What can I say? His stuff doesn't do it for me. But it's not like he's a bad guy, so I don't want to trash him. What about Argentina? Is Bob Dylan popular or even known there? 🇦🇷 I'd actually be extremely interested in which of these artists that we mentioned were or weren't known to you when this song came out?
I don´t really listen to Bob Dylan either, but he definitely influenced the songwriting of many great argentine artists! Regarding "We are the world", it was a massive hit and I remember the video well. Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner, Lionel Ritchie and of course, Michael Jackson, were very popular acts in Argentina before the song came out. Can´t wait for the next rounds! I took a sneak peak at side B's movie region and I have some interesting factoids about Chris de Burgh!
Also, was there a high school choir anywhere in America that DIDN'T perform this song in 1985-86? I was in my choir, and we certainly did. I think we did it for our winter show.
Joe and I were in our chorus, but for me it was 87-88, and we didn't perform this one, perhaps because we were too busy singing MJ's "The Way You Make Me Feel"? (And maybe the chorus did "We Are the World" a couple years earlier?
you guys have a lot more respect for James Ingram than me, I would have been him at #20, just above the ridiculously awful Al Jarreau (I'm with Keith on the "fuck you Al Jarreau" train). Ingram always grated me, he always sounded like a white guy trying to sound like a black soul singer, trying way too hard. Just terrible.
Your top four is pretty solid, in whichever order, though with respect to Keith's wrong opinion of Dylan, I think the top five would include him. But I'm probably on team Cyndi.
One factoid I don't think you talked about in the show, John Denver asked to be involved and was rejected. So, "The News" and Dan Ackroyd got to be there but not the Country Boy? How fucked up is that?
This factoid is insane. And like even within the country genre, Waylon Jennings is there, but John Denver isn't? Strange choice, and I wonder what was behind it!?
Welcome aboard the "Fuck Al Jarreau" train!
I'll be straight with you, I only knew James Ingram from maybe one song, so I may have been fooled into liking him by this video. I trust your judgment on this one.
Leading into "We are the World," I had never heard a Bob Dylan song, and I didn't really "get" him. Even much later (now), I haven't sought out his stuff, probably just isn't for me. Have respect for him, just don't really know anything about him. In contrast, I didn't really know Willie, but have grown to like some of his work. Anyway, I can respect the whole Dylan perspective you and Joe have on this.
First off let me say “four stars”. You are both idiots and I approve.
I do not like this song. It’s trite. Its trivial. It’s treacly (oh so very treacly). It’s so “first world” pretentious that I feel like the “USA” should have suffered UN sanctions. It’s also stupidly catchy and catnip for anybody who craved a “heroes of pop music” shared universe.
If you hate it or love it (or like it or dismiss it) the blame or credit really needs to go to Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie (and Q). Without the gravity of MJ’s star power this project wouldn’t exist. Ritchie was huge then too, but I see him more as Batman to MJ’s Superman, using his powers to make the project what it needed to be but knowing that without the “gloved one” this JLA would never have happened. (See Joe. I can talk in DC terms too. (Though I did just associate Clark Kent with “it’s ok for your kids to sleepover” MJ didn’t I? Sorry.))
So, for ranking the soloists I look at it this way. Michael and Lionel have to be the bar. Its their song and they are its essence. If you are above them then you transcended the material, if you are below them then you suck…or maybe you had a note from home saying you could phone it in. Or maybe you were only given two words to sing.
I have Lionel and MJ at 13 and 14. Ritchie’s intro simply sets the mood and then he steps out of the way for everybody else. It’s actually a smart thing to do because in a couple of minutes we will have already forgotten how mediocre he was. MJ of course stands at the center of the proceedings with a halo hovering over his head.
I’ll put everybody else into tiers. At the bottom in her own tier at 21 is Kim Carnes, because nobody else was given as little to do. We’ll call it the “were my services really needed?” tier. Nothing wrong with Carnes but she has no chance to shine with all the other voices piling on top, which is actually another smart move musically and adds a crescendo to the monotony. I’ll also give Jarreau his own tier at 20. I didn’t know about him being drunk, so let’s call this the “you left out John Denver for this guy” tier.
Let’s call 16 to 19 the “Oh right, they were there too” tier. Honestly, when I started listening to the pod I was wondering if you would talk about how Billy Joel hadn’t been invited, until you pointed out the HE WAS ACTUALLY THERE. Loggins, Simon, Turner and Joel all underwhelm.
Next tier. “The median”. 13-15. Lionel, MJ and Diana Ross. I’m including Ross here because there was a time when she and Michael seemed to be interchangeable. He seemed to want to be her for awhile and then she seemed to be morphing into him once he became a supernova. Just another layer of MJ weirdness.
7-12 is the “punching above our weight” tier.
