We Are the World: Original vs. Remake

Radio .com presents Decast Radio Special Episode

Artist Spotlight We Are The World Hello and welcome

to GeekCast Radio. This is the music spotlight

and we are doing a artist spotlight. This will

be the last artist spotlight before we get to

the top 10 artists or bands countdown next episode

when we do that. This time around, of course,

I am TFJ and Mike joined with the music man.

Yes, that's right. And today we are going to

be talking about that wonderful, wonderful movement,

We Are the World, USA for Africa, was a huge,

huge movement back in 1985 where they raised

money for hunger in Africa. I believe that's

what it was for, it was hunger in Africa. I know

it was something for Africa. USA for Africa was

what that was. Right. I knew it was USA for Africa,

but I wasn't sure if it was hunger, if it was

poverty, if it was... It was hunger. They were

raising money for that. Yep. This song was amazing.

Oh, yeah. They had a whole list of artists ranging

in just about every genre. Every 80s artist that

you could think of, pretty much. Somewhere in

this song well you had Cindy Lauper Cindy Lauper

Kenny Rogers Lionel Richie Darryl Hall yeah both

of them Darryl was the only one that did a Solo

part, but John was there Probably did a lot of

the back you know back up and stuff the Okay,

the conductor, which I don't understand. It was,

well, I guess it was because it was a vocal conductor,

but Quincy Jones was the vocal conductor on the

original song. Right. The soloists in order of

appearance, you had Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder,

Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina

Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross,

Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarrou. Oh,

Al Jarrou. Jero, okay, there we go something

like that Bruce Springsteen Kenny Loggins Steve

Perry Darryl Hall Michael well Michael Jackson's

listed twice. Oh, that's cuz he came in twice.

Yes, he did a Hewitt Lewis Cindy Lover Kim Karns

Bob Dylan and Ray Charles I I recently cuz I

I have the video of the song I have the one of

the original videos in iTunes I recently rewatched

the video. I forgot Ray Charles was in the song

awesome The chorus, which surprises me, includes

Dan Aykroyd, Harry Belafonte, Lindsey Buckingham,

Mario Cipollina, Johnny Cola, Sheila Eve, Bob

Geldof, Bill Gibson, Chris Hayes, Sean Hopper,

Jackie Jackson, Latoya Jackson, Marlon Jackson,

Randy Jackson, Tito Jackson, Waylon Jennings,

Bette Midler, John Oates, Jeffrey Osborne, Anita

Pointer, June Pointer, Ruth Pointer, and Smokey

Robinson. I did not know Dan Aykroyd could say

that. I did not know that either. I don't know

why. Like, OK, I know he would, you know, probably

want to help out. But I did. Wow. Yeah. It's

amazing what actors can do sometimes. Yes, this

song for me was one of the quintessential 80s

songs. Honestly, if I'm if I'm really being honest,

the first couple of times I heard the song, I

stopped the cassette after I all as I wanted

to hear was Daryl because I'm a huge Hall & Oates

fan. We already did a Hall & Oates spotlight

here in the Hall & Oates artist spotlight here

here in the music spotlight. Originally, I only

wanted to hear him, but I love the song anyway

for what it is because you have an amazing, amazing

amount of artists and celebrities coming together

for this great charity and doing this amazing,

amazing song. It was so great. Well, when I heard

Michael, of course I'm like, yeah, that's my

man right there. You know and I know we did the

the spotlight for MJ You know here on the podcast,

but you know, I was you know, you're right There

were a lot of great artists that came together

You know And it amazes, you know, it amazed me

that you could just feel If you listen to the

lyrics themselves They they kind of describe

and explain maybe a story if you will You know

America is coming over to help Africa that that

was what the intention was USA for Africa United

States of America for Africa. So, you know Just

to have him or just to have them rather Doing

this Yeah, you know that that within itself That

shows a lot of love. That shows a lot of love,

you know? Now, I know hearing this song, you

can tell how well people come in and out with

each other as far as the transition of the vocals

between each artist, but when I went back and

I watched the video... It's all of them in one

room and you'll have like Cindy Lauper standing

in a microphone and then Bruce Springsteen walks

up next to her and does his but the way they

did the vocals in this was it was so Amazing

and it was so in harmony with each other. Yeah

It was so great. It was such a great song and

really what's really overlooked about we are

the world the album People didn't realize that

there were other songs on that cassette There

were songs by Journey on there. There was well

songs by still it was a song by Steve Perry There

was a song by Bruce Springsteen I believe it

was a Kenny Rogers did one. Yeah, Kenny Rogers

there. Well, I believe it was a nine or ten track

cassette tape and I have the CD. It's ten. It's

ten. Okay and it was just really honestly what

it was was the was that one song but getting

to hear those other songs that was great too

but really what it was was for that song uh...

