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We Are The World - Who blocked Madonna from singing on the charity single?


theglamorous
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Her guardian angel, thankfully! Worked! :fingerclick:

I don't believe that anybody considered her, to be honest. She was not a titan by then, Like a Virgin was seen as a fad by many. If her name was indeed considered I suspect Labels/Company issues played a part, given most artists on it were from CBS, and even Prince (also a Warner Records artist) was left out.

Madonna would collapse in that environment. She's been very vocal about how she sees her work in the studio to be an intimate experience and that she can only do it with people she likes/trust. Imagine her recording a line in front of a buch of stars! 

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It was said at the time that Michael Jackson hated Madonna and Prince, but since USA for Africa was his project, among others, they were ignored for the single. Of course, this was noticeable because both were at the (first) peak of their careers - and the biggest pop acts were invited to this charity event.

Madonna was at Live Aid shortly after, but Michael Jackson declined to be there. Prince didn't show up either, but contributed a song (as for the USA for Africa album) and Madonna wore a Prince designed suit.

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Her peers were not kind to her and some still aren't and only see her as th girl who rolled "butt naked" on the floor at the MTV awards, she was considered trashy. On the other hand : 1/ it made her closer to Prince which is way better than being involved in 2/ that horrible song. For Live AId the organisers did not want her there either, it was Dick Clark who produced the show for tv whom imposed her because he understood the bond she had with the kids who got her where she was and how it would bring them to watch a show with a line up of "old timers". Into The Groove and a few months later Live To Tell changed the way she was perceived. Before the VMA's, she was kind of the underdog the industry cherishes, cute but not lethal, the VMA's made her a superstar but it scorned her image at the same time. And if Jackson vetoed her involvment it may have had more to do with having  go at De Mann (his ex manager) than her imo.

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I wouldn't read much into it.  As some already stated, she wasn't hugely influential or popular yet.  All the artists that contributed were very well established artists when that event took place.  I'm sure if the recording happened during the summer of '85, she would have been included and she probably would have taken part.  

It all worked out in the end because she manage to knock the song off from the top spot with "Crazy For You" and had a pretty incredible year. 

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7 minutes ago, tscott said:

 

It all worked out in the end because she manage to knock the song off from the top spot with "Crazy For You" and had a pretty incredible year. 

and the song was #1 without her, so it's not like it did worse without Madonna... in the end everyone did well on their own

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1 hour ago, androiduser said:

For sure whoever decided not to invite her did it to be hurtful, but to be honest, at that time Madonna was not really as big and as successful as the singers who participated. The song was recorded in January 1985, and M just had her first #1 hit in December 1984.

Fucking LaToya Jackson had a part in that song 😂😂😂

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1 hour ago, musicinferno said:

She wasn't a megastar yet, so they probably didn't even consider her. That'd be like asking Dua Lipa right when New Rules became a hit, not realizing how major her career would be shortly after. Madonna was too new to the scene. 

She was intentionally blocked, Nile Rodgers explicitly talks about how awkward it was in the interview.

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6 hours ago, diegolcl said:

Her guardian angel, thankfully! Worked! :fingerclick:

I don't believe that anybody considered her, to be honest. She was not a titan by then, Like a Virgin was seen as a fad by many. If her name was indeed considered I suspect Labels/Company issues played a part, given most artists on it were from CBS, and even Prince (also a Warner Records artist) was left out.

Madonna would collapse in that environment. She's been very vocal about how she sees her work in the studio to be an intimate experience and that she can only do it with people she likes/trust. Imagine her recording a line in front of a buch of stars! 

Prince turned up drunk and was told to go.
No accident.
Have you seen the Bob Dylan rehearsal bits ?
 

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2 hours ago, theglamorous said:

She was intentionally blocked, Nile Rodgers explicitly talks about how awkward it was in the interview.

The intentionally blocked rumour was seemingly made up cause of MJ's dislike towards her (which was created by fans as he didn't bash her until the 90s). All Nile implied was that she wasn't invited, along with many other artists. In my opinion, it's because she wasn't a star yet. 

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