The Bridge: Center of the “World”

[This edition of my Hit Parade—“The Bridge” bonus series is available to Slate Plus subscribers only. A link to the episode show page is below. To sign up for Plus—and tell Slate that Hit Parade sent you!—visit slate.com/hitparadeplus.]

In this mini-episode of Hit Parade, host Chris Molanphy is joined by widely published author and critic Gavin Edwards, whose Rolling Stone article “’We Are the World’: A Minute-by-Minute Breakdown,” dove deep on the massive charity megasingle and especially Quincy Jones’s central role in its creation. Gavin says Q’s genius was not just musical but psychological—he knew how to stoke positive peer pressure among superstars and get performances they didn’t know they had in them.

Next, Chris quizzes a Slate Plus listener with some music trivia, gives him a chance to turn the tables with a question of his own, and previews next month’s full-length episode. Slate Plus members can sign up for a chance to be our trivia contestant on a future episode here.

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.