This one is especially for those who grew up in the 1980s and who reconnect with what was the middle of that decade, where the most famous artists circulated among us: Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna, Lionel Richie, Cyndi Lauper, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran, George Michael, Depeche Mode, The Cure… the list is long. And in January 1985, forty of American music’s biggest stars came together to record We Are The World. Never before (or since) have so many stars been gathered in the same studio, on one night with just one common goal. The documentary, The Greatest Night in Pop, from Netflix, relives this moment with never-before-seen footage. I tell you: it’s exciting.

In 1985, Michael Jackson was the biggest star on the planet because of Thriller. Prince was at his peak with Purple Rain and Madonna was already driving teenagers crazy with Like a Virgin and Material Girl. Lionel Richie won all the awards with Can’t Slow Down. In a stroke of fate, everyone was in Los Angeles for an awards ceremony, which allowed a project instigated by Harry Belafonte to get off the ground.

Hunger in Africa, especially in Ethiopia, occupied the hearts and minds of everyone affected with images of people wasting away before our eyes. In December 1984, as he was preparing for his Christmas, Bob Geldolf decided to try to contribute in some way. He wrote the song Do They Know It’s Christmas and recorded the iconic song with the biggest British pop stars, whose royalties went to NGOs that helped Ethiopians. In the United States, Belafonte, who was an activist and involved with African issues, decided that it was also time to contribute in some way. With Lionel Richie and manager Ken Kragen, they managed to get Michael, the biggest star of the moment, to get involved, as well as Quincy Jones. The questions that many asked at the time about how they came up with the names that recorded the single, how they divided it, and how they recorded it are answered in such a brilliant way in the documentary that you need a tissue on your side.

For anyone who follows Michael Jackson‘s biography, having his creative process at its peak captured by cameras and friends is indescribable. Seeing Bob Dylan nervous? We have. Diana Ross groupie? We have. Here we go.

The Greatest Night in Pop shows the entire herculean process of putting together a supergroup in a short time. We Are the World is still the best-selling single in history, a song typical of the hitmaker that Richie and Michael were and are. Of course, anyone who lived at that time is horrified by it because it was played so extensively on the radio, but, 40 years later, it’s pure nostalgia.

Unmissable.

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