and it was just amazing it it was an amazing

amazing thing and they raised a ton of money

for this you know they raised a ton of money

for these people over in africa i had no idea

she was he was even on that track here well because

like you you you you have the soloists obviously

and then the chorus normally choruses you know

they all have to sound as one voice so you don't

really get the fact that you know you you won't

really hear all all state state buff marshmallows

are all i could think of because it was what

i was growing up as a kid you don't really hear

Dan Aykroyd or people like that in a chorus because

you're supposed to have a harmonizing one voice.

Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson wrote the song.

Quincy Jones put it together and it was a movement.

I know a buddy of mine, Chuck, from a GI Joe

podcast, what's on Joe Mine, he's also a music

lover. He's been on the music spotlight with

us a couple of times. He is a huge fan of the

Supergroup, which kind of really took off in

the 80s, the era of the Supergroup. And honestly,

this is probably the biggest Supergroup there

has ever been. Well, you have a whole lot of

different voices in this and I really wish that

they had actually maybe done another album or

something together because That would have been

you know, neat, you know, maybe Just just to

do something You know, yeah, I I kind of agree

and I kind of disagree because this is a song

This is a movement that was and to me is still

it's frozen in time You can't change that. Yeah,

you can't change that you can't Replicate that

which we'll talk about later You know It was

something that Was such a movement in the 80s

and I actually found Through the Wikipedia article.

I found the actual website. It's still going

today raising funding for I mean it it wasn't

like okay, it wasn't like I know you're gonna

hate me for this but It wasn't like a TV show

from 1982 to 1986 where after 1986, it stopped.

USA for Africa has been going on since 1985.

Yes, the song was one, you know, We Are the World

was one thing that made it what it was, but the

charity has been going ever since. And that was

something I didn't realize. You know, one of

the artists we didn't mention or he's not listed

is Huey Lewis. No, I didn't mention Huey Lewis.

Did you probably didn't hear me? Yeah, he's on

there because I knew he was in there he comes

in right after Michael does Yeah, yeah, I'm yeah,

I mentioned the second time around Michael Jackson

Huey Lewis and then Cindy Lauper and Kim Karns.

Yeah, right. Okay, I Know that I can't wait till

we talk about the remake. Is that USA for Africa?

Is that still going? Yeah, it is still going.

They still have an active website. It was just

an amazing, amazing thing. It got three Grammy

Awards, one American Music Award, People's Choice

Award, songs promoted with a critically received

music video, home video, special edition magazine,

a simulcast, several books, posters, shirts.

The promotion of merchandise aided the success

of We Are the World and raised over $63 million

for humanitarian aid in Africa and the U .S.

This song raised 63 million dollars in 1985 1985

63 million that was a lot of money. I know a

lot of people nowadays will be like a 63 million

That's nothing my movies make 200 million, you

know, but back then That was a lot of money a

lot of money But I just I love the song I love

the fact that everyone could come together to

do this And now No, the reason I'm laughing at

you is because you know and I know that you and

I don't want to talk about this First of all,

all right. First of all, I Am all for people

coming together for charities. Oh my I'm all

for people helping out in time of need, especially

when you get hit by a natural disaster such as

a hurricane or an earthquake or tropical storm

or whatever you know tornado that damages something

you know exactly your community especially yes

um there were was it earthquakes i forget i forget

now we might have to look that up yeah i'm gonna

have to look but anyway um the 25th anniversary

oh um i think it was for haiti I think it was

an earthquake. Right, right. It was for Haiti,

but I'm trying to remember if it was... I don't

remember if it was an earthquake or a hurricane

now. Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7 .0 earthquake.

7 .0 earthquake. Okay, that's what it was. 25

for Haiti. Now, originally, Quincy Jones wanted

to get... He wanted to do a 25th anniversary

of the song. He wanted to get as many as the

original artists as he could back together. Michael

passed away. That was the biggest reason that.

