There have been numerous famines in the history of Ethiopia. However, in 1984 (and into 1985) there was a particularly bad famine in the north of Ethiopia. The famine was exacerbated by an ongoing guerilla war between the communist Derg government and Tigray Peoples Liberation front operating in the region, and the government deployed or withheld relief supplies according to the perceived loyalty of civilians in various regions.

This particular famine became a cause celebre in the West for two main reasons. First was BBC correspondent Michael Buerk's television report, shown here. In many ways, that report was the first of a new form of "crisis reporting" that used video and powerful imagery to viscerally convey to audiences at home the scope of suffering in a far away country.

Secondly, this crisis saw a response from an assortment of popular musicians, notably Bob Geldof, Midge Ure, who formed the activist group Band-Aid and recorded the charity single "do they know it's christmas" which was released in the UK for the purpose of raising money for famine relief. Artists in the US like Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie responded in 1985 by forming the United Service Artists and recording the charity single "We Are the World" for famine relief.

Later on in 1985, Geldof and Ure organized the Live Aid concerts in the UK and US to further increase awareness of the famine in Ethiopia and raise funds for famine relief.

These songs and concerts generated an enormous amount of attention towards the ongoing famine, and the scale of that famine plus the 80s musical associations has caused the famine to linger in popular memory in the US.