Leave Your Ego at the Door
Some thoughts from watching ‘The Greatest Night In Pop’
This sounds like a great title for a Linkedin post, brimming with promise and potential. What should it be- a lesson in leadership, a caveat for creativity, a mantra in management?
But I am no management coach. Not today, anyway!
This was written on a blank white sheet and pasted above a recording studio back in 1985. The studio was A&M in Los Angeles, and the person writing it was a certain Quincy Jones.
I bring this up after a recent viewing of ‘The Greatest Night In Pop’, the Netflix film released earlier this year, directed by Bao Ngyuen. It documents the making of the great charity single from the 80s, We Are The World. I found it a thoroughly enjoyable watch, driven am sure in no small part by nostalgia.
I grew up in India, and don’t even recall our TV set when this came out. Instant, global reach and cross-continent shared experiences were not things remotely as familiar or expected then, as they might be now. Even allowing that a child’s mind (and an adult’s memory of it) might be making this contrast sharper. Yet, I know we listened to it at home a lot, enjoyed the video though we couldn’t name all the singers, and sang this at school (‘group song’), carried as much by star power as the sheer weight of its goodness of heart.
I didn't intend to write a review (and this isn't one, really), but the viewing did spur some stray thoughts (and dare I say, pointers around wider factual content?).
It sometimes feels that the film is, itself, starstruck, but in an honest and agreeable way, adding to the charm. I like that- being relaxed and authentic in way that can be disarming is a captivating quality for most kinds of content and most platforms.
As with most documentaries, access elevates. The access window to look in here was pretty amazing, in particular the peek at how icons behaved, reacted, worked, or just hung out. Would I have loved to hear some more icons share their take? Sure. But that is probably just the greed of our abundant times.
A related point I recently had a discussion about- as a creator or brand, its always good to consider if you can record a significant something on film, even if you don’t quite have that fancy documentary or show planned (yet). You never know what might come of it!
The awe and wonder of some of the participants for what they were involved in on that night (pop stars and others alike) was palpable, real, and endearing. Having such delight baked-in to what we do (’work’) is a pleasure, a gift, for those of us lucky enough to enjoy it.
The film uses its material to really get ‘in’ to the details, the takes, the recording; a good example of how diving into a subject or an event or a scene can be (maybe counter intuitively, to some) not boring, but instead, revealing. And so, riveting.
Leave Your Egos At The Door- I think we all could do with this reminder. Not just in creative endeavours; being generous in collaboration is a value I hold in high regard.
Also:
Dylan was hilarious.
Quincy Jones is cool.
The Boss.
I am reminded now of another track that was an unmissable part of growing up for Indians of a certain vintage- the beautifully put together ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’. In a very different way (and with a very different objective), that too brought together talent impressively. Arguably, a pool even more diverse in styles, backgrounds and appeal.
Maybe a story for another day.