That was probably one of the biggest deterrents

of getting everyone back together again. I know

probably some of the others have passed away

as well. I don't know. I don't know. I don't

know. And then the stuff. the earthquake in Haiti

happened. So instead of getting the original

artists back together, they got artists from

today and actors from to, well, Tony Bennett's

not really from today, but artists and musicians

and actors and stuff from today to do a remake

of We Are the World. And, okay, in the original

song, The first vocalist was Lionel Richie. Okay,

first vocalist was Lionel Richie. Sounded amazing.

In 25 for Haiti? Why do they have Justin Bieber

starting this song off? Why? I don't know. I

have no clue. The problem... We're not talking

about what they raised for charity. We're not

talking about doing this for charity. We're specifically

analyzing and tearing down the song, the remake

of We Are the World. We are not discounting anything

about the charity and all the money that it raised.

Let me see if I can find it. To raise money for

earthquake victims, a new celebrity version of

We Are the World was recorded on February 1st,

2010. I'm trying to see if there's a number here

for the uh let's see where the world 25 for Haiti

uh why don't you talk about the original song

for a second the original song as far as you

know raising money like like we said earlier

it raised 63 million dollars um you know for

for africa I'm sure that a lot of people appreciated

that. What we didn't mention that there was actually

when Easy Listening was around, Easy Listening

Stations, there was actually an Easy Listening

version done. Basically just an instrumental

and that I'm sure propelled the single to the

number one slot as well in 85. There were also

kids singing this uh... and what not and i thought

that was really uh... awesome uh... you know

as we're talking about we are the world twenty

five and things like that that this is completely

different i mean you heard about it once and

that was it now it's just gone all of a sudden

the songs tagline downloaded donate options for

the songs on a l c twenty nine uh... February

2010 Phillips said the physical products for

the song are being looked into It doesn't say

See, it's it. It says where the proceeds are

going, but it doesn't say like how much it actually

got I'm not seeing that here. So But this song

is and I'm only gonna talk about the soloists

in order of appearance. I'm not even gonna talk

about the chorus um first of all comparing this

to the original song first of all this video

this song the way this song was done you had

all the soloists in different locations yeah

it's not how that's not how this song was meant

to be done i understand time constraints i understand

scheduling and all that but you could figure

out Oh god. Alright, so the soloist - soloist

- it's just hurting my brain to talk about this

- this version. We may as well just get this

rant done. Yeah, the soloists in order of appearance,

Justin Bieber, Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Nettles,

Josh Groban, Tony Bennett, Mary J. Blige, Michael

Jackson, Stock Footage, Janet Jackson, Barbara

Streisand, Miley Cyrus, and Ricky Iglesias, Jamie

Foxx - why the hell is Jamie Foxx on this? He's

an actor. I know - I know he has - turn into

singer, but Wyclef John, Adam Levine, Pink, B

.B. Wayans, Usher, Celine Dion, Oranthe, Fergie,

Nicole Scherziser, I don't know how to spell

her name or say her name, Nick Jonas, Tony Braxton,

Mary Mary, Isaac Slade, Carlos Santana on guitar.

Does heaven forbid he ever, heaven forbid that

guy ever sing anything. Lil Wayne, Akon, T -Pain,

Jamie Foxx. Okay, yeah, that just kind of disturbs

me there. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

We'll get to it, we'll get to it. Jamie Foxx,

impersonation of Ray Charles, LL Cool J, Will

.i .am, Snoop Dogg, Nipsey Hussle, Busta Rhymes,

Swizz Beatz, Iaz, Man, and Kanye West. okay first

of all before we get to the hate first of all

there are some artists on here that are fairly

decent Josh Groban has an excellent voice Mary

J Blige is always really good Janet Jackson even

though I hate the circumstances of why she was

there Enrique Iglesias if you like that kind

of music okay Adam Levine is a good singer Pink

is a good singer Usher, Celine Dion those are

all good Um, why do you hate the circumstances

of the fact that she was there meaning Janet?

Because it was something her mother wanted because

the mother wanted her to sing with Michael and

the only way they could do that was after he

passed away and they use this I don't like that

they use that stock footage. No, I agree with

that, but I'm I mean If they had just had her

there and not used his stock footage because

Well, I was boy because they they used his they

sampled it. They resampled his voice from the

original, right? My issue with Janet being there

is that Michael's Sampling came on and Then she

appears in the video, but I never heard her voice.