Daryl Hall almost suffers Kim Carnes’s fate, but he pulls it off. 8-11 are interchangeable for me. They could have been the “just happy to be here” tier, but they all decided to bring it. Dionne Warwick is a little mix of this tier and the next one so she’s her own number 7.
4-6 is the “just do that thing you do” tier. Ray, Bob and Willie are all doing their Ray, Bob and Willie things. Ray does his with a lot more chutzpah, but that in itself is his thing. Willie wrote Crazy. Bob wrote Blowin in the Wind. Asking them to sing this song is like asking Chopin to play Chopsticks.
Next is the “one plus one equals HOLY SHIT!” tier. 2-3. Stevie and Bruce. Just one of the great eighties moments to hear these two complement each other. Equal titans. DeNiro and Pacino in Heat. When all the pieces of Voltron connect. Wish it was in a different song.
Top tier? The “Madonna who?” tier. Cyndi, Cyndi, Cyndi. Kinda unhinged, fully committed and yes, so unusual. Absolutely the right place at the right time. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you’d asked me in 1985 who would have been the bigger star, Lauper or Madonna, I would have picked Lauper.
This is an awesome comment, Chris! Thanks for jumping in!
I feel like we essentially agree on a lot of this, except for my Bob Dylan blind spot, and a couple minor discrepancies. But I definitely enjoy the way you broke it all down! Thanks for listening! --Keith
Well, first off, I need to point out that Supes didn't make a habit of flying kids to hang out at the Fortress of Solitude. (Although his menagerie there maybe IS a strong parallel to Neverland Ranch.)
Second, can I say Fuck You for stating all this so much better than I did during the show? Probably I can't, right?
You make many great points, although, clearly, I don't entirely agree with how highly you ranked Daryl Hall and Huey Lewis. I might be too rough on Huey in general.
I’m also a pretty big Daryl Hall fan, which has to account for me putting him with the likes of the Gambler. I suffer the same favoritism with Hall and Oates that you give to Simon, though Hall is less deserving.
I can't contest that order, except for Billy in 5th. And I won't argue strongly against him. I mean, he sounds like himself...it's just hard to make a huge impression with one line, I guess.
Joe - So sorry, but I'm with Keith all the way that Paul Simon's performance in this was unremarkable. Like you - I didn't even know it was him singing that line (until I saw the video)! Based on that alone, regardless of his incredible career, I could not in good conscience put him anywhere near the top 10.
Contrary to that, although I voted for Cyndi as having the best solo, props to the country guys: I thought Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers really brought it. I love both of their performances in this.
It's Cyndi, of course, but she'd have had stiffer competition if you'd pitted this song in a charity head-to-head with "Do They Know It's Christmas?" which came first and is a far superior song musically, while being pretty awful lyrically. Because Cyndi's solo v. Bono's "well tonight thank god it's them, insteaaaaaaaaad of YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUU" would be a brawl.
Doing THIS episode actually made me realize how LITTLE I knew about "Do They Know It' Christmas?" so I went and watched it very recently, and you're right, the lyrics are worse, the music is better. "Xmas" is also like 4 minutes shorter and really only has a handful of solos, all by white men, and Bono's is the only one that really stands out to me. On sight I know probably only about 33% of the people in the chorus: the solo performers, Jody Watley, the ladies from Bananarama, and the Duran Duran guys. Maybe we will do a very special episode about this song as well?
No argument from Joe and me! I rated two legends with many more lines (Bruce and Stevie) just a shade higher than Cyndi, but she truly imprinted her style on this song!
Thanks, man! Was just messaging to Alejandro (Argentina), and was wondering which folks in this song that you knew/didn't know whenever you first heard this? --Keith
"I respect him, but I don´t really listen to him" must be one of the best statements in the whole show!
Is this what I said about Bob Dylan? 😂 🤷🏼♂️
What can I say? His stuff doesn't do it for me. But it's not like he's a bad guy, so I don't want to trash him. What about Argentina? Is Bob Dylan popular or even known there? 🇦🇷 I'd actually be extremely interested in which of these artists that we mentioned were or weren't known to you when this song came out?
--Keith
I don´t really listen to Bob Dylan either, but he definitely influenced the songwriting of many great argentine artists! Regarding "We are the world", it was a massive hit and I remember the video well. Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner, Lionel Ritchie and of course, Michael Jackson, were very popular acts in Argentina before the song came out. Can´t wait for the next rounds! I took a sneak peak at side B's movie region and I have some interesting factoids about Chris de Burgh!
So you have heard of him, which I wasn’t entirely sure you would have. Thanks for the response!
—Keith
Oh, hahaha, my mistake, the Side B playlists are supposed to be private! OOPS! (They are NOW!) Still can't wait to hear your 'Toids about de Burgh!
