applegreene

I used to look like my profile pic...

[Music over time🎻 @Peal8888]

The Night Legends Left Their Egos at the Door

On the night of January 28, 1985, at A&M Studios in Los Angeles, a handwritten sign was placed outside the recording studio: “Check your ego at the door.”

No one could have known that those few simple words would become the opening line to one of the most memorable moments in music history.

Walking through that door were artists who could fill virtually any stage on their own: Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Ray Charles, and dozens of other leading names. They were accustomed to spotlights, roaring crowds, and being the center of attention. But that night, there was no single star.

No red carpet. No private stage. No distance between the legends.

They stood side by side, wearing headphones, holding sheets of lyrics, and waiting for their turn. These were artists who were used to thousands of people listening to them. Now, they had to listen to one another.

Perhaps that was the most remarkable thing about that recording session.

When Fame Knows How to Step Aside

We Are the World was created during a devastating famine in Ethiopia, with the goal of raising money for humanitarian relief. Every artist involved had already achieved success and earned a place in music history. They did not need another hit to prove who they were.

But they had something else they could give: their voices and their influence.

Watching the behind-the-scenes footage, it is easy to forget that these were artists who had once commanded the attention of the entire world. Bob Dylan worked through his harmony parts. Cindy Lauper had to adjust jewelry that could make unwanted noise. Tina Turner patiently waited for her part. Everyone rehearsed, listened, and worked together to make the song sound like one collective voice.

No one needed to stand out above everyone else.

Because when the purpose is big enough, individual fame naturally becomes smaller.

That may be the deepest beauty of We Are the World: people who had so much to hold on to chose to use what they had to give something away.

When Music Becomes Something Greater Than Itself

Nearly four decades have passed. Many of the artists in that room have since died, while those who remain have traveled through most of their lives. Yet the old footage can still make people stop and watch.

Not simply because it brings back memories of a golden era of music.

But because it reminds us that talent means the most when it is used for something larger than the person who possesses it.

Perhaps the true strength of a person is not measured by how high they can rise to be admired by others, but by how willing they are to use their position to help someone else stand.

That is why We Are the World has never been just a song.

It is the memory of an extraordinary night when legends of music walked through the same door, left their egos behind, and raised their voices for people they might never meet.

And perhaps that is when music is at its most beautiful—when a microphone is no longer used to make one person shine, but becomes a voice for those who need to be heard.

[Dolly Parton @DollyParton]

A message from the family of Dolly Parton.

[Ryan Hodgson @Ryanintheus]

Rest in peace, Dolly Parton (1946–2026) 💔

I don’t even know how to put this into words. We lost one of the true greats today, not just in country music, but in music, period. Dolly Parton was a songwriter, a singer, an actress, a businesswoman, a philanthropist, and one of the kindest hearts this industry has ever seen.

“Jolene.” “9 to 5.” “Coat of Many Colors.” “I Will Always Love You.” These aren’t just songs, they’re pieces of all our lives because we grew up listening to them. Dolly wrote music that crossed generations, crossed genres, crossed borders. And beyond the stage, through the Imagination Library, she put books into the hands of millions of kids and changed lives in ways most artists never even attempt.

There will never be another Dolly. The rhinestones may have stopped shining today, but her music, her humor, her heart, those infectious attributes of hers aren’t going anywhere. She will shine forever.

I think this incredible tribute by @Pink captures the greatness of Dolly’s life!

Rest easy, Dolly. Thank you for the songs, the laughs, the memories, and everything you gave the world. ❤️🕊️

#DollyParton #RIPDollyParton

[MAGA Cult Slayer @MAGACult2]

Josh Johnson reading Andrew Tate’s tweets. This guy is a next level comedian 😂

[Ifybambi @ifyumez00]

I’ve learned so much from this lady, and some of those lessons are definitely worth sharing.

[Morgan J. Freeman @mjfree]

Hunter Biden brilliantly TKO’s Donald Trump again 🇺🇸

“My dad at 81 years old secretly got on a military aircraft, went to Ukraine, took a train for 16 hours to Kyiv as the first President of the United States to go into an active war zone.

Donald Trump fits his fat ass into a food cart truck and brings his work wife with him instead of the guy that carries the nuclear codes."

[ً @artfuIchaos]

sometimes i wanna socialise but I don’t wanna talk, I just want to be around like a cat

[atlas @reatlashype]

Do crackheads ever say, “I’m too broke to smoke crack tonight”?

No. They get up and make it happen.

Lesson in there.

[Xevi @xeviuniverse]

Why It Took 27 Years to Charge Anyone in Tupac’s Murder

[𝟐𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐲𝐲 @nomodeath]

I’m tricking my students into writing a research paper by having them write an open letter and then strengthen their argument by adding evidence. They were allowed to write about anything they wanted for the first draft of their open letter, and one of my 10th grade boys decided he wanted to write about girls who only like bands because the members are cute and don’t really care about the music.

I let him do it because I’ve found that shutting down a student’s idea at the first draft stage tends to make them more obstinate about the topic. I figured we’d get to the evidence-gathering stage, he wouldn’t be able to find scholarly sources and he would change his topic.

Well lo and behold, today he comes into class and tells me he’s changing his topic. Apparently, he couldn’t find any evidence and he figured he was being kind of hypocritical because he gets really excited about athletes he doesn’t even know and the only reason that’s different than fangirls is because it’s him. He actually told me that he realized that writing that first letter would be pretty condescending. He’s going to write about LGBT rights instead.

This next generation, y’all. There’s some good stuff happening.

[ALL THE SMOKE @allthesmokeprod]

𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐒: 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝟏𝟔

Big Boy had TWO guns on him while cops searched him… and they never found a thing 😳

You gotta hear how he pulled it off

[Black Journals @blackJournals01]

For FIFTY YEARS after slavery ended, Black newspapers ran a special kind of classified ad and they are the most heartbreaking documents in American print.

They were called "Lost Friends" and "Information Wanted" ads. Freed people, searching for family sold away decades earlier.

Mothers describing children by a scar on a knee, a song they hummed, the name of the trader who drove them off. Husbands naming a wife last seen at an auction in 1849. Grown men searching for a mother whose face they'd carried since age six.

One New Orleans paper's column was read aloud from the pulpits of some 800 churches — so the ads could reach people who could not read, in every congregation, every Sunday.

[AuxGod @AuxGod_]

24 years ago today, ‘The Wire’ would air their 11th episode titled “The Hunt” on HBO which would birth this famous Gif from Wee-Bay 📺

[COCO @TWOTIMESABITCH]

a cheating man is bad enough. but you know what’s even worse? a man who pretends to be a good person, when really in reality is a pathological liar, a lustful manipulator, and an expert at playing the victim.

[john jackson @pvtjokerus]

“Do you think you could eat beaver?”

[Lloyd Legalist @LloydLegalist]

Me checking to see if that salad I ate last week has worked its magic yet.

[sugamummy 🏋🏾‍♀️🎀🧚🏾‍♀️ @ceraliza]

I occasionally remind my ex he cheated 🙂‍↔️

[Ariana Jasmine @arianajasmine__]

Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty today; one of the things he said was:

“I emailed United Healthcare’s leadership, posing as an investor managing $58 billion. Unlike my other experiences with the company, I was contacted back within 1 hour.”

Damn.

[Jamie Bonkiewicz @JamieBonkiewicz]

Must be nice that Karoline Leavitt can afford to stay home with her baby after working for an administration that made it harder for everyone else to afford the same fucking choice.