U2, Night and Day, World AIDS Day

In 1990, Red Hot + Blue was released - a pretty solid collection of covers of Cole Porter by a whole slew of famous folks. Remarkably, a video was made for almost every single, with a TV special airing on this date, 18 years ago. It was a bit of an event. Martha and I visited friends and the four of us huddled around the TV, passing comment as the songs went by. The range of tunes was was pretty wide, from the sombre images of k.d. lang caring for an unseen loved one to Neneh Cherry's dark, if not menacing take on I've Got You Under My Skin.

Red Hot still exists. In fact, today the lineup for the 20th Red Hot project was released. Dark Was the Night comes out in February, with contributions from Arcade Fire, The National, Sufjan Stevens, New Pornographers and many more. It's good to know that artists as vital to their time are involved, in much the same way as the original bunch.

Speaking of which: U2 took on Night and Day for Red Hot + Blue. The video is by Wim Wenders, but looking back, it's the sound that sticks out. You can see, or hear, where U2 would be going for much of the next decade.

As it's World AIDS Day, here it is.