In the beginning, there is the anticipation that “The Greatest Night in Pop” is the kind of glorified puff piece that many people may have dreaded the moment they heard about it. How many terribly-made, disinterested, talking head pieces can one watch about music, or the so-called documentary about music for that matter? But Sundace has turned into a platform that showcases the alternative music docs that are not just musicians sharing about their glory days. All I will say is that the energy in that theater during the opening night of rehearsal for ‘Twenty Feet From Stardom’ was unreal and even that America had a home applause while waiting for ‘Summer of Soul (Or When the Revolution Would Not be Televised)’ during its online premiere at Sundance in 2021. Only last year did docs on Little Richard and Paula Cole and the Indigo Girls come out. So it is equally enthralling to show a documentary featuring pictures of the recording of “We Are the World” at Sundance, Well before it is expected to stream next week on Netflix. There is so much good news that in comparison with traditional mediocre rock docs, this particular film stands out mainly due to its directness, reaching its peak when observing the criss-crosses that were connected with the actual making of the recording including some lyrics that were nearly destroyed, some of the attendees not getting along and even one who over indulged in wine.
When the viewers will see “The Greatest Night in Pop,” the first impression will be that Quincy Jones is a master. Sure, Lionel Richie (who happens to be the main interview subject here) and Michael Jackson were instrumental in the making of, “We Are the World,” but it’s Quincy who managed to gather all those famous people and turn one of the biggest recordings of the eighties. It is interesting to watch him in action; a very entertaining sight of a true musical genius at work. (Oh, and Bob Geldof is great too, just shall we say).
Yet before that, “The Greatest Night in Pop” has been doing a lot of background work in trying to narrate the scenario of the music ecosystem and the pivotal figures in 1984 which culminated in the resolve of Harry Belafonte (quite rightfully honored as among the leading performers of the 20th century here) to seek a sort of answer to, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” through cutting an American single targeted at ending famine in Africa. Richie and Jackson were the main composers of the song -Richie meanwhile has many fascinating tales of how he wrote a song at MJ’s right home where there were all sorts of pets including Bubbles, and it was music manager Ken Kragen who had the great idea as to when to do it.
Richie was the one who hosted the American Music Awards on January 21st, 1985, and Kragen kind of ordered every performer and attendee to go to the studio after the show to make some musical history.
The first performance of “The Greatest Night in Pop” has much of the introducing/reminding to do of the most essential key players. Why was it so important that Stevie Wonder be involved? Why Cyndi Lauper, and not Madonna? Was Prince approached? What was the level of Huey Lewis’ fright? Tragically, no one has ever explained why Dan Aykroyd was there, is one of the many such questions.
With that intro segment perhaps borrowed from VH1’s documentary credits, which I think many are familiar with, the rest of the show promises, “The Greatest Night in Pop.” A lot of content regarding the night is sourced from trivia such as Sheila E., Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis and Smokey Robinson where the latter thanks Jackson for his help in convincing the singer to make better songwriting decisions as someone who ‘wasn’t afraid’ to confront the king of pop. Fans will be thrilled to witness some small talk of the music greats, from Ritchie’s guilty pleasures of food to Dylan worrying about the power he uses in belting out notes to thinking about the content of the song on the spot…. To love music docs is to be in a world of dreams. Potentially the genre of music biographical documentaries is on decline, but “The Greatest Night in Pop” commercials make it concise and interesting.
Of course, it begs the question if today they would be able to do something like they did with “We Are the World” (and don’t even get me started on that “Imagine” disgrace). Even Keith Richards, all the over the top musicians of that era, there was never going to be from that studio in 1985 challenges. Was it the best night ever? I guess who knows. However, each viewer of this film will be sold on what a remarkable night it was.
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