The Greatest Night in Pop (2024)

[Edgy MD]

Netflix documentary covering the 1985 recording of the single "We Are the World" by an assemblage of stars from across the pop music spectrum pulling an all-nighter.

[metirish]

Just finished this , enjoyed it. Lionel Richie was great at telling the stories.

[metirish]

The second quarter dragged a little ,but once they got the artists into the studio it really got going. The Bob Dylan bit was really good, Waylon Jennings " good Ole county boy" bit was something I didn't know.

Overall I thought it was a good look back at something that was a one-off.

[Edgy MD]

Pretty softball telling, I thought. I guess I'm a jerk, but stuff like learning that Al Jarreau was Al Jarrunk, and kept stepping on Dionne Warwick and Willie Nelson, was pretty compelling. And yet his voice was terrific.

There were supposedly at least 40 people told "No, thank you, please don't show up, and we're not telling you where we are anyhow." These included the likes of Madonna, and the politics involved that had so many of the invites dependent on whether you were with the same agency as Lionel Richie must have caused some bitterness.

It was really interesting when Quincy ceded the floor to Bob Geldof at the beginning of the session. Bob tried to explain to them why they were there, and what it's like to watch somebody suffer die in front of you of a very preventable cause, and nobody could meet his eyes except Dylan, who was dead locked on him.

[metirish]

Shiela E probably rightly sounded bitter , yes, the Geldof part was good stuff, I really liked Stevie Wonder working with Dylan , you could see the gratitude from Dylan in that bit.

I never really thought about the invitations being a closed shop, but that is interesting

[Edgy MD]

Sheila needed Crash Davis to help her with her clichés: "I'm just here to help the team any way I can."

[A Boy Named Seo]

This doc makes me want to buy netflix for a month

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, but there's a lot of good footage of the session from the youtube.

Where this comes up short is that, like a lot of music docs, it's totally authorized, so the documentarian isn't free to follow where the story leads, and a lot of interesting paths get cut off. Kenny Loggins repeats something kind of nasty that Paul Simon said about an artist that wasn't invited. A good documentarian would instantly get feedback from said artist or their representatives, but not here.

And nobody is free to say the obvious, that it's not a particularly good song, and because of time constraints, Quincy Jones wasn't able to break up the arrangement into any harmonies. When Stevie adds to the vocal arrangement, he's definitively onto something, but they really don't have time to change things with everybody in the room waiting for their five seconds, so that gets scrapped.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I'm not sure they had to go to John Denver for a reaction.

I liked this, not being a WATW historian (or a fan when it came out). I wish there were more perspectives included but I was impressed they got Springsteen, recounting what surely wasn't a career highlight. Are you telling me Kim Carnes wasn't available?

By the way she was a good sport to see her solo get cut to two words-- "and we" once they arranged the bridge. That someone got drunk didn't surprise me but nobody mentioned anything about what they used to stay awake all night

Heuy Lewis just as he recounted, did look nervous in the footage (and good for an old man). I think he suffers hearing loss today and no longer performs.

"The white people really bring it" -- true but many of them really chewed the scenery, like Bruce and Cyndi. Loved the Dylan and Stevie bit

[Edgy MD]

We've been singing alternative lyrics for a week.

There comes a time
When you need to write a song
And Stevie Wonder ...
... he won't pick up the phone ...

[A Boy Named Seo]

Watched it and absolutely loved it. Stevie's moments were my favorites. The one JCL mentioned with the hilariously out-of-place Dylan was incredible. I also loved when at about 6am and everyone is running on fumes, Stevie decides it would be a great idea if they re-wrote some lines in Swahili even though Ethiopians don't speak Swahili. They messed around with it for a bit to placate him, but Waylon was like 'fuck this I'm out'.

I couldn't get over the fact that they got everyone to show up late at night after an awards ceremony and stay all night and into the morning, with Al Jarreau seemingly the only one who was really fucked up. I'm sure ego played no small part in it, FOMO before FOMO was a thing, or just not wanting to be the star who wasn't there. That they got all the phone calls to everyone done, the demos adorably packaged and sent everywhere via FedEx so the performers knew the song, and the the damn thing recorded in less than 24 hours with all those people was insane.

[Frayed Knot]

I couldn't get over the fact that they got everyone to show up late at night after an awards ceremony and stay all night and into the morning ... I'm sure ego played no small part in it, FOMO before FOMO was a thing, or just not wanting to be the star who wasn't there.

A bit like 'Dream Team' basketball 1992
It was the first time pros (at least by capitalist country standards) were to be included, but the first reaction by Jordan specifically and several
others as well was, 'I've already done an Olympics (as an amateur) and have no interest in doing it again. Let someone else take my place'.
Then their agents got ahold of them and explained how they'd look like an anti-patriot (and right on the heels of the Gulf War no less) and
doing so would potentially toss endorsement deals out the window and other bad pub stuff. That was enough to not only get the stars willing
to get in but also to band together in order to keep those they didn't like (Isiah Thomas) out.
Once that was all settled then the only snag remaining came when the Nike athletes among them were informed that evil Reebok held the
uniform rights. That was solved by draping American flags over their shoulders (and conveniently across the logo) at awards podium time.
See, just look how patriotic I can be!!'

One can only imagine a similar manager/artist talk: 'But Bruce, you'll look like you WANT children to starve if you don't agree to this!!'

[A Boy Named Seo]

The Dream Team analogy is pretty good. I vote for Dan Aykroyd as the Cristian Laettner of the WATW Dream Team.

[Edgy MD]

Ackyroyd — like Lionel Richie, Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes, and Bette Midler — had the inside track by being on Ken Kragen's roster. Probably one or two others also.

I mean, somewhere, at some time, this conversation happened.

　　"Great news! It looks like Madonna is available."

　　　　"We don't need Madonna."

　　"But ... she's Madonna."

　　　　"We got Cyndi Lauper. We're fine without Madonna."

　　"But you're telling me Elwood Blues is a must-have?"

[metirish]

Cyndi's singing like she does I think was amazing

[dgwphotography]

　"Great news! It looks like Madonna is available."

　　　　"We don't need Madonna."

　　"But ... she's Madonna."

I haven't seen this yet, but IIRC, wasn't there a sign that said "Leave your egos at the door"? That alone would be enough to disqualify her.

[Edgy MD]

Indeed there was, but that message could have disqualified a lot of people on the same terms. (At least two performers walked out for less-than-impressive reasons.) I certainly don't think she was necessary to make anything artistically superior. I'm just trying to underscore the stranglehold The Ken Kragen Agency had on the guestlist.

I would have pegged the Diana Ross as the biggest diva in the room, but by the (seemingly credible) accounts of the documentary, she comes off as quite the opposite. And she and Kenny Rogers were the only ones to wear that totally unflattering sweatshirt the whole night.

I'd like to see a killer documentary about the American Music Awards ceremony earlier that same night. If that was truly "the greatest night in pop," that broadcast is half the reason why.