Now Streaming Exclusively on Netflix.
In 1985, Quincy Jones teamed up with Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie to create one of the biggest music hits of the 1980’s. It also happened to be one of the biggest bits of performative activism ever staged for a worldwide audience. While America was in the throes of the Regan era, more and more celebrities stepped up not only to act as idols but as activists striving for some kind of change. With “The Greatest Night in Pop,” Bao Nguyen chronicles the making of “We Are The World.” The surefire hit and Grammy Winner became a legendary anthem for activism teaming up some of the all time greatest singers of the 1980’s who stepped on to sing.
While often self congratulatory in tone, “The Greatest Night in Pop” is primarily for fans of the song as well as Michael Jackson fanatics to revel in his creative ingenuity. It’s not a bad thing that the documentary chooses more to celebrate the creation of the song, rather than step back and explore the effect it made, but if you’re interested in a serious look at theses issues, then you won’t find them here. “The Greatest Night in Pop” is nevertheless a fun and exciting look in to the making of “We Are the World,” focusing primarily on Lionel Ritchie and Michael Jackson. Both men who were longtime friends, worked overtime to produce this massive hit that wouldn’t just have an effect on the charity but their overall reputations as well.
This is where the documentary falters as too much emphases is placed on how these performers were very obsessed with how this performance would affect their images and career. Nguyen does look in to a lot of the lesser known aspects of the production. There’s the fight to get Prince on to the production, Sheila E’s unfortunate role in this scheme, and Waylon Jennings literally walking out of the studio mid-session. Along the way there is also some great raw, candid footage of these legends mingling, joking with each other, and adding a sense of levity to a very daunting task at hand. There are also some wonderful interviews with folks like Springsteen, Huey Lewis, and Lionel Ritchie, respectively.
Oddly there’s no real explanation for Dan Akroyd being on the chorus, nor is there actual discussion for why Michael’s siblings also tagged along for the recording session. “The Greatest Night in Pop” may be more a celebration of “We Are The World” than a dissection of it and its social relevance, but it squeezes by in sheer nostalgic value and insight in to the creative process of one of the biggest pop songs of the decade.