Movies

The Greatest Night in Pop Trivia | 60 facts about the documentary film

“The Greatest Night in Pop” is a documentary film about the creation of the renowned pop song “We Are the World”.

So let’s find out some trivia and facts about the film.

The Greatest Night in Pop is a 2024 documentary film
The film was directed by Bao Nguyen
The film is about the creation of the renowned pop song “We Are the World”
The song was recording in 1985
The film features new interviews with various people involved in the song
Including Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Dione Warwick, and Cyndi Lauper
The world premiere of The Greatest Night in Pop took place on January 19, 2024
The premiere took place at the Sundance Film Festival
It was a part of the Special Screenings
On January 29, 2024, Netflix released the film on its service
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the documentary film holds a 98% rating
Based on 42 critics’ reviews
With an average rating of 7.6/10
The website’s consensus reads: “A briskly paced celebration of a one-of-a-kind musical moment, The Greatest Night in Pop uncovers new stories while reminding viewers of the humanitarian vision that made it all happen”
Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 69 out of 100
Based on 10 critics
Indicating “generally favorable” reviews
“We Are the World” is a charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985
It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie
It was produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World
With sales in excess of 20 million copies
It is the ninth-best-selling physical single of all time
Soon after the British group Band Aid released “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in December 1984, the musician and activist Harry Belafonte decided to create an American benefit single for African famine relief
With the fundraiser Ken Kragen, he enlisted several musicians
Jackson and Richie completed the writing the night before the first recording session, on January 21, 1985
The event brought together some of the era’s best-known musicians
“We Are the World” was released on March 7, 1985, as the first single from the album by Columbia Records
It topped music charts throughout the world and became the fastest-selling U.S. pop single in history
“We Are the World” was certified quadruple platinum
Becoming the first single to be certified multi-platinum
Its awards include four Grammy Awards, one American Music Award, and a People’s Choice Award
“We Are the World” was promoted with a music video, a VHS, a special edition magazine, a simulcast, and several books, posters, and shirts
The promotion and merchandise helped “We Are the World” raise more than $80 million ($214 million today) for humanitarian aid in Africa and the United States
Another cast of singers recorded a new version, “We Are the World 25 for Haiti”, to raise relief following the 2010 Haiti earthquake
“We Are the World” has been recognized as a politically important song, which “affected an international focus on Africa that was simply unprecedented”
It has been credited with creating a climate in which musicians from around the world felt inclined to follow
According to The New York Times’ Stephen Holden, since the release of “We Are the World”, it has been noted that movement has been made within popular music to create songs that address humanitarian concerns
“We Are the World” was also influential in subverting the way music and meaning were produced, showing that musically and racially diverse musicians could work together both productively and creatively
Ebony described the January 28 recording session, in which Quincy Jones brought together a multi-racial group, as being “a major moment in world music that showed we can change the world”
“We Are the World”, along with Live Aid and Farm Aid, demonstrated that rock music had become more than entertainment, but a political and social movement
Journalist Robert Palmer noted that such songs and events had the ability to reach people around the world, send them a message, and then get results
Since the release of “We Are the World”, and the Band Aid single that influenced it, numerous songs have been recorded in a similar fashion, with the intent to aid disaster victims throughout the world
One such example involved a supergroup of Latin musicians billed as “Hermanos del Tercer Mundo”, or “Brothers of the Third World”
Among the supergroup of 62 recording artists were Julio Iglesias, José Feliciano, and Sérgio Mendes
Their famine relief song was recorded in the same studio as “We Are the World”
Half of the profits raised from the charity single was pledged to USA for Africa
The rest of the money was to be used for impoverished Latin American countries
Other notable examples include the 1989 cover of the Deep Purple song “Smoke on the Water” by a supergroup of hard rock, prog rock, and heavy metal musicians collaborating as Rock Aid Armenia to raise money for victims of the devastating 1988 Armenian earthquake
The 1986 all-star OPM single “Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo”, which talked about the optimism the Filipinos needed after the People Power Revolution
And the 2009 all-star OPM recordings “Star ng Pasko” and “Kaya Natin Ito!” as a means to provide hope to the survivors of Typhoon Ketsana (locally known as Ondoy)
The 20th anniversary of “We Are the World” was celebrated in 2005
Radio stations around the world paid homage to USA for Africa’s creation by simultaneously broadcasting the charity song
In addition to the simulcast, the milestone was marked by the release of a two-disc DVD called We Are the World: The Story Behind the Song
Ken Kragen asserted that the reason behind the simulcast and DVD release was not for USA for Africa to praise themselves for doing a good job, but to “use it to do some more good [for the original charity]. That’s all we care about accomplishing”
Harry Belafonte also commented on the 20th anniversary of the song. He acknowledged that “We Are the World” had “stood the test of time”
Anyone old enough to remember it can still at least hum along
On January 29, 2024, a documentary titled The Greatest Night in Pop, was released on Netflix
The documentary, which was directed by Bao Nguyen, chronicles the obstacles and the behind-the-scenes stories that led to the creation of the song
The documentary features new interviews with Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Dionne Warwick, Cyndi Lauper and others involved with the song
They reflect on the song and its legacy