This could have been a great moment for the Acid Queen, but instead she was sorely underutilized. It’s a shame she was given such a boring part of the song to sing. Tina Turner feels a little sleepy here, like she’s not that into following James Ingram or having to sing next to Billy Joel. They couldn’t even let him stand behind Hall when Hall took his solo. Sucks that Prince couldn’t come, but Sheila E.’s cool. He also doesn’t like it when critics talk about the fact that he can’t sing, so we are going to move on … It’s not that they do a bad job, but who was like, “We need to get Jarreau on this track”? Carnes is maybe more offensive because she got to sing during the song’s best part - that rocking breakdown that starts with MJ singing, “When you’re down and out.”īob Dylan, as we know, does not like when singers add extra notes to songs. These two got solos?! You don’t need Bette Davis eyes to see that’s effed. How did these two legends not get solos? How were these two given essentially the same role as Dan Akyroyd? We are putting them this low out of protest. Raymond Stantz would not have been invited.ĭan Aykroyd singing and dreaming of selling vodka in a bottle that looks like a skull People really, really liked the Blues Brothers in the ‘80s. He overcompensates, trying too hard when it’s his turn to sing.
#We are the wolrd song for haiti audience movie
But in this room, his success in the movie biz is overshadowed by bona-fide musical legends.
In the ‘80s, Kenny Loggins’s music seemed to be in every film soundtrack from Caddyshack to Top Gun. Give us not the News and not the weather. We get that it’s a band and they’re probably cool dudes, but come on, we would’ve been fine with just Huey Lewis. And when he moves out of the way for Kenny Rogers to sing, he makes a “sure, I guess” face. Simon, on the other hand, is just so listless, so unaffected, with the words seeming to just fall out of his mouth with no oomph behind them. He doesn’t Joel it up - there’s not even one “ach.” It was like he didn’t get the memo that people were going to try to sound cool. In Joel’s case, it appears the pressure not to mess it up got to him. This is nothing against their bodies of work outside of “We Are the World,” but boy, do Joel and Simon phone it in. Jennings reportedly threw a hissy-fit during the recording, when Stevie Wonder suggested they include a line in Swahili. According to legend, the reason Prince decided not to participate is because Bob Geldof called him a “creep.” Send your hate mail to the Boomtown Rats. You know what this song is missing? Prince. So, to mark this tremendous anniversary, Vulture will officially decide whose contribution was most important (and whose was the least). “We Are the World” is known for being a wonderful, delightful, ever-entertaining hot mess of celebrities jockeying for attention and the ability to say their voice did the most for Africa. Though notable and good, its charitable work is not its legacy.
That song, “We Are the World,” went on to sell more than 20 million copies and raise over $63 million for humanitarian aid in Africa. and record a song - a song so epic, so star-studded, so unabashedly schmaltzy it will never be forgotten. Thirty years ago tomorrow, a time came when over 40 musicians heeded a certain call.