That one great night of Pop

1984 was a very good year for American popular music. Michael Jackson was king, riding high on the massive success of his Thriller. Prince was shaping up to be his big rival, with When Doves Cry.

Also, a close contender was Lionel Richie, a former Commodore on the solo trail with one hit after another, Hello, All Night Long, Stuck on You. Not to forget Stevie Wonder, who was selling big with I Just Called to Say I Love You.

There was also no shortage of queens. Tina Turner, What’s Love Got to Do with It, Private Dancer; Madonna, Holiday, Like A Virgin; Cyndi Lauper, Time After Time, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun; The Pointer Sisters, Jump (For My Love), I’m So Excited.

Bruce Springsteen was the rock god with Dancing in the Dark. Kenny Loggins was kicking up his heels with Footloose. And Huey Lewis was the new kid on the rock block with The Heart of Rock and Roll.

Given those names and those titles, the new year was shaping up to be another good one. But then thanks to those names who created those titles, 1985 became a momentous one.

It was the year when We Are the World was made, a brilliant showcase of the best of American pop music and an enduring testament to how music power can be harnessed and used for a greater good.

In the case of We Are the World, the good was to help ease the suffering and save lives in famine-stricken Ethiopia. Harry Belafonte, film and music star who had never shied away from using his fame for worthy causes, issued the call. Can musicians in the US do something to help Africa?

Bob Geldof, the frontman of the band, Boomtown Rats had already started the ball rolling with the release of the charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas by a gathering of British pop stars in December 1984. Maybe something similar can also be done in America.

Jackson and Richie answered the call and that was how We Are the World, a fund-raising recording by the all-star group USA for Africa came about. How it happened during one magical night, on Jan. 28, 1985 is the subject of the documentary The Greatest Night in Pop, which is now running on Netflix.

Jackson and Richie composed the song. Quincy Jones, the great Q agreed to arrange and produce. They next laid down the backing tracks in Kenny Rogers’ studio.

The recording was scheduled on the night of the American Music Awards. Almost all of the big stars would be in L.A. for the event and it would be easy enough to get them into the A&M Studio and finish laying down their vocals.

And they came. Jackson, Richie, Rogers, Belafonte, Geldof, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, James Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Hall & Oates, Huey Lewis, who brought along his band, The News, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Dan Aykroyd, Lindsey Buckingham, Sheila E, the Jacksons, Latoya, Jackie, Marlon and Tito, Waylon Jennings, Bette Midler, Jeffrey Osbourne, the Pointer Sisters and Smoky Robinson.

The Greatest Night in Pop offers a behind-the-scenes look at how We are the World came about and what happened on that glorious night when Quincy put up a sign at the entrance of the studio that said “Check your egos at the door.”

They did. Save for some small lapses that the docu presents as amusing bits. Like Prince refusing to come or Waylon walking out. It is fun watching Stevie’s wonderful gift for vocal mimicry.  Imagine Stevie singing exactly like Dylan! Richie in a panic discovering Michael’s menagerie, a snake, a chimp, etc. Cyndi’s bangles disrupting the recording and many more.

I thought then that it was quite a night. I loved the song for what it stood for. I waited for it to be played on the radio. Foreign records took a long time getting to the stores in 1985. So, we had to listen to the radio until the local release. Then I saved the album and the Life Magazine special issue. Of course, I watched The Greatest Night of Pop and was alternately happy and teary eyed.