Retro Video of the Week: "We Are The World" by USA for Africa

In case you didn't know, there's a new documentary that came out last week on Netflix about the making of "We Are The World" called The Greatest Night in Pop, ant it's fantastic.  I've already watched it twice, and I'd watch it again if you asked me to.

As a child of the '80s, "We Are The World" was one of those watershed moments.  All I knew as a kid was that the biggest stars in music -- even if I really didn't know who some of the "old timers" were yet -- got together and recorded a song to raise money for the Ethiopian famine.  All these years, I assumed this was some long-planned collaboration, where all these stars had months to learn the song and learn their parts, but it was quite the opposite.

Inspired by the December 1984 all-star charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas Time at All?" by Band-Aid, a cast of UK and Irish all-star musicians, legendary singer, actor, and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte wanted to do something similar with American musicians to raise money for African famine relief.  He enlisted the help of Ken Kragen, an entertainment industry manager with many important music industry clients and several large rolodexes full of important names.  Kragen turned to one of his clients, Lionel Richie, to coordinate the effort and began reaching out to other bands and artists to participate.

Knowing that the American Music Awards were going to be in Los Angeles at the end of January 1985 -- and that a who's who of musicians would be attending the AMAs -- they determined that they would have to record the song after the AMAs to get all of the participants in one place.  The song was written by Richie and Michael Jackson in short order.  Quincy Jones was brought on to produce.  Vocal arranger Tom Bahler was tasked with determining which artists would get solos and what the order would be -- and it's safe to say he nailed it.  The whole thing came together in a matter of weeks.

The vocals for the song -- both the famous chorus and all of the solo parts -- were recorded in one night, on January 28, 1985 (and well into the morning of January 29).  I think one of the most poignant moments of the documentary was when Bob Geldof -- the Irish musician and force behind Band-Aid (and later that year, Live Aid) -- gave a pep talk to the entire group of musicians about the gravity of what this record would mean for famine relief.  I believe he said something along the lines of, "This year, the price of a life is a seven-inch piece of plastic with a hole in the middle."  That got everyone in the right head space.  Without wanting to give too much else about the documentary away, I'll just tell you to watch it.  I particularly enjoyed how the Huey Lewis/Cyndi Lauper/Kim Carnes solos and harmony part came about -- and I think that's now my favorite part of the song.

"We Are The World" was released in early March 1985, and it was a worldwide smash.  It became the fastest-selling single in U.S. history and was the first single to be certified multi-platinum in the U.S.  Since then, it has gone on to become the ninth best-selling physical single of all-time.

The song went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in April and May 1985, and it also topped the pop charts in nearly 20 other countries.  It also won four Grammys, two MTV VMAs, one AMA, and one People's Choice Award, among other accolades.  Most importantly, "We Are The World" raised $80 million (or over $160 million in today's dollars, according to the documentary) for African and American hunger relief.