I can only hear him. I heard her I didn't. As

much as I hate it, I'll have to go back and listen

to it again. Yeah, what you have to do is really

listen closely. What they did is Michael overpowers

her, is what that is. But you can hear her. I'm

sorry! No, no, no, it's not you. I'm trying to

gather my thoughts here because... The beginning

of the song, regardless of who the artists are,

the real problem I had was going from Josh Groban

to Tony Bennett. Josh Groban sounded great. Yes,

he did. And I'm not a fan of Josh, either. That's

the interesting thing, but that's not the point.

The transition, though. My problem is the transitioning

from Josh singing to Tony singing. It comes in

as the hardest rough cut that I have ever seen.

mean it's like you know it's like you know thing

goes into a New York City bar and he's stomping

around and it's making the record players skip

yeah or it's making a CD skip right it's just

it's so bad and as much as I like Santana on

guitar there shouldn't have been a guitar in

this song no and the whole reggae vibe and the

rap stuff that should not have been in here.

I know they're trying to make it for a new generation.

I know they're trying to make it for this new,

you know, charity in this new disaster. I wish

they would have done a different song. I wish

that - Why Clef Jean should not have been involved

with the - I'm sorry, but to hear his voice sing

like that? Oh my God. Oh, it makes you want to

rake your fingernails across the chalkboard.

Yep. That was just - Yep, and you don't need

the rap verse at the end If they had done that

as a separate song I I like I'm not a person

who is big into rap or hip -hop at all But I

you know, there are certain artists that I like

that I can listen to from that LL Cool J is one

of them I don't mind him rapping but You don't

need it. No you don't Especially not in the charity

song no And that's the funniest thing the entire

article for we are the world 25 It mentions the

background on on how it got together It mentions

the fact that you can donate But it doesn't mention

any of the donate proceeds doesn't mention how

much the proceeds were uh... it mentions the

chart performance and it mentions the chart positions

this song i don't you know as as we said before

we respected they were trying to do something

for charity but if you look and i will post these

two articles all all post the original we are

the world wikipedia article and the we are the

world twenty five article and people can read

them for themselves the original we are the world

article Lists what they raised for the charity.

This does not this lists the chart Performance

the that's all it lists. I could see if they

listed the charity and the chart performance,

but all is it lists is what? How good the song

did or how bad the song did or whatever. I oh

my god. Oh My god, so yeah that my brain's about

to break so the legacy that is the original it

will live on in infamy it's by the way you mentioned

i have to bring this up because you mentioned

it in the mj spotlight yes you mentioned autotune

Autotune is in this song. Yes, I know. Oh my

god. That's so many things. I have to mention

it because T -Pain used it and Lil Wayne used

it and I'm like, oh my god, no! There's so many

things that did not need to be used in this song.

do you have any thoughts on 25 before we i mean

i kind of i i kind of already tried to go back

to legacy but do you have any thoughts my thoughts

are simply this they could have done a little

better job and thought it through they could

have scheduled a time You know looked at everybody's

schedule all right What are you doing on this

day or this day or this day and everybody set

aside a day? When they go in and they take a

day or whatever it is or a couple of days Maybe

even three however many days it takes to get

that song together and really put it out there

put it together Mix it real well Decide what

would possibly go well with it decide what? would

not possibly go with it and that type of thing

i would also like to point out that there was

a spanish version done i have seen and i've seen

the video for it you know because Gloria Estefan

and her husband were involved with that and there

was also the spanish version i don't have it

um you know you know for my personal music collection

uh but huh Why would you want it? I know. But

the point is that I have the English, you know,

we are the world 25. The point is that they could

have thought this out a little better. And I'm

really sorry that Quincy Jones did not get involved

with this. I think that I think it could have

gone a lot better. The stock footage of MJ. Don't

really know because okay. I want to say something,

but I don't want to say anything bad So I'll

try to put it as nicely as possible. I understand

why his mother wanted the stock footage used

Yeah, I understand why But Maybe they could have

gotten another Jackson and Janet to do Michael's

parts. I know that sounds crazy Maybe maybe I

agree. Maybe it's your main maybe Jermaine and

Janet. Yeah, you know, maybe Jermaine and Janet

Or Randy or Randy and Janet, you know or Marlon

and Janet or Jackie and Janet, you know somebody

out of that out of that clan and Janet, okay

and To hear him Redigita cuz see now I'm gonna

have to go listen out now. I'm gonna have to

put oh my god it it's like like you said it was

for charity that was a good thing it was for

charity they did something good but they rushed

into different locations like you said and they

have all this vote these vocal parts put together

you know and and and you know barbara streisand

is on it that's cool why why didn't you get on

the original were you that stuck up back in the

80s Now it does say in the 25 article that Quincy

was involved It's I mean it lists him as one

of the conductors for the 25 lists him Lionel

and Merrin Warren, so I mean he was involved.

