Do They Know It’s Halloween? was released on October 11, 2005, in Canada on Vice Records by a cast of rock artists and other performers under the name “North American Halloween Prevention Initiative” (NAHPI). It reached number four on the Canada pop chart.
Like its inspiration “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, it is a charity song, with all proceeds being donated to UNICEF. According to the official press release, the song “stems from a frustration with other benefit songs’ misguided, somewhat patronizing attitude, and Western-centric worldview.”
The contributors include: Win Butler & Régine Chassagne of Arcade Fire, Beck, Buck 65, David Cross, Liane Balaban_ of Dessert, Devendra Banhart (with Noah Georgeson, Jona Bechtolt & Luckey Remington_), Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Feist, Gino Washington, Syd Butler of Les Savy Fav, J’aime Tambeur of Islands, Malcolm McLaren, Nardwuar the Human Serviette, Peaches, Dntel, Jenny Lewis & Blake Sennett of Rilo Kiley, Roky Erickson, Chris Murphy of Sloan, Asya & Chloe of Chaos Chaos, Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, Russell Mael of Sparks, Subtitle, Steve Jocz of Sum 41 Tanya Tagaq, Anna Waronker of That Dog, Dan Boeckner & Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade, Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
