Not a TV Series, but has anyone watched "The Greatest Night in Pop", the Netflix documentary about the making of the US counterpart to Band Aid - "We Are the World". While the song was average enough (a fact Bruce Springsteen acknowledges during the documentary), it raised incredible funding and gave fierce publicity to the whole famine relief effort in Ehiopia at the time. The song was deliberately written with a simple structure, melody and arrangement so it could be recorded quickly. Watching the documentary various themes become evident:
It's always fascinating to watch these documentaries showing the collaborative creative process in action, but this one is extra special. Funny too, to see the likes of Huey Lewis going on about how he was s***tin' himself to be in such exalted company and terrified that he'd balls it up. You'd need to be over 50 to really get the whole thing but sure that's most folks on this forum.
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- The amount of talent in the room that night was absolutely off the charts - these are the people who soundtracked our youth and whose music continues to be played on rotation today, forty years later - Dylan, Springsteen, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Tina Turner, Willie Nelson, Lionel Richie, Steve Perry etc., etc. It's very nostalgic to see them all so young
- As if we didn't know it already, Quincy Jones was a genius - and managed to corral all of those egos and performances into coherent set of performances in just one night
- The evolution of the relationship in the room between the players is fascinating - wariness is gradually repaced by warmth and respect - all led by Richie, Wonder and Jones - as they work through the night
- Whatever about his failings in life, Micheal Jackson was an absolutely spellbinding performer. He co-wrote the song with Lionel Richie and there are two or three sequences of him singing alone into the mic that raise the hairs on the back of your neck. It's worth watching the documentary for these scenes alone. Such an incredible voice. It's worth mentioning as well that as well as writing the song, he carried the effort at times in the studio and while all the others were at the American Music awards earlier in the night, he put in several hours alone in the studio getting the arrangements ready and rehearsing his part. I guess genius doesn't come for free
It's always fascinating to watch these documentaries showing the collaborative creative process in action, but this one is extra special. Funny too, to see the likes of Huey Lewis going on about how he was s***tin' himself to be in such exalted company and terrified that he'd balls it up. You'd need to be over 50 to really get the whole thing but sure that's most folks on this forum.
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