Check Your Ego at the Door

 

While this is about music, it's not about The Beatles (yes, "Meet the Beatles" will be back next Sunday at 9 a.m. on WGCH and Robcasting).

But it's more about the intersection of music and culture and history.

I just watched the new documentary, The Greatest Night in Pop, on Netflix.

It returns to a long night of recording "We Are the World" on January 28-29, 1985.

Honestly, with the documentary having only come out today, I want to give nothing away.

It's not unfair to say it was a momentous night, following the American Music Awards that evening. Some of the stories of the evening have been told before, as I recall a Life magazine story covering much of what went on.

Of course, this goes deeper.

For the main people in assembling the project, it was a daunting task of picking who would be there and organizing the whole thing.

And damned if my band -- again, not The Beatles -- was there.

Huey Lewis and the News. All six of them were there. The entire band. Huey, Johnny, Chris, Sean, Bill, and Mario. All of them.

They all sang on it and Huey got a solo.

In case you're wondering, that sold me the song. 

Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes

But it was a who's who of pop at the time, with exceptions of course, as well as icons who might not have been truly relevant at that time. 

Plus a few who sort of didn't make sense to be there in the first place.

Plus the one who just...left.

And the one who never appeared.

But the truth was while their egos weren't going to disappear, everyone on hand needed to stay under control because they had one night to get it right. That's why Quincy Jones posted a sign that read "Please check your egos at the door."

The charity single as well as concerts weren't a new concept in 1985. George Harrison (I think he played in some band) organized The Concert for Bangladesh in Aug 1971 and the accompanying single and, among many others, Bob Geldolf helped create "Do They Know It's Christmas" in Nov 1984.

It was that song that inspired "We Are the World" as both songs were intended to raise funds for famine in Ethiopia.

Of course, in July 1985, Live Aid rocked the world in London and Philadelphia before Farm Aid began and others came along.

At that time, in fact, pop and rock for charity was a bit of a thing. Eventually, it became a bit much.

But for me, this documentary was a welcomed time machine back to being a 16-year-old boy. One detail I'll mention was a shot late in the show of Huey Lewis and Billy Joel hugging. It's very brief but seeing two of my musical heroes in this moment made me feel joy. When you think about it, it was quite rare to have such a list of people in the same place like this. Sure, there are awards shows but this was different.

The documentary is detailed but, honestly, there aren't many salacious details. I'd say, if anything, it focuses mostly on the positive.

And it definitely makes one person out to be a complete hero but I'll leave that to you to watch and figure out.

Even criticism from me is minimal. Normally, I'd be inclined to drop anvils on the artists who weren't exactly favorites of mine -- then and/or now -- but the joy I felt in flashing back minimized those feelings for me.

I don't even think I rolled my eyes. I made the conscious decision to watch this without judgment and just enjoy it.

Was it flawed? Sure. I never thought the song was particularly great despite the awards it won. I thought "Do They Know It's Christmas" was vastly better.

I also thought the cross-section of artists was interesting and certainly not very deep. That being said it was a pretty representative collection of artists for the time. If you were alive in 1985 I'm fairly certain you knew who everyone was in that room that night into the next morning.

I was a sophomore at Mahopac High School that night and almost definitely watched the American Music Awards since Huey and the band were there. I had a poster from a picture taken that night of Huey with Madonna. I was never a Madonna fan, for the record.

This also would have been through my first season as a member of the hard-rocking Mahopac High School bowling team. 

Music was my constant in the world, as I donned headphones to listen to my Walkman on the bus rides and wherever else I was allowed.

Thus, the idea of "We Are the World" was fairly epic.

And thus, so is this documentary.

It seems trite in hindsight. Almost phony. There were eventual criticisms of the charity concept, especially with concerns that the money wasn't going where it belonged.

But the music -- especially Live Aid -- has stood up.

Hard to believe that we're approaching 40 years since that all happened.

If you have any interest in the music of the era, give The Greatest Night in Pop a view.

It was a night when the heart of rock...um...pop...was still beating.