for Me Props to Harry Belefonte for bringing it up.Props to Quincy Jones for leading the way.Props to Michael Jackson&Lionel Richie for Creating a Song with a Message because back then that wasn't a Happening thing that often.I Tp My Cap to all that did a Part within the Project.America Rules&we still have the Standard for making Change.

rdhull, i am 99% sure that we are the world came out before the band aid tune.

LSUFAN said:

better go check your stats again

It took Englands newest hitmakers to wake the sleeping giant

tsk tsk

LSUFAN said:

Band-Aid Came out first but the Americans did it Better though&set the Standard.more people still remember "We Are The World".America Rules!!

mistermaxxx said:

They did?



yes unfortunately.

rdhull said:

Bob Geldof still gives Michael&Lionel Madd Props for the Song&He Should.

mistermaxxx said:

Just because someone, even the catalyst gives something props doest mean it's better and that the standard set isn't hypocritical, insincere and vomit inducing etc.

rdhull said:

I've been down this Road with you Before&now it's time for me to exit.later

I was glad he didn't show up 18 years ago. My feelings about it haven't changed 18 years later.

You can say what you want and try to rationalize it 'till the cows come home.

The simple fact is that Prince would NEVER (past, present & future) be involved in a situation where he would take a back seat (& perhaps even orders from) Michael Jackson.

PurpleJedi said:

"there it is"

We are the world was a lousy song props to Prince for now showing up to that mess.

mistermaxxx said:

Maybe he's mellowed about it, because for a while there he derisively referred to it as "the Pepsi generation song."
[This message was edited Sat Feb 15 13:23:49 PST 2003 by Supernova]

Supernova said:

I noticed whenEver MJ goes to Europe for a Awards Show Bob Geldof is like the first One all up on Him&saying How Much He Respects MJ.but I never know with the Cat.I still remember when he Called Prince a Jerk back in the day but I bet He would Warm up to Him if He was Face to Face with Him as well you know?

The most overrated, self-congratulatory piece of shit in the history of so-called charity. But in our celebrity culture it's the type of orgiastic story that just won’t die.

Some celebrities gave up a few hours after the Grammies that would have otherwise likely been given to boozing and coking it up at afterparties. Perhaps we should bronze every last one of them.

This stuff keeps getting brought up not to talk about what wonderful things happened with the proceeds -- in fact, that topic is almost never even broached -- but rather to ejaculate over having so many big names in the same room. And some of these celebrities never tire of talking about their role in it, so the sucker feeds upon itself.

Now I’m just waiting for VH1 to put together their 100th story on “Thriller”, the greatest video every made, and the reason we are all lucky enough to have VH1 today.

Well, quite honestly, I just think Prince didn't feel like it, he wasn't being ecotistical at all, he was being a control freak, can you imagine Prince standing next to Hall & Oates, singing a song that Loinel Richie wrote? If you haven't noticed already, Prince doesn't & won't to anything unless he has complete control over it. And I "4 the tears in your eye", was his way of saying "sorry I didn't show up, here, to show you that I do care."
Now I'll admit Prince wasn't the best person in the world back then, but unlesss you knew him then, you reallly don't have the right to say he was a bad person, 2freaky.

Brendan said:

Even with Bob Geldofs' props n pounds ?

2 more things:
first, there were a lot of other artists that didn't show up, did that make them eccotistical, jerks?

and second, of course that comment came from Vh1, the same station that has Michael Jackson weekends(I'm not dissin' MJ, I'm just sayin' it gets a little old after a while , only focus's on Prince when it has something to with the name change, and has specials on celeberties' pets, cars, and also who Jennifer Lopez is currently sleeping with.

rdhull said:

You mean that guy that had his hand sewed to his back so that he didn't have to exert himself every time someone stuck a mike in his face?

Yeah, "even with".

lovebizzare said:

Pretty much the size of it. Even if Michael Jackson had not had anything to do with it I can't imagine Prince being there.

Well I don't know what show this is from but Prince is on stage with all the other we are world gang at some awards show and he is just chewing gum laughing on purpose. Explain that arsesuckers.

Bambi319 said:

That was at the AMAS (american music awards) for the 10th annivesery of the song.

WORD UP to BRENDAN !!

