We Are The World Sickness and You

After a rather long break from posting, I thought I’d come back with something a little different.

Below is a video of over 40 youtube performers singing the 1985 classic charity ballad “We are the world” written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.

What makes this post different from any other is that this case the people who contributed to the making and posting of this video are not idiots. This remake is absolutely terrific when you think about the hard work it took to edit this thing, the various recording methods, the sheer number of performers…etc. So why am I posting? This is why…

The incident in Haiti was terrible and is still a major problem that needs all the help it can get, but do we really need this? I swear I felt the foundation of my own house start to give way when Wyclef started screaming out his part of this awful rendition.

I know, I know. I should be celebrating the fact that over 80 of The United States’ so-called top performers took the time to contribute something to the Haitian earthquake relief effort but they could have at least made it sound good. There is some decent talent in this group, don’t get me wrong, but this became a miserable collaboration as soon as someone said “Not a problem at all Lil’ Wayne, you can have your own solo verse!” or at least that’s how I imagine it going.

After listening to that 8+ minute pile of crap I had to go back and watch the original just to reassure myself that it is better, and of course it is. Finding a decent upload of the original proved more of a challenge than I thought it would have been, but this karaoke video should suffice considering it doesn’t cut out anywhere randomly.

I’ll admit that Bob Dylan sounds a bit awkward amongst all of the other performers, but it works for his part of the song. Another thing I noticed is John Oates and his mustache just singing in the chorus along with several others who have the talent to sing their own verse. I wonder why… probably because the song would have sounded like shit if they tried to fit in too many parts. At least we have proof of that now.

Now my real complaint isn’t on the song, or how Wyclef shouldn’t be allowed to produce anymore, or even how much I love autotune; it’s about the general reaction to the obvious bad reaction any self respecting listener might say out loud after hearing it.

I won’t go comment for comment this time around, but it’s fair to say scrolling down several thousand times on the World25 video that the YouTube majority wants people like me to STFU and just appreciate what they are doing. There is some merit behind that, and I’m fine with the millions of Akon fans donating all of their money downloading copies of this song but doesn’t anyone want to do anything good anymore? You’re all idiots if you don’t think so.

I bet Dan Aykroyd walked up to Quincy Jones during the original recording and asked “Where do you want me” and Quincy replied “In the back, behind all of the good singers.” That’s what made Quincy Jones, his ability to spot and exploit talent not litter the television with famous faces. Wyclef on the other hand probably would have given Aykroyd his own vocal solo (with autotune of course, because it sounds so good… really).

The point is that in the 80′s things were thought about a little differently. The original “We are the world” took place after the success of the UK Band-Aid charity song and was probably open to a huge number of early 80′s celebrities. Problem is that they could only record a good song with so many people, and half of the big names had to get left out in the chorus. Now 25 years later we get a remake that follows the motto of the modern day entertainment industry; slap as many faces on it as possible, package and ship… that’s all I thought after watching the World25 video. But then I came across the YouTube performers video and had a change of heart, it is a better example of today’s culture. Over 40  people (mostly broke) using their own equipment to record themselves out of their own homes from all different parts of the country, coming together through the use of technology and the internet in 1 song for a good cause. If you ask me, the World25 video should go into the trash and they should put the YouTube video up for sale. Maybe it wouldn’t make as much money for Haiti, but they deserve a better song than what Wyclef gave them.

If you’d like to make a donation to Haiti using the American Red Cross, click here.