--Keith
Also, was there a high school choir anywhere in America that DIDN'T perform this song in 1985-86? I was in my choir, and we certainly did. I think we did it for our winter show.
Joe and I were in our chorus, but for me it was 87-88, and we didn't perform this one, perhaps because we were too busy singing MJ's "The Way You Make Me Feel"? (And maybe the chorus did "We Are the World" a couple years earlier?
Keith: "C'mon Girl!"
Joe: "Heeee Heeee"
--Keith
you guys have a lot more respect for James Ingram than me, I would have been him at #20, just above the ridiculously awful Al Jarreau (I'm with Keith on the "fuck you Al Jarreau" train). Ingram always grated me, he always sounded like a white guy trying to sound like a black soul singer, trying way too hard. Just terrible.
Your top four is pretty solid, in whichever order, though with respect to Keith's wrong opinion of Dylan, I think the top five would include him. But I'm probably on team Cyndi.
One factoid I don't think you talked about in the show, John Denver asked to be involved and was rejected. So, "The News" and Dan Ackroyd got to be there but not the Country Boy? How fucked up is that?
This factoid is insane. And like even within the country genre, Waylon Jennings is there, but John Denver isn't? Strange choice, and I wonder what was behind it!?
Welcome aboard the "Fuck Al Jarreau" train!
I'll be straight with you, I only knew James Ingram from maybe one song, so I may have been fooled into liking him by this video. I trust your judgment on this one.
Leading into "We are the World," I had never heard a Bob Dylan song, and I didn't really "get" him. Even much later (now), I haven't sought out his stuff, probably just isn't for me. Have respect for him, just don't really know anything about him. In contrast, I didn't really know Willie, but have grown to like some of his work. Anyway, I can respect the whole Dylan perspective you and Joe have on this.
--Keith
First off let me say “four stars”. You are both idiots and I approve.
I do not like this song. It’s trite. Its trivial. It’s treacly (oh so very treacly). It’s so “first world” pretentious that I feel like the “USA” should have suffered UN sanctions. It’s also stupidly catchy and catnip for anybody who craved a “heroes of pop music” shared universe.
If you hate it or love it (or like it or dismiss it) the blame or credit really needs to go to Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie (and Q). Without the gravity of MJ’s star power this project wouldn’t exist. Ritchie was huge then too, but I see him more as Batman to MJ’s Superman, using his powers to make the project what it needed to be but knowing that without the “gloved one” this JLA would never have happened. (See Joe. I can talk in DC terms too. (Though I did just associate Clark Kent with “it’s ok for your kids to sleepover” MJ didn’t I? Sorry.))
So, for ranking the soloists I look at it this way. Michael and Lionel have to be the bar. Its their song and they are its essence. If you are above them then you transcended the material, if you are below them then you suck…or maybe you had a note from home saying you could phone it in. Or maybe you were only given two words to sing.
I have Lionel and MJ at 13 and 14. Ritchie’s intro simply sets the mood and then he steps out of the way for everybody else. It’s actually a smart thing to do because in a couple of minutes we will have already forgotten how mediocre he was. MJ of course stands at the center of the proceedings with a halo hovering over his head.
I’ll put everybody else into tiers. At the bottom in her own tier at 21 is Kim Carnes, because nobody else was given as little to do. We’ll call it the “were my services really needed?” tier. Nothing wrong with Carnes but she has no chance to shine with all the other voices piling on top, which is actually another smart move musically and adds a crescendo to the monotony. I’ll also give Jarreau his own tier at 20. I didn’t know about him being drunk, so let’s call this the “you left out John Denver for this guy” tier.
Let’s call 16 to 19 the “Oh right, they were there too” tier. Honestly, when I started listening to the pod I was wondering if you would talk about how Billy Joel hadn’t been invited, until you pointed out the HE WAS ACTUALLY THERE. Loggins, Simon, Turner and Joel all underwhelm.
Next tier. “The median”. 13-15. Lionel, MJ and Diana Ross. I’m including Ross here because there was a time when she and Michael seemed to be interchangeable. He seemed to want to be her for awhile and then she seemed to be morphing into him once he became a supernova. Just another layer of MJ weirdness.
7-12 is the “punching above our weight” tier.
Daryl Hall almost suffers Kim Carnes’s fate, but he pulls it off. 8-11 are interchangeable for me. They could have been the “just happy to be here” tier, but they all decided to bring it. Dionne Warwick is a little mix of this tier and the next one so she’s her own number 7.
4-6 is the “just do that thing you do” tier. Ray, Bob and Willie are all doing their Ray, Bob and Willie things. Ray does his with a lot more chutzpah, but that in itself is his thing. Willie wrote Crazy. Bob wrote Blowin in the Wind. Asking them to sing this song is like asking Chopin to play Chopsticks.
