The comparisons between Band Aid ("Do They Know It's Christmas") and USA For Africa ("We Are The World") . . . in the documentary for WATW, you learn that they actually bring in Bob Geldof (who made Band Aid) because he'd already done it and it worked out amazingly well. I never knew that before I watched this documentary.

For Band Aid, they've redone it a handful of times with modern artists (like Ed Sheeran, etc.) but those remakes never gave me chills like the original.

I don't think they've ever remade WATW -- maybe next year they do it for the 40th anniversary -- not sure which American artists might make it worthwhile?

Se7en said:

I don't think they've ever remade WATW -- maybe next year they do it for the 40th anniversary -- not sure which American artists might make it worthwhile?

...imagine you have no food, no money, no botox, no social media to manipulate, no fans-only site, no manager. Let that sink in, and then sing your lines with all of that in mind...

Se7en said:

I don't think they've ever remade WATW

There is a version for Haiti in 2010. Watch here. There's the Northern Lights (Canada artists) song Tears Are Not Enough which is on the original USA For Africa album. Other tracks from around that time is Stars by Hear N Aid which is rock & metal acts, and Hands Across America. Not really a fundraising song, but there's also the 1985 Sun City by Artists United Against Apartheid which has a few of the artists on We Are The World. Sun City got little radio airplay, though the video was shown on BET & MTV.

Se7en said:

The comparisons between Band Aid ("Do They Know It's Christmas") and USA For Africa ("We Are The World") . . . in the documentary for WATW, you learn that they actually bring in Bob Geldof (who made Band Aid) because he'd already done it and it worked out amazingly well. I never knew that before I watched this documentary.

For Band Aid, they've redone it a handful of times with modern artists (like Ed Sheeran, etc.) but those remakes never gave me chills like the original.

I don't think they've ever remade WATW -- maybe next year they do it for the 40th anniversary -- not sure which American artists might make it worthwhile?

They did, and it was terrible. It was for the Haiti earthquake in 2010 or so.
I appreciate their sentiment and whatever funds they raised. But my God, it was painful. I suppose I'm incredibly biased to the original.

They did duet up MJ and Janet, then threw in Streisand in the chorus, too. The first of each verse starts with kids like Bieber and Miley Cyrus. There are also new lyrics on the 2nd verse. Wyclef Jean is a fucking idiot on it. Toni "Stuffy Nose" Braxton didn't even get a part, other than some muffled soloing. Then they put fucking Lil Wayne on it doing what...?

it's a hot mess. You may require liquor to watch it. Frankly, I'm a little envious you missed it.

MickyDolenz said:

Se7en said:

I don't think they've ever remade WATW

There is a version for Haiti in 2010. Watch here. There's the Northern Lights (Canada artists) song Tears Are Not Enough which is on the original USA For Africa album. Other tracks from around that time is Stars by Hear N Aid which is rock & metal acts, and Hands Across America. Not really a fundraising song, but there's also the 1985 Sun City by Artists United Against Apartheid which has a few of the artists on We Are The World. Sun City got little radio airplay, though the video was shown on BET & MTV.

The few times that it has been repeated is probably that it is hard to make this type of thing successful.

Even WATW only sold aound $11m in record sales. USA for Africa made many times more from donations and merch sales etc. And these record sales were with the all the preparation/piggy backing off Band Aid and Live Aid plus all the hype and promotions. If was repeated every year or every few years it would have seen rapidly diminishing returns.

Good causes world wide have, instead, found better and more sustainable methods to attact support and donations.

Given how much Prince donated in some of these more effective ways, it is another reason to reject the arguments from MJ/Quincy camp. having said that, obviously the money WATW raised was well worth it and it did great good. However, this does not mean it was either the best or a required way for influential people to promote good causes.

MickyDolenz said:

Se7en said:

I don't think they've ever remade WATW

There is a version for Haiti in 2010. Watch here. There's the Northern Lights (Canada artists) song Tears Are Not Enough which is on the original USA For Africa album. Other tracks from around that time is Stars by Hear N Aid which is rock & metal acts, and Hands Across America. Not really a fundraising song, but there's also the 1985 Sun City by Artists United Against Apartheid which has a few of the artists on We Are The World. Sun City got little radio airplay, though the video was shown on BET & MTV.

Thanks for this! I am going to give them all a listen.

RODSERLING said:

At the time of WATW, Glamorous Life wasn't even released, so she was just a one-hit-wonder.

WATW recorded January 1985.

.

.

Glamorous LIfe released Summer 1984.

.

.

Moreover, she had just performed The Glamorous Life LIVE on the AMA's that night and got a standing ovation.

GaryMF said:

RODSERLING said:

GaryMF said:

WATW recorded January 1985.

.

.

Glamorous LIfe released Summer 1984.

.

.

Moreover, she had just performed The Glamorous Life LIVE on the AMA's that night and got a standing ovation.

I always confounded Glamorous Life with Love Bizarre. Still, she was just a one hit wonder at the time

... With a performing career playing with Prince, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and importantly for WATW, Lionel Richie - Not bad ... 4 a girl.

