Left to right: Willie Nelson, Stan Lynch,
Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Mike Campbell
September 22, 1985, 40 years ago: The 1st Farm Aid concert is held at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, on the campus of the University of Illinois. The concert was organized by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young, spurred on by Bob Dylan's comments at Live Aid earlier in that year that he hoped some of the money would help American farmers in danger of losing their farms through mortgage debt -- and, while he didn't mention him by name, other policies of President Ronald Reagan.
In addition to the preceding, performers included Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Glen Campbell, Billy Joel, B.B. King and Roy Orbison, and raised over $9 million for America's family farmers. That's a little under $27 million in today's money.
There have been Farm Aid concerts since, including in 2006 at the Tweeter Center in Camden, New Jersey (a hard city, but South Jersey still has lots of farms), 2007 on Randall's Island in New York, and a 30th Anniversary celebration in 2015 at Northerly Island in Chicago.
Earlier in 1985, Nelson, Cash, Jennings and Kristofferson had formed a country "supergroup" called The Highwaymen. In 1988, Dylan, Petty and Orbison joined with former Beatle George Harrison and Electric Light Orchestra leader Jeff Lynne to form The Traveling Wilburys. So the 1st Farm Aid concert had 100 percent of The Highwaymen and 60 percent of The Traveling Wilburys.
On November 2, the football team at the University of Iowa, like Illinois a Big Ten Conference school, went to Ohio State, and wore stickers on their helmets, reading "ANF," meaning "America Needs Farmers." Although Iowa lost the game, they still went on to win the Big Ten title, and have worn the stickers ever since.
September 22, 1985 was a Sunday. Actress Tatiana Maslany was born.
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