DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: "The Greatest Night of Pop"

Fascinating Stories Behind Music's Ultimate Collaboration

It’s not often I see a preview for something upcoming on Netflix that leaves me zealously anticipating its release, but January 29 was marked on the ole’ Google calendar seconds after seeing the trailer for “The Greatest Night in Pop.”  Why wouldn’t I? Recorded (almost secretly, following the Grammys) in 1985 to raise funds for starving Africans and featuring a literal who’s who of music icons was essentially the sweet spot of my youth. I was at the infancy of my teenybopper years when “We are the World” by USA for Africa dropped, and holy shit did I immediately love it. Within days I had that the cassette and after playing it a few dozen times could name every performer’s voice, in order on that historic fuckin’ record. Now, 39 years later you’re going to offer me a full-length documentary on its making that features with many of the artists who partook---where do I sign? All that said, there’s no way the bar for  The Greatest Night in Pop wasn’t getting set astronomically high.  Did it live up to my considerable hype? Well read on, duh.

PROS: There’s a ton of fun facts and tidbits I didn’t know before watching that I discovered. Those ranged from small (Bruce Springsteen’s last tour stop before the recording being in Buffalo) and Huey Lewis rendered star struck to things more essential to the recording, including the person who got a solo originally meant for Prince, one of the singers feeling used, another almost stiffing because her boyfriend thought the song was a dud and a country star saying peace out when Stevie Wonder wanted to sing a verse in Swahili.

Also, it was both funny and totally relatable to see Al Jarreau borderline hammered, to the point Lionel Richie had to start hiding bottles of wine from him. I was today’s years old when I learned Al Jarreau is way cooler than I thought. Speaking of Richie, he tells some great stories, most notably Wonder not getting back to him originally to help write the song before ultimately turning to Michael Jackson. Stevie basically showed up at the end—fucking bandwagon hopper. There’s some really great footage of Jackson during this doc—in the studio trying some vocals literally as the Grammy’s was going on in town. Seeing MJ do what he did better than anyone in pop music history (in my humble opinion) not only brought back my sentimental feels of the time but just felt incredibly intimate to watch---you could just see him completely in his element.

There’s a pretty good amount on talking heads talent that gave interviews for this documentary, including Richie, Springsteen, Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Shelia E., Dionne Warrick and Smokey Robinson, not to mention multiple music engineers and other no-names instrumental to the recording.

CONS: The thing I always wondered about most but never knew the full answer to focused on why Prince and Madonna weren’t part of this momentous occasion. We got answered that moderately satisfied me at best. With Prince he didn’t like being around groups of people and had a pretty intense musical rivalry with Michael Jackson in the mid 80’s. It’s revealed in the film the most Prince was willing to do was record a guitar in a separate room from the talent. When that was turned down, he bailed entirely. That’s pretty cut and dry although I would’ve liked to have heard thoughts on that from more of his peers. With Madonna we learn she was passed over for a solo in favor of Lauper. I’m annoyed to not hear how she felt about it that then and/or more recently directly from her, whether it was getting her to talk for the film all these years later, or a clip from another interview somewhere through the years—there has to be one out there. She was literally one of the biggest stars on this earth at the time (and still is today). On a lesser scale of celebrity complaints, there’s no mention of Eddie Murphy, who besides a mega A-lister was also enjoying musical success—in fact I read somewhere he was in Stevie Wonder’s studio recording the day of the Grammy’s and could’ve shown up to be part of We are the World. I mean, Dan Akroyd was in the building for fucksake.

Also, they spend an entire documentary showing and discussing the making of this song but merely glance over its commercial and fundraising success. I mean, We are the World spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard chart, sold more than seven million copies in the United States and went on to raise over $63 million for the cause. That should’ve been highlighted more than just screen text over the last handful of seconds.

Lastly, I don’t feel they did a great job at appealing to a younger audience with hammering home how momentous this gathering was. Lionel, Michael, Stevie, Bruce and Bob Dylan are highlighted as few as a few others but there’s plenty of music royalty here that almost felt like afterthoughts---iconic musicians like Hall & Oates, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers and Tina Turner immediately coming to mind. I would’ve liked a little more of an education to the younger folk that barely know who some of these artists even are.

OBSERVATION: Not necessarily a “pro” or “con” perse, but it’s notable that there’s not a single rap artist among this collection of music royalty. It makes me think back and reminisce of the mid-80’s and how rap music was only in the baby steps process of ultimately becoming mainstream. Acts like Run DMC, Beastie Boys and LL Cool J were growing in pop culture popularity, but rap music was still pretty pigeon-holed in those days. Just feels so ironic when you realize if “We are the World” was being made today, half the line up would feature hip hop artists.

CONCLUSION: It can’t be overstated how this was, without question the greatest collection of talent in one studio in the entire history of music. Nothing’s come close since and almost certainly never will again. When iconic stars like Dianna Ross, Jeffrey Osborne, Steve Perry and Willie Nelson were all a significant part of this moment yet not name-dropped until the end of this review, you know it’s unprecedented. Honestly I was touch trepidatious when seeing Lionel not only as an executive producer but primary talking head, thinking this would be one long fluff piece with no meat on the bone. Wasn’t the case at all. This film did a fantastic job of telling the story and visualizing the stress of having just one night to finish a song, while revealing a little individual drama (notably Shelie E. and Jennings). Additionally, I learned a ton and saw plenty of rehearsal and recording footage I’d hadn’t seen before. I’m not sure how much this ultimately resonates with a younger audience likely incapable of appreciating how much talent was in that Los Angeles studio back in 1985, but I can nearly guarantee if you’re even in the ballpark of enough to remember this project, it’ll be a gorgeous and nostalgic trip down memory lane--- one unequivocally worth investing a hour and 36 minutes in.  GRADE: A-