IanRG said:

RODSERLING said:

IanRG said:

... With a performing career playing with Prince, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and importantly for WATW, Lionel Richie - Not bad ... 4 a girl.

I didn't say she wasn't a great artist, she s fantastic. But all the guedts in WATW are supposed to have a long carreer of enduring hits, and not for their ability in one instrument. Common', she was just invited because of Prince, but no matter why, she was invited among only 43 people in the music industry. So she shouln't be disappointed she hadn't a vocal solo.

What was reported was:

"While speaking about the new Netflix documentary with the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Sheila E. expounded on the sense that she was deceived into participating with the false promise of a solo vocal part. “Lionel and Quincy kept saying, ‘Why don’t you call Prince,'” she said. “Everyone took turns trying to get me to call him back and have him come down…. I just thought, wow, they were all my friends. That’s cold-blooded.”

What she said was that she was disappointed by the deception and false promises made by Quincy, MJ and Lionel to try to use her to get Prince there.

[Edited 2/13/24 20:44pm]

Se7en said:

MickyDolenz said:

There is a version for Haiti in 2010. Watch here. There's the Northern Lights (Canada artists) song Tears Are Not Enough which is on the original USA For Africa album. Other tracks from around that time is Stars by Hear N Aid which is rock & metal acts, and Hands Across America. Not really a fundraising song, but there's also the 1985 Sun City by Artists United Against Apartheid which has a few of the artists on We Are The World. Sun City got little radio airplay, though the video was shown on BET & MTV.

Thanks for this! I am going to give them all a listen.

Sun City is my favorite of all of those. Lou Reed, Joey Ramone and Miles Davis all on the same song. It blows my mind still thinking about it now.

IanRG said:

RODSERLING said:

IanRG said:

What was reported was:

"While speaking about the new Netflix documentary with the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Sheila E. expounded on the sense that she was deceived into participating with the false promise of a solo vocal part. “Lionel and Quincy kept saying, ‘Why don’t you call Prince,'” she said. “Everyone took turns trying to get me to call him back and have him come down…. I just thought, wow, they were all my friends. That’s cold-blooded.”

What she said was that she was disappointed by the deception and false promises made by Quincy, MJ and Lionel to try to use her to get Prince there.

[Edited 2/13/24 20:44pm]

Yes, that s exactly my point. Poor girl, she was deceived by the biggest stars in the music industry to participate in the biggest single of the 80's. Who deceived who ? How could she not know she was among Springsteen,Dylan, Wonder, Jackson, etc. just because she was Prince' chick?

But that is not what you said and was not the point that you made.

Indeed you flip your argument in just these three sentences - In the first sentence you finally agree that she was lied to by Quincy, MJ and Richie. Then you question who deceived who. Finally you go back to blaming her for not knowing she was being deceived with false promises just to get Prince. However, if you read the end of Shelia's quote, you will see that she knew why they lied to her and that this game play by MJ, Quincy and Richie was "cold-blooded."

What was being discussed was the demonstrably false claim that Quincy and MJ were not playing games. This was just part of the same old "it is all Prince's fault" argument by many in Prince.org every time MJ and Prince are mentioned together here.

PS she was not just Prince's "chick" - She played for Lionel Richie and she was the friend of the "cold blooded deceivers". And in keeping with the theme of charity songs - "That's NOT what friends are for."

[Edited 2/14/24 11:16am]

RODSERLING said:

MJ silly games? No Prince fault ? No Sheila E lied to by MJ? Lol he didn't even talk to her She knew why she was here. The rest is BS

MJ silly games? YES and he had long and documented history of this.

Prince [at] fault? Yes, but only as much as Quincy and MJ.

Sheila E lied to by MJ? Sheila E claims she was lied to, so by her own words: Yes, it is reasonable to presume MJ lied to her. At the very least Quincy and Richie did. I have no reason to dispute what she said and neither do you.

She knew why she was there just as she said and in this she said that the lie and the pressure that people who were her friends placed on her to try to get Prince involved with false promises was "cold blooded".

It is fine for you to have a different opinion, but if you cannot justify or back up your opinion, please don't just call other positions BS.

[Edited 2/14/24 17:08pm]

purplethunder3121 said:

Then just don't read or respond. It is that simple.

One thing (out of many, many things) that is clearly worse than people discussing things you don't give a shit about is imagining that people should give a shit about your opinion on what others choose to discuss here.

IanRG said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Then just don't read or respond. It is that simple.

One thing (out of many, many things) that is clearly worse than people discussing things you don't give a shit about is imagining that people should give a shit about your opinion on what others choose to discuss here.

Nobody cares about that either.

Just finished it. What struck me was at the end when Shiela said she was humbled just to be apart of it.. she fucking left. I mean WTH

PennyPurple said:

Just finished it. What struck me was at the end when Shiela said she was humbled just to be apart of it.. she fucking left. I mean WTH

WHen did she say she "left?" She's in the recording and video

GaryMF said:

PennyPurple said:

Just finished it. What struck me was at the end when Shiela said she was humbled just to be apart of it.. she fucking left. I mean WTH

WHen did she say she "left?" She's in the recording and video

She walked out when she didn't get a solo part, and according to her they said she would have one, and when she realized that they were using her to get Prince to come to the studio.

