The Greatest Night in Pop

The Greatest Night in Pop is a Netflix Documentary about how the song “We Are The World” came to be. The title is kinda cheesy IMO but it might be the truth.

Inspired by Band Aid — the concert that raised money for anti-famine efforts in Ethiopia Harry Belafonte enlisted his friends Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson to write a song that could shine a similar light on African famine relief.

We see Michael — alone at the mic recording the vocal that would teach an ensemble the song. Built-in auto-tune. A treat to witness.

Fast forward to a January night in 1985 when Bruce, Stevie, Diana, Billy, Willie, Smokey, Bette,  (first names are all we need) and dozens more notables file into A&M studios.

If you’ve been a songwriter in LA for as long as I have you’ve recorded at A&M and probably felt like a big shot. This session would put you to shame. Whoever you are.

I guess you could say it’s the ‘super-est’ supergroup ever curated which is why Quincy (do I have to say ‘Jones’) feels the need to hang that famous sign on the entrance (with humor and affection): “Check Your Ego at the Door.” He knows there’ll be a lot of them (egos). But they heed his call and arrive sans assistants, handlers, entourage, traveling photographer or make-up artist.

Lionel is the storyteller. He explains what a challenge it was to organize the session logistically (some ppl were on tour) and what a miracle it was to get so many big names in the same room at the same time. I guess when Lionel or Quincy, (or legendary fundraiser Ken Kragen) call you say yes.

At a typical recording session any one of these stars would be red-carpeted, catered to, worshipped. But tonight they are equals. Selfless humans coming together for a sum greater than the parts — to save lives.

Still, they can’t believe the legends amongst them. Personal heroes at their side. Bruce speaks of idolizing Dylan as a boy. Cyndi asks for autographs. Sigh. To be a fly.

Quincy assigns lines to each singer. One by one they step up to the mic and deliver. Steve Perry’s eyes roll back on the last word of…

“There's a choice we're making We're saving our own lives”

…as if for him singing is sex.

No two voices are remotely alike. You can close your eyes and tell the difference. Kim sounds nothing like Cyndi sounds nothing like Dionne sounds nothing like Tina. Huey sounds nothing like Daryl sounds nothing like Ray sounds nothing like Kenny. They aren’t a product of an algorithmic vocal bubble.

Dylan is the only one who appears uncomfortable in an environment of properly trained singers. He’s a master story-teller but he doesn’t do melody. He doesn’t do anthems. Quincy asks him for “ad-libs (random answer-backs if you will.) We watch him call on Stevie for guidance. Stevie feeds Bob tasty Dylanesque responses. Bob returns to the mic and mimics Stevie mimicking him. Bob looks relieved and we’re relieved for Bob, who doesn’t take himself too seriously. After all he must have known that what he was showing up for would be out of his comfort zone. But he shows up anyway.

I wonder about a few no-shows. Madonna? Cher? Were they invited? Did they say no? Where was Prince? Was he just a notch more ‘super’ than everyone else? Maybe his ego was uncheckable.

It was a world of no social media. No documenting your every move on IG live or TikTok. We were paying attention! Engaged in the matter at hand. In this case waiting patiently for Quincy's instructions.

5am they were still there. One night only. (It’s occurred to me that “One Night Only” would have been a better title for the film.) They had to get it done because no one was going to come back the following week to punch a line. Soon they’d all be private-jetting home or limo-ing back to Malibu.

When George Harrison organized The Concert For Bangla Desh in 1971 musicians started to realize that they could make a difference doing what they did best – performing. We saw Live Aid, Live 8, Farm Aid, Tsunami Aid, concerts for AIDS Awareness. I remember how powerful it was when Sheryl performed “Safe and Sound” for America: A Tribute to Heroes — the benefit concert after 9/11. The country needed it. We were hurting.

Why don’t we see as many benefit concerts today? God knows there are causes to fight for. Are we too divided about what side of the cause is the right one? Can today’s brand of superstar check those egos at the door? Are they able and willing to sing amongst their peers without autotune in the feed?

As for recording, we’re in the studio (myself included) doing multiple takes before we get it right. Autotune is a lifesaver for sure. But if there was no technology that perfected performance we’d actually have to hone our skills. We couldn’t be a star if we couldn’t deliver.

The Greatest Night In Pop gives us 96 minutes to remind us what it takes not just to be a recording artist but to be a star. I hope it inspires the up-and-coming to use their gift and privilege to help others. What a galant, generous, ego-free endeavor this one night was!

No selfies allowed.

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