Culture of the United Kingdom music of Christmas has always been a combination of sacred and secular, and every year in the UK there is highly publicised competition to be the Christmas number one single, which has led to the production of music which provides the mainstay of festive playlists. Responding to a BBC report on the 1984 famine in Ethiopia, Bob Geldof created the charity supergroup Band Aid who recorded "Do They Know It's Christmas?". It has been Christmas number one three times. Written by Sarah Flower Adams in 1841, the Christian hymn "Nearer, My God, to Thee" is associated with the sinking of
The Venetians (Australian band) October-November 1984. This led to tours supporting Icehouse and Nik Kershaw. By 1985 they were an Australian live attraction in their own right. The band released the album's second single, "Shine the Light" (February 1985), which reached the top 100. Near the end of 1985 the Venetians went into the studio with producer Mark Opitz to record two tracks, which were issued as their next single, "So Much for Love" (December 1985). The band started working with producer, Peter Blyton, on their second album, "Calling in the Lions" (June 1986). "So Much For Love" peaked at number three on the