I love nothing more than analyzing a good trainwreck, and none has come along in a long, long time that matches the sheer monstrosity that is the "We Are The World 25" remake.
Yes, I know it was for a good cause helping Haiti and all that but, as the honorable Mr. Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter ruled, the iconic chorus should have been left alone in the annals of music history like "Thriller."
The new version features second-by-second unexplainable absurdities, including Justin Bieber being given the opening verse, Nicole Scherzinger and other Z-listers assigned more than one prime slot, Auto-Tune chants by Lil Wayne, Akon and T-Pain, Wyclef Jean's incomprenhensible yodeling, a horrific rap interlude led by LL Cool J, watching Lionel Richie painfully "directing" Celine Dion to try and recreate Cyndi Lauper's perfectly-improvised standout part, to even Jamie Foxx himself not being able to control his own laughing at being forced to whip out that same stale Ray Charles impression that he should have locked away with his Oscar. You just know Streisand was thinking, "I came all the way from Malibu for this?"
Watch a clip of the video remake.
Compared to the original, I felt (to paraphrase one of Us's senior writers) embarrassed for myself watching what came off as a hilarious Saturday Night Live sketch that was painfully real.
Fortunately, one of my favorite music sites, Stereogum.com, was so inspired they put together a list of the 21 Worst All-Star Charity Music Videos Of All Time and I can't argue with them putting "WATW25" as No. 2 on the list (wait until you see No. 1 though!). I spent all day LMFAO strolling through the memory lane of horrors they so brilliantly assembled.
Check it out for yourself and prepare to laugh so much that it actually hurts to give!
–By Ian Drew for UsMagazine.com. To read more of Ian's blog, click here.
