The dress code Quincy Jones enforced for ‘We Are The World’
If, like me, you want to throw your radio at the wall when ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ comes on during the festive season, then the chances are you’ll feel similarly irked by ‘We Are The World’. Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie and produced by Quincy Jones in 1985 (one year after Band Aid), it’s another charity single recorded by a star-studded chorus to raise money for the 1983-1985 famine-stricken Ethiopia.
Despite the incessantly cheesy melodies and some questionable ‘us and them’ style lyrics, these kinds of songs clearly have their heart in the right place. Or do they? I mean, wasn’t Band Aid the making of Bob Geldof’s millions? For the sake of not wanting to dive headfirst into that rabbit hole, let’s just set aside any cynicism we might have about the Western world’s benevolence; after all, this is an article about dress code, not the patronising nature of affluent capitalist states.
Unfortunately, that might not be possible after you’ve learned about Quincy Jones’ enforced dress code for all the artists during the recording of the single. Jones instructed all members of the chorus to wear casual clothes to the studio, insisting, “We don’t want to make a hunger record in tuxedos”. To be fair to him, it probably would’ve set the wrong tone, a bit like eating your dessert before your main course… kind of. I’m just curious to know what the thought process behind his decision was.
Did he think that by wearing jeans and a tee shirt, these major celebrities (like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon, to name a few) would somehow feel a deeper connection to the thousands of people starving in Africa? It’s laughable now, but maybe it was normal then. Thank goodness for hindsight.
Objectively, the single managed to raise over $80million (equivalent to $229m today) in humanitarian aid, proving that despite the slightly contrived camaraderie, ‘We Are The World’ has an incredible impact. It was the fastest-selling pop single in US history. Really, however much I want to slag off the motivations behind the LA egos which filled Quincy Jones’ studio on the day of recording, there’s no denying the project’s success. It goes so far as to potentially overshadow the questionable nature of the track itself.
With the decline of physical media today, these sorts of projects have much less chance of actually making a splash and are subsequently less frequent. However, at least the environmental impact of producing such a large quantity of vinyl will be reduced. Today, you have to be slightly more inventive. And thankfully, we are. Indeed, last year saw Nature (yes, Mother Nature) become a royalty-earning musician.
Everyone is trying to cash in on the music industry, and I don’t blame them. It just goes to show that while charity singles may not be as common these days, the thirst for attention-grabbing, somewhat ridiculous projects is still very much alive. And I’m here for it!
