The Greatest Night in Pop

Great watch

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source: The Greatest Night in Pop

I waited 97 minutes to find out why Dan Akroyd was in that recording studio. I still don't know. As much as I loved the Blues Brothers, that doesn't make him a singer. The only two huge stars of the time missing were Prince and Madonna. We learned about Prince in all his solitary weirdness but Madonna was mentioned only for a split second. For anyone who's been in a professional recording studio, Cyndi Lauper having to remove her jewelry was hilarious. The microphones pick up everything, even the proverbial dropped pin. To anyone questioning why she was there, take a quick look at the pop charts from say 1983 to 1986 - there's your answer.

2024's The Greatest Night in Pop represents the biggest stars in the music industry getting together to record the single, "We Are the World". You could say it was a surreal experience back in 1985, seeing Michael Jackson and Kenny Rogers and Huey Lewis and Diana Ross you know, just hanging out. If you're a sucker for nostalgia (and I am) and were born in the 70s (and I was), The Greatest Night in Pop will take you back, back to a simpler time. "But if you just believe there's no way we can fall". Indeed. Some archived moments here, some interviews there, Lionel Richie everywhere, The Greatest Night in Pop has the camera peeking in, capturing singing icons for the first time as normal people (with normal psyches). I don't know how "Pop's" director (Bao Nguyen) got this long-lost footage or why it was kept in the vault for so long but hats off to him. The first half of The Greatest Night in Pop is exhilarating, longing in how its timelines of LA in January lead up to everybody getting together to record a song benefiting African famine relief. I mean even if you remember what went down almost 40 years ago (and I do) and even if you've heard "We Are the World" 100 times (and I have), the annals in "Pop" still feel fresh and new, like visiting an old friend or uh, absent relative. So OK, what's the downside to viewing The Greatest Night in Pop (I waited for the last paragraph to throw down the downside)? It's simple really, the documentary is too long and well, runs out of wiggle room. I mean the singers come into the studio right after the American Music Awards to record. Great. Looks there's Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder and oh my, Tina Turner. Fabulous. Then "Pop" shows them taking 6 or so hours to complete their vocals, looking exasperated at 5 am, mumbling to each other, and feeling darn knackered. Um, that's not a movie, that's just docketed material for filler, not giving the audience member anything to really latch on to. Heck, you're simply better off watching the 52-minute making of "We Are the World" via YouTube. It's leaner, meaner, and makes the rock legends look more streets ahead. "Greatest" lower bound.

I have no qualms about praising this piece. It is great that after over thirty some years, we get to see the effort that went into producing this record. Of course, there are critical comments about how these big ticket stars could have opened their pocketbooks and sent a bunch of money to Africa. It's interesting how the first thing out of some people's mouth is to put down the effort that was made. The moneys that came from this far exceeded anything these people could have contributed. The beauty was the herding of cats in a venue that was being constructed on the fly. Lionel Richie had to be in way over his head at times. It was also interesting to see that some of the performers, famous as they were, became frightened that they couldn't deliver a one or two sentence solo. Of course, others didn't like the people that were there. Bob Dylan is frequently criticized. But we all know how he sounds and he was contributing for the overall impact of the production. I have to say that when I watched this, I didn't think all that much about Huey Lewis. He becomes a major contributor to the documentary. Anyway, what an effort to draw these people together. Leaving a major awards show and heading off to do this. It will never happen again.

The Greatest Night in Pop This is a documentary about the night 47 celebrities got together in late January of 1985 and recorded a song to help raise money for Africa. I enjoyed the video taken not only during the recording of the song, but during some of the writing, and rehearsal. I hadn't realized that the song was recorded immediately after the American Music Awards, and seeing clips of that show brought back childhood memories. However, the documentary went on way too long. It's not exactly thrilling to see take after take as the singers performed their solos. The drama inspired by Stevie Wonder wanting Swahili in a song that was primarily geared for Ethiopia was quite embarrassing in my opinion. I love Stevie, but that was ridiculous, and I fully understood Waylon Jennings walking out over it. The absence of Prince was also not handled very well. You have dozens of artists who have been recording all night, and everything grinds to a halt while Sheila E reveals her insecurity that she was only invited as a way to bring Prince. One will never know how the song would sound with Prince, but Huey Lewis did such a fantastic job. I love the song. I love the video that played on MTV back then. But, I don't think this documentary needed to be made. There isn't enough information to support a feature length film and I felt that the filmmakers stretched out what information there was. The younger audience that wasn't aware of the song may get more out of this than I did. I hope you enjoy the story of one of the greatest songs ever made.

There is so much to go through for this docu! But one thing it really showed well is the process of how that song was made, what it was made for, how they managed to get those people in a time where it was far harder to do so! And then to write the song in such a short time and then even in a shorter amount of time to record it all, with so many different people and ego's that had to stay outside! I think this shows how Talented Michael Jackson was as songwrite as well as Lionel Richie! Yes Quincy is a big part of it, but without a doubt those 2 made that very important groud layer for the song, and of course then the whole idea of doing it so many artists was an amazing idea as well from the team! It was an amazing peace to watch, and of course unique views we haven't even seen before, including of course from Michael Jackson! I would easily recommend this to anyone!

My kids were 5 and 10 when We Are the World was released. They couldn't get enough of it probably because Michael Jackson was a big part of it and they knew the money was going to feed kids in Africa. This behind the scenes account of how Harry Belafonte inspired Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, and Quincy Jones to make it happen is beautiful and funny with some very personal commentary by many of the dozens of artists who did the marathon recording. Their effort seems like something that would never happen today even though we surely could use the love and selflessness they embodied the night they gathered in one studio to record the song. The reflections by Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Smokey Robinson , Cindy Lauper and others make this a special film. It's a little long but worth sticking with it.

I can't recall the last time I watched a film from beginning to end without taking a break or even thinking of taking a break. And this has nothing to do with the quality of the ultimate product, although the film made me appreciate "We Are the World" far more than I did at the time of its creation. The experience of seeing how this event was created, assembled and carried out was mesmerizing, engrossing and tremendously moving. The film enlarged, exponentially, my knowledge and understanding of the individuals who participated in creating the song and video. For example, I appreciate, for the first time, the scope of Lionel Ritchie's talent, which extends far beyond singing. Wrangling pop stars is more difficult than herding house cats, but Ritchie proved to be a master of the art. He was the film's star, with Stevie Wonder and Quincy Jones close behind. The scenes showing Stevie's interactions with Ray Charles and Bob Dylan were, at the same time, hilarious and moving. The film also enhanced my appreciation of the level of talent that participated in the project. As a contemporary of most of the participants, I realize now that they were a lot more talented than I might have thought back in the 1980s. From a technical standpoint, condensing a ten-hour all night recording session into the last hour of a ninety minute film was no mean feat. The editing of tons of archival material into a coherent narrative was masterful. If Netflix can mount more retrospective documentaries of similar events from the late twentieth century, I would welcome the endeavor. If I have one criticism, it is that I wanted to know more about the selection process, about the artists who elected not to participate, and about the one, Waylon Jennings, who walked out. Madonna was mentioned once. And maybe Waylon was there because he lost a bet to his pal Willie, and of course Prince was Prince. But Waylon and Willie were the only representatives of a genre that IS music to millions of Americans. Were any others asked? But on the whole, the film was an Oscar level documentary and should be recognized as such.