Towards the end of January 2024, TV viewers from around a confused and crazy world were pulled into a delightful, enchanting, and unifying experience, as Netflix released a documentary titled ‘The Greatest Night in Pop – The Untold Story Behind WE ARE THE WORLD,’ a slice of music and global history that is hopefully now a part of our collective consciousness.

To adapt a line by writer Peter Wehner, “Music requires musicians,” and in the first month of a new year, “the world was witness to some very special ones. They were repairers of the breach, and we briefly shared not just a continent, but a planet.”

Music is an inimitable medium. It calls for a precise kind of messenger. And on the backdrop of the horrific Ethiopian famine, Harry Belafonte voiced a simple thought that would create a path to a sound that would resonate and continue to echo 39 years later. “We have White folks saving Black folks, we don’t have Black folks saving Black folks. That’s a problem. We need to save our own people from hunger.” His trailblazing activism thrust into motion Ken Kragen, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, and Quincy Jones to catalyse the night an envoy of stars descended on to A&M Recording Studios in Hollywood.

Across 96 minutes, coats and egos are checked at the door, stories are told, friends and rivals, idols and peers, lyrical near misses and personality conflicts, allgather in a room too small to hold all that palpable talent, tension, and wizardry.And yet it did. There’s conversation, there’s quips, there’s interviews, surprises, trivia, and a behind the curtain peek into the making of a 7 minute 2 second track, as this rockumentary explores the idiosyncrasies and gets down and dirty with the details yet somehow never falls short.

Director Bao Nguyen ensures that its beauty lies in its specifics. Questions we may have asked a room many-a-time while watching the music video of We Are the World, are answered. Like why was Sheila E there? Did Waylon Jennings not stay? Was Bob Dylan the proverbial fish out of water? How big an ego did Prince have? Did Cyndi Lauper’s microphone need a ghostbuster? Who and what was behind the choice of musicians? Unfortunately, the query that goes unanswered is why Dan Akyroyd was even there in the first place. Simple truths like how much of a genius Quincy Jones is, how beautiful a voice Huey Lewis has, how Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie are so much more than ‘just a voice’, how Paul Simon broke some tension with his, “If a bomb lands on this place, John Denver’s back on top” line, and how each of the more than 40 superstars gathered on 21^st January, 1985 gave us a gift that is going to keep on giving.

There is an impression one is left with after watching ‘The Greatest Night in Pop’ that what transpired in that studio was unprecedented and spellbinding. One wishes they had been a mic in that room, or a cable on the floor or any item that soaked and absorbed within itself the aura of that night. This documentary reminds us that We Are The World is more than just a song that endured or a time machine to the 80s. It was an undertaking that did change the way we viewed world hunger, an endeavour that showed us a very guard-let-down perception of some of our favourite pop stars, and a great reminder that music is after all, a celebration.

My Take: I hope this slice of music and global history becomes a part of our collective consciousness.

Come for: The Story

Stay for: The Music

Watch it for: The Trivia, the Nostalgia, and the 40 + Superstars

Keep Watching for: The promise that music keeps making a better day for you and me

© Ayesha Dominica

About the Author

Ayesha Dominica is a fiercely independent writer who has been published regularly since age 13. When she’s not intimidating strangers with her love for polysyllabic words and British Crime Shows, she works as an artist manager for DJ Russel. She is prone to withdrawal symptoms if distanced from her books or her Funko collection. But you can easily distract her with the colour yellow, anything Doctor Who, Supernatural, and music trivia.