"We Are The World"

Hello,

While watching Michael Jackson videos yesterday, one of my favorites is the "We Are The World" video. This is certainly a video that captured it's era. It shows the hot musicians of that time and also some legends who got courtesy invites. (All research came from me and the "We Are The World" wikipedia page.) On January 28th, 1985, following the American Music Awards, all these artists appeared to sing this song.

The single "We Are The World" was written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. The song is credited to USA for Africa and was meant to help with severe drought in Africa. Ken Kragen, the producer, turned down about 50 artists that wanted to participate.

This video features such hot at the time singers Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Kenny Rogers, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Cyndi Lauper and Huey Lewis. Prince was tentatively set to appear, but was a no-show. However his super talented percussionist Shiela E came. Some of the singers who got courtesy invites were Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Al Jarreau and Diana Ross.

My favorite part though is the people in the video who are singing and you think to yourself what the hell are they doing there? For instance, 4 Jackson siblings were participating as well. (Were his parents too busy?) How much power did Michael have at that time? He was able to get LaToya, Jermaine, Marlon and Tito spots in the song. (That's Tito Jackson's second most famous moment. His first in Eddie Murphy's "Delirious". "Get Me A Kleenex Tito".) 10 months later Janet Jackson exploded with "Control". About a year later she became the hottest Jackson for awhile. Why wasn't she invited? Seriously Tito and Marlon Jackson were invited.

Also Dan Ackroyd was in attendance, why? His participating is even more dubious than Marlon and Tito. Is Dan Ackroyd secretly a Jackson brother? Bette Midler seems a little out of place as well. Definitely go to mtvmusic.com and check out this video. It currently is their #19 video. Amazingly this CD is not for sale in the MP3 format anywhere. Back in the dayI had that CD actually on a record. It's a pretty good CD and featured then new songs by Prince and Huey Lewis. The single is available at amazon.com for 99c. I was surprised that I didn't have this song in my iTunes library, I do now though.

One thing I wanted to write about yesterday but forgot. On mtvmusic.com Michael Jackson is dominating their current Top 40 videos. The Top 11:

1) "Good Girls Go Bad"- Cobra Starship They are the next hottest artist on mtvmusic.com. They have 3 of the Top 41 videos. They also have #35 "Guilty Pleasure" and #41 "Send My Love To The Dancefloor". Also that "Good Girls Go Bad" is a pretty cool song. Is that going to be on a new CD, if so when is it going to be released.

2) "Thug Story"- Taylor Swift
3) "Thriller
4) "Thriller" (long version)
5) "Billie Jean"
6) "Man In The Mirror"
7) "Bad"
8) "Beat It"
9) "Smooth Criminal"
10) "Black or White" (Long Version)
11) "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" Obviously the 3-11 videos are all Michael Jackson songs.

On the mtvmusic.com Top 40 videos Michael Jackson also has the #'s 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 36, 39 and 40 videos.

I think that's a testament to several things. First, Michael Jackson is the man. Second, 80's music is the best and many of those artists usually had long careers. 3) Artists typically made a lot more music in the 80's so their influence is more felt. Also that's why Michael Jackson has so many videos in the Top 40 because he was a lot more prolific.

One week ago Michael Jackson died all too suddenly. The man is a genius and it's time to bury him. Reportedly he has a lot of music in his vaults, please Jackson family/ Sony don't release it all just to make a buck. (I'm afraid that is what is going to happen.) Please only release the music that won't tarnish his tremendous legacy.

Peace, themusicaddict