Facts:
1. The USA for AFRICA projects donated food to the Ethiopan government and the food rotted and was eaten by rodents in the shipyards. Many of the people who should have gotten the food starved to death.The Ethiopan government was one of those classic deals where the Euro/American powers set up a puppet government to keep the peoples in check while "they" would take resources back without really paying for them.

2.Bob Geldof sounded silly when he complained about Prince.Prince may not have been an Angel but he did do his part,which still was more than every one individual,except Jackson,Wonder,&Geldof has done before or since.

Funny this is being discussed...the company that I work for always has a motivational speaker at our yearly national meetings, from which I just returned. Quincy Jones was the featured speaker this year. The guy is phenomonal.
He spoke at length about the We Are The World session, and I now actually see it in a different light. I had the same opinions as you prior to hearing about it first hand finally. He did mention the language mix-up, and stated that it was an innocent thought that Stevie had, just wanting to sing a few words in Swahili. Understandable in my opinion.
I wanted to ask him what he thought about Prince's involvement, or lack thereof, but senior management rushed him out of there before we got a chance to even raise our hands. But, I now believe that even thought what you say in your post is true, I also believe that their hearts were in the right place. And I also think that Prince was thinking like you with regard to doing things for others when there is so much misery here, hence "Hello" and what he contributed to the album.
Anyway, I'm tired and jet-lagged, so I'm rambling. I just thought it was interesting that this was being discussed after just hearing the man that bought it all about. And, I had no idea that the man has a 10 yr old daughter, and is pushing 70!

DorothyParkerWasCool said:

Many good and interesting points raised on this topic. I have just a few additional comments.

The WATW project certainly had its heart in the right place. While some of the celebrities participated simply for positive press, I think most really felt that they were doing a great service.

I don't know what the figures were in terms of dollars raised, or how much of that actually went to the original cause, but I would suspect that it ended up being a surprisingly small percentage that actually translated into food and supplies in the hands of the needy.

Prince did get a lot of shit at the time for his refusal to participate. His reasons are his own and he should have been respected for that, but he was a very high profile performer at that time, so his lack of participation was much more noticeable than for other musicians who weren't on the "A" list then.

I do remember an interview or some such with Prince right after that incident. The reason he gave was that he felt intimidated by the idea of being in the midst of so many artists whom he admired and felt he wouldn't be able to perform in such an illustrious company (might sound kinda lame now, but it's what he said and remember he was still pretty green compared to now. And it might make sense knowing that this is a guy who shoos everyone out of the studio when he lays down vocal tracks).

Someone mentioned that he might have participated if his handlers had told him who all would be involved. I think he already knew that and still decided not to attend.

Prince also mentioned that he offered to paticipate in the session by playing guitar on the track, but Geldoff or Q or whoever declined that offer. They wanted him in the group chorus or not at all. So he offered a separate track for the album which they accepted. This offer came BEFORE the bad press he received for not participating, NOT as a way to make amends afterwards as someone stated.

Prince certainly has made many charitable contributions in terms of personal appearances and cash both before, during and after WATW for a variety of causes he supports. He doesn't call press conferences to announce how philianthropic he is and use his contributions for publicity. There are so many worthy causes even wealthy folks can't support them all.

Prince has the right to choose the causes he supports and shouldn't be criticized for declining to support something, even if it's worthy, just because it's the "popular" thing to do at the time.

DorothyParkerWasCool said:

There's a huge difference between someone living in a small efficiency apartment, driving a $400 Ford LTD, and eating Ramen noodles, working for $7 an hour versus Families in impoverished countries living in a straw hut, drinking contaminated water from a nearby stream, with no businesses around anywhere to get a job even if they wanted to.

Im not arguing with you that wealth isn't fairly distributed in this country. And I apologize that we aren't all professors with expertise in the field of Urban Sociology, but I've been through some very tight financial times in my life, but even at my worst I don't think my situation could shake a stick at some of the ways people are suffering in other countries outside of America.

HalluRain said:

I read an article a few years ago which exposed that much of the money generated from WATW didn't make its way to the charities, and that there was quite a bit of exhorbitant spending on the set of the video, champagne parties and such. There were numerous articles on WATW in retrospect about 10 years after it debuted.

Tom said:

Some people do not even earn $7 an hour in the U.S. That earning is actually higher than the current minimum wage in this country. Think about earning Min. wage in the U.S. while raising a family of four. That is what many citizens are currently facing in our "Rich" country.