Next is the “one plus one equals HOLY SHIT!” tier. 2-3. Stevie and Bruce. Just one of the great eighties moments to hear these two complement each other. Equal titans. DeNiro and Pacino in Heat. When all the pieces of Voltron connect. Wish it was in a different song.
Top tier? The “Madonna who?” tier. Cyndi, Cyndi, Cyndi. Kinda unhinged, fully committed and yes, so unusual. Absolutely the right place at the right time. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you’d asked me in 1985 who would have been the bigger star, Lauper or Madonna, I would have picked Lauper.
1. Cyndi Lauper
2. Stevie Wonder
3. Bruce Springsteen
4. Ray Charles
5. Bob Dylan
6. Willie Nelson
7. Dionne Warwick
8. Huey Lewis
9. James Ingram
10. Kenny Rogers
11. Steve Perry
12. Daryl Hall
13. Lionel Ritchie
14. Michael Jackson
15. Diana Ross
16. Kenny Loggins
17. Paul Simon
18. Tina Turner
19. Billy Joel
20. Al Jarreau
21. Kim Carnes
This is an awesome comment, Chris! Thanks for jumping in!
I feel like we essentially agree on a lot of this, except for my Bob Dylan blind spot, and a couple minor discrepancies. But I definitely enjoy the way you broke it all down! Thanks for listening! --Keith
Well, first off, I need to point out that Supes didn't make a habit of flying kids to hang out at the Fortress of Solitude. (Although his menagerie there maybe IS a strong parallel to Neverland Ranch.)
Second, can I say Fuck You for stating all this so much better than I did during the show? Probably I can't, right?
You make many great points, although, clearly, I don't entirely agree with how highly you ranked Daryl Hall and Huey Lewis. I might be too rough on Huey in general.
Thanks for listening!
I’m also a pretty big Daryl Hall fan, which has to account for me putting him with the likes of the Gambler. I suffer the same favoritism with Hall and Oates that you give to Simon, though Hall is less deserving.
Well, "Maneater" and "Private Eyes" don't really work as lullabies. So there's that.
I am:
Ray Charles
Stevie Wonder
Bruce Springsteen (aka cat litter man)
Cyndi Lauper
Billy Joel (because BILLY JOEL)
There. I said what I said.
I can't contest that order, except for Billy in 5th. And I won't argue strongly against him. I mean, he sounds like himself...it's just hard to make a huge impression with one line, I guess.
--Keith
Joe - So sorry, but I'm with Keith all the way that Paul Simon's performance in this was unremarkable. Like you - I didn't even know it was him singing that line (until I saw the video)! Based on that alone, regardless of his incredible career, I could not in good conscience put him anywhere near the top 10.
Contrary to that, although I voted for Cyndi as having the best solo, props to the country guys: I thought Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers really brought it. I love both of their performances in this.
No, I agree. Paul Simon did nothing to really put a stamp on this.
Cyndi nailed it the same way YOU nailed it in portraying Cyndi in the parody version!
Willie and Kenny DID crush it! Waylon Jennings, not so much! --Keith
It's Cyndi, of course, but she'd have had stiffer competition if you'd pitted this song in a charity head-to-head with "Do They Know It's Christmas?" which came first and is a far superior song musically, while being pretty awful lyrically. Because Cyndi's solo v. Bono's "well tonight thank god it's them, insteaaaaaaaaad of YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUU" would be a brawl.
Doing THIS episode actually made me realize how LITTLE I knew about "Do They Know It' Christmas?" so I went and watched it very recently, and you're right, the lyrics are worse, the music is better. "Xmas" is also like 4 minutes shorter and really only has a handful of solos, all by white men, and Bono's is the only one that really stands out to me. On sight I know probably only about 33% of the people in the chorus: the solo performers, Jody Watley, the ladies from Bananarama, and the Duran Duran guys. Maybe we will do a very special episode about this song as well?
--Keith
I almost went Ray 'cause he is pure class
He truly, truly was an amazing artist.
I've gone Cyndi, and was surprised to see her way out in the lead. The thing is tho she just rocks 😎
No argument from Joe and me! I rated two legends with many more lines (Bruce and Stevie) just a shade higher than Cyndi, but she truly imprinted her style on this song!
--Keith
Keith man, what a flashback... You sound like you gave yourself a roooiddd
Sometimes, you just gotta go for the glory, the performance lasts forever! 😂
🤦♂️😂😂😂
Great ep! Loved it! Joe does not hold back on the things he doesn't like, made me chuckle. Good job fellas
Thanks, man! Was just messaging to Alejandro (Argentina), and was wondering which folks in this song that you knew/didn't know whenever you first heard this? --Keith
I think I knew most of the artists on this, maybe one or two were less well known, but still known