PennyPurple said:

GaryMF said:

WHen did she say she "left?" She's in the recording and video

She walked out when she didn't get a solo part, and according to her they said she would have one, and when she realized that they were using her to get Prince to come to the studio.

She was never going to get a solo part, that was clear. They had their lineup of arguably bigger stars doing solos. She probably thought (as she still does) that she was going to sing Prince's part when he wasn't showing up. Then got butthurt when she realized Huey Lewis had more clout than her.

I can't rely on her as a reliable historian considering how much she's tried to rewrite her history with Prince after he died.

Gary you have to remember they did the chorus first, so that's why she's in the recording and video. The solos were done later, and that's when she left.

purplethunder3121 said:

IanRG said:

Then just don't read or respond. It is that simple.

One thing (out of many, many things) that is clearly worse than people discussing things you don't give a shit about is imagining that people should give a shit about your opinion on what others choose to discuss here.

Nobody cares about that either.

See, other people do care - Just so long as no one uses it to show the games MJ and Quincy played.

Now it is Sheila E's fault that she left after she finished recording her parts, knowng the promise made to her were never going to be kept because she was just there to try to get Prince there.

RODSERLING said:

It was the chance of her life and she just blew it' Consequently, she wasn't offered a part in What More Can I Give. [Edited 2/18/24 4:33am]

Consequently she was thrown off the team? Not one of the WATW Team was in WMCIG "All Stars". Did they all blow it?

This latter song is irrelevant. It was an unrelated, unsuccessful and not officially released song that MJ spent 9 years considering which of several causes he could it for to show he supports.

"What More Can I Give" - I can't even remember that, then I see it was for 9/11. Did I even know about it back then? Probably. Didn't Usher and Celine sing on it? I have a vision in my head about it.

Just to side note sometheing: I believe MJ had a good heart, he wanted to use his money and status to help people. I've never doubted that.

But the kicker for him is the music in doing that. WATW was a good starting point, and "Man in the Mirror" is arguably the pinnacle song for that (and the pisser is he didn't even write that one).

After that, he constantly tried to recreate that warm and fuzzy feel good song and he never did.

"Heal The World" is so saccharine, it could've been rewritten as a Disney kids song. I don't know how it ever got any attention at all, other than him just shoving it in our faces all the time.

He regained a little cred with "Earth Song."

He could write feel good songs ("Keep The Faith," "Will You Be There"), and he could write sad or storied songs ("Gone Too Soon," "Childhood") but somewhere there was that "Man in the Mirror" disconnect. In reality, WATW is very 80s, but I don't know who's humming that out of nostalgia at this point.

"What More Can I Give" is just in that line of "here's a gospel pop feel good" attempts, but far from a solid landing. Maybe he just never had it in him to write a song like "Man in the Mirror" by himself.

TrivialPursuit said:

"What More Can I Give" - I can't even remember that, then I see it was for 9/11. Did I even know about it back then? Probably. Didn't Usher and Celine sing on it? I have a vision in my head about it.

Just to side note sometheing: I believe MJ had a good heart, he wanted to use his money and status to help people. I've never doubted that.

But the kicker for him is the music in doing that. WATW was a good starting point, and "Man in the Mirror" is arguably the pinnacle song for that (and the pisser is he didn't even write that one).

After that, he constantly tried to recreate that warm and fuzzy feel good song and he never did.

"Heal The World" is so saccharine, it could've been rewritten as a Disney kids song. I don't know how it ever got any attention at all, other than him just shoving it in our faces all the time.

He regained a little cred with "Earth Song."

He could write feel good songs ("Keep The Faith," "Will You Be There"), and he could write sad or storied songs ("Gone Too Soon," "Childhood") but somewhere there was that "Man in the Mirror" disconnect. In reality, WATW is very 80s, but I don't know who's humming that out of nostalgia at this point.

"What More Can I Give" is just in that line of "here's a gospel pop feel good" attempts, but far from a solid landing. Maybe he just never had it in him to write a song like "Man in the Mirror" by himself.

Yes, MJ had a good heart (as did Prince).

The song was origiinally considered following Rodney King and was called Heal L.A in 1992. It was going to be for a number of things along the way to 9/11. Ultimately the digital only release on two temporary charity websites donated some of the sales income to various children's charities.

An interesting note on Wikipedia about WMCIG:

Jackson appeared in the video produced by Marc Schaffel. Even after his death it is believed to be the "last" actual completed song and video that Michael Jackson had done, and approved for release.... Michael Jackson had told many people he felt that "What More Can I Give" was a definite contender for song of the year for both the English and Latin Grammys, and felt it would be as successful as "We Are the World". No official release date... has been given since the death of Jackson in June 2009, by either Schaffel or Jackson's estate.

Talk about dreaming with the song of the year stuff.

Interesting it was the last song he completed. Talk about irony.