It wasn't like he wasn't so yeah, but I think

it could have I think they he should have gotten

rid of all this electronic drum machine crap

and Real musicians man. That's what you want.

You don't need this Pre -program synth beat.

I'm sorry, but you just don't need it You know,

you don't need that get some real musicians,

you know, if you want Carlos Santana to play

that's cool You know, maybe give him a guitar

Solo or something like that. Well, that's what

he had He had it during one of the choruses he

didn't have it by itself you want it if you want

if you want to get my guitar solo maybe given

the guitar solo but don't do it during one of

the courses uh... all right so yes ladies and

gentlemen i'm gonna read from wikipedia so i

make sure i have a right and they are so that

they do cite the sources here The new version

features updated lyrics and music such as the

rap segment pretending to Haiti described as

Greek chorus extension, which was written by

Will .i .am. Other writers included Kanye West,

Quincy Jones, LL Cool J, Lionel Richie, and Jones

revealed that Michael Jackson's sister Janet

duets with her late brother as per request from

their mother, Catherine. In the official video

there is an archived footage of Michael Jackson

from the original 85 recording. Richie said that

he agreed with Katherine's request commenting

it made me feel more secure about this. We definitely

felt a void. He is the other parent to the song.

The production team for the song included a bunch

of Abel. Red1 said that it took a week to create

the new arrangement for We Are the World 25 for

Haiti. He commented that he wanted to keep the

class of the original one, did not want to, quote,

mess it up because it's too good. He noted that

he wanted to make the song sound more now and

current while keeping the original's whole chord

progressions. The feeling and vibe but brought

fresher sounds that are more now. No! Absolutely

not! No! No, no, no, no. Oh my god. Alright.

So getting back to the legacy part of this, the

legacy of the original. The original... will

always live on the original is something i can

listen to at any time the original is one of

those ones you could just pop in at any time

and you can go back into your mind's eye and

go you know what this is what this is done for

and this is this was a good thing yeah exactly

so all is i can really say is i'm going to Well,

first of all, I'm gonna go to an ad break and

it's probably just going to be ads because we're

gonna come back and we're gonna do a quick outro

and Yeah, let's go to commercial This is just

breaking my brain. I don't even know where to

go from from I don't even know where to go on

this note I really don't think we should take

a break. Yeah. Yeah, we'll be back after this

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code KEYCASTRADIO when you register. All right,

so we are back and Basically the advice of us

here in the music spotlight is listen to the

original. We are the world the 1985 version Your

you will cherish it forever. Yes, cherish it

forever because if you listen to the if you listen

to the artists for haiti we are the world twenty

five version your ears your eyes and your nose

will all bleed at once well it's it's funny you

mentioned you know we are the world are you know

uh... twenty five for haiti i actually because

uh... most people may not know this but i do

an internet radio show folks on a on a different

network on twenty twenty the blank yes i'm pimpin

my show out i don't care but if you guys want

to check that out It's called DJ Music Man's

Mayhem on 2020theblink .net from 7 p .m. until

10 p .m. Eastern every Saturday night. But seriously,

we did this not on that network, but we did it

on another network, JJRN. And a friend of mine

and I, we were just sitting there, just we played

the original. You know, obviously, we gave our

comments on it. We said, hey, you know, we like

this and this is good. And then we played. Twenty

five. Twenty five. Yeah. The comments we gave.

That's all I'm going to say. The comments we

gave. Yeah. So like, you know, like we said,

listen to the original. It's it's very good in

my personal opinion. Do understand what the artists

for you know, Haiti we're doing with the remake

Yeah, I do understand that I do agree with giving

to charity But the song sucked yeah That's that

that just sums it up right there. Yeah We hope

you enjoyed this episode of geek cast or radio.

I wish you'll join us next time when we will

be doing our special episode of the countdown

of our top 10 favorite artists or bands of the

1980s. For now, I am TFD1Mike with The Music

Man. Thank you for listening. Until next time.

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