can either ignore it and just pretend it doesn’t exist or in my case you can feel like you’ve been given so much that… you have to take an interest in it.”

“Also, I’ve got a baby and I think if the world keeps going the way it is, it’s going to be bad for everybody not just for poor people because it can’t keep going the way it is, you know trade the way it is, or Aids the way it is,” Martin explained. “So I don’t want to see the apocalypse.”

However, when asked whether he had hope for the future and whether he thought steps could be taken to defeat global poverty and disease, Martin stated that “it’s really achievable”.

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“It’s not a mystical thing – it literally takes like ten men to just sit round a table and say ‘Yeah, why don’t we change this law?’, or ‘Why don’t we lower the tariff barrier on imports from Ghana?’ or ‘Why don’t we, why don’t we stop sending so much surplus rice to Mexico?’ – this is in the case of America. It’s very easy to do. That’s why I’m excited because I feel like if people like me make the right albums and sell enough records, can talk to the right people, you know – it’s exciting.”

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