At the 28th Annual Grammy Awards, "We Are the World" won the most prizes than any other. It won Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. It won Record of the Year and it won Song of the Year. It was released in March of 1985. It was that year's best-selling single. It became the first single to be certified multi-platinum. It was in fact cited quadruple-platinum. It was also the fastest-selling single in pop history prior to the advent of the Internet. The single had to be sold on traditional vinyl, which flew off the shelves as soon as they were available. Lionel Ritchie and Michael Jackson wrote the song. Quincy Jones produced it and around 40 of the nation's top or best music artists recorded vocals for it, comprising a super-group called USA for Africa, which was a reference to the charity that inspired the song's creation. The germ for the song began in December of 1984 and was planned in a month until it was recorded on the night of January 28, 1985, which is the night referenced in this documentary's title.
Bob Geldof is an Irish singer-songwriter who emerged in the punk rock movement of the 1970's. He mainly became a political activist who used music to affect policies. One of his main focuses was famine relief in Ethiopia, as well as poverty throughout the African continent. In the fall of 1984, Geldof wrote the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" The song was about famine in Ethiopia, which he learned about through the BBC. Geldof then got 40 British and Irish musicians to perform on the song, musicians such as Bono from U2, Sting, George Michael, Phil Collins and Boy George. The 40 artists were known as Band Aid. The song was recorded in one day and released a month later in December of that year. It became the number one song for the Christmas holiday.
Harry Belafonte, the singer, actor and political activist, saw this success and wanted to do something similar but with artists in the United States. Belafonte contacted producer and music manager Ken Kragen in order to get him to gather American artists and mainly Black artists to help with this effort. Kragen passed away in 2021, probably before this documentary was conceived. Belafonte died in early 2023, probably while this film was in production. Belafonte's voice appears as a voice-over, but it's unclear if that voice is from a contemporary interview perhaps conducted online or by phone, or if that voice was an archival lift from some historical interview, perhaps from the 1980's. Belafonte was in his 90's at the time of his death. Quincy Jones is too in his 90's. His voice also appears but again unknown if that voice is from a contemporaneous interview or if it's archival.
Of the two songwriters who were, other than Jones, the creative forces behind the song, only one is still alive. Michael Jackson died in 2009. Lionel Ritchie is still alive and well. He's currently at age 74. He was 35 at the time of the recording of "We Are the World," which occurred the same night of Ritchie hosting the 12th Annual American Music Awards in Los Angeles. In fact, the producers of the song purposefully staged the recording on that same night because it was the only time that they could gather all 40 artists together at the same time. Many were on tour and had other obligations throughout the year that conflicted with others, so that particular Monday night nearly 40 years ago was their only window. Because Ritchie is the only one of the creative forces still alive or in his prime, he is this documentary's first and main interview subject, interviewed in the A&M Records studio where "We Are the World" was taped.
At the 28th Grammys, this song also won Best Music Video, Short Form. The video was basically a 7-minute documentary of the recording on January 28. That recording began around 8 PM that evening when Michael Jackson arrived first and recorded his solo performance before anyone else. A hour or so later, Ritchie and the other artists started to arrive after the American Music Awards ended. The session ran until 8 AM the following morning. There is likely about ten to twelve hours of video footage of that session. Director Bao Nguyen (Be Water and Live From New York!) takes that raw footage and shows more of what wasn't seen, the moments in between what was shown in the video, that depict what it took to put the song together, the logistics of it and sometimes the frustrating process of getting a large group of celebrities to congeal.
Obviously, if you are a person who is over the age of 40, this film would appeal to you, as most of these artists are probably ones whom you've known growing up. If you're younger, then what might be appealing here is watching what is essentially a behind-the-scenes look at a really unique recording session, which could inform you as to how music gets made and what's often involved. It's mostly about the logistics. Ritchie does provide some insight into the creative process and we get glimpses of things like lyric writing and vocal arrangement. There are also funny moments where we see many of these stars be starstruck by the other talent in the room and we see some of the stars be humbled in moments where they have to be wrangled and kept in line.
There's one moment in that regard, concerning Stevie Wonder and later Bob Dylan, that I thought was particularly interesting. There are some funny moments before they all get to the studio like one scene where Ritchie encounters some of the strange animals in Jackson's house. However, the bulk of the documentary immerses us to that recording session night. Again, it's mostly just immersing us in the process, seeing how the sausage is made, and watching masters at work. There is a little bit of drama involving the fact that the producers tried to get Prince to attend the sessions and the reasons why he didn't. Otherwise, it's a film that's about the process, which is very much appreciated.
Rated PG-13 for language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 37 mins.
Available on Netflix.
