Meow, Aretha. Pull in the claws.

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gsabc · #1 Post by **gsabc** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:50 am

http://www6.comcast.net/music/articles/ ... .Franklin/

Earth to Aretha: Mouth off when you get back to a regular size, and regain your singing talents in concert. Tina actually looks and sings BETTER than she did back in the day.

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #2 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:25 am

Wow, it sounds like Aretha has a huge ego problem.

ghostjmf · #3 Post by **ghostjmf** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:37 pm

I had my own big intake of breath when Tina came out after that intro, & not Aretha. I expected fallout. So here it is.

Everybody knows Aretha has a big ego. So what. She, unlike some others, certainly has something to have a big ego about.

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #4 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:42 pm

One of my kids' favorite teachers stressed the concept of Academic Humility. You may be smart, but you don't have to be arrogant about it.

Aretha may be fabulous, but is she the best female singer out there? It's debatable.

I think that she looks like a jerk for throwing such a temper tantrum.

gsabc · #5 Post by **gsabc** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:51 pm

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:Aretha may be fabulous, but is she the best female singer out there? It's debatable.

I don't think either Aretha or Tina qualify as "the queen", IMHO. As far as female singing royalty goes, I'd give that title to Ella Fitzgerald. All others, past or present, dead or alive, are princesses at best.

A local Aretha concert last year got the worst review I have ever seen in print. Granted, she may have had an off-day, but I think her ability to sustain a concert-length performance is inversely proportional to her weight gain. She looks awful.

mrkelley23 · #6 Post by **mrkelley23** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:01 pm

Sorry, folks. I'm on Aretha's side on this one.

She is, and always has been, acknowledged as the Queen of Soul.

Let's say, just for the sake of analogy, that Elvis had somehow survived to this day. And one of the Jonas Brothers, or some other young upstart, had gotten up on the stage and said, "in the history of rock and roll, there have been many great singers, including Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, and Elton John. But tonight we're here to pay tribute to James Taylor...... and now, ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the King!"

No matter how you feel about Tina Turner or Aretha Franklin, no one (until now) has applied the sobriquet "Queen" of anything to her. Tina doesn't even really sing what I would call "Soul" music. And as Aretha correctly pointed out, it's not so much Beyonce but the Grammy writers she's p*ssed at.

I also don't understand the reaction here. I was ready to read about a major hissy fit, but she basically said, yeah, I was upset, but I put it down to ignorance and wanting to create controversy. If that makes her a large, unwieldy ego, please put me in that same category, along with any other performer who ever had any success of any kind.

mrkelley23 · #7 Post by **mrkelley23** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:05 pm

Oh, and by the way:

Aretha may be a hundred pounds or more overweight, but I've heard her sing recently, and she STILL blows the panty hose (or lack thereof, in Tina's case) off of anyone else out there at what she does best. I still remember the show where Mariah Carey (I think it was her, might have been someone else) had the temerity to try to start riffing with her in a duet. Aretha looked sidelong at her, and proceeded to give her an onstage vocal whupping she won't ever forget.

T_Bone0806 · #8 Post by **T_Bone0806** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:07 pm

I didn't catch the intro. Did she say "Queen of SOUL", or just "queen". If "queen of soul" was used, Aretha has the right to be a little pissed, as that has always been her "title". If it was just "queen", eh, shouldn't have been a big deal. The world has more than a few queens.

I have several punch lines I could apply to that last line, but I'll just leave it at that...

ghostjmf · #9 Post by **ghostjmf** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:36 pm

Beyonce just said "Queen". I still looked around for Aretha, even though they'd previously announced that Beyonce would be singing/presenting/whatever with Tina.

And on another subject, I think its kinda great that John Fogerty got two songs on the telecast, even though due to that famous idiot lawsuit by the "we own the name 'Creedence' people" (wherein Fogerty got sued for "sounding like John Fogerty" etc) I doubt he sees much in the way of royalties for "Proud Mary" even today. Its kind of like its such a standard, & Tina Trademark, that people even forget he wrote it, sometimes.

Appa23 · #10 Post by **Appa23** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:46 pm

mrkelley23 wrote:Oh, and by the way:

Aretha may be a hundred pounds or more overweight, but I've heard her sing recently, and she STILL blows the panty hose (or lack thereof, in Tina's case) off of anyone else out there at what she does best. I still remember the show where Mariah Carey (I think it was her, might have been someone else) had the temerity to try to start riffing with her in a duet. Aretha looked sidelong at her, and proceeded to give her an onstage vocal whupping she won't ever forget.

Ah yes, the famous "VH1 Divas" shows.

It also was the foundation for the hilarious series of SNL skits about Celine Dion thinking that "I am the greatest singer in the whole world."

peacock2121 · #11 Post by **peacock2121** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:04 pm

mrkelley23 wrote: I also don't understand the reaction here. I was ready to read about a major hissy fit, but she basically said, yeah, I was upset, but I put it down to ignorance and wanting to create controversy. If that makes her a large, unwieldy ego, please put me in that same category, along with any other performer who ever had any success of any kind.

What mikey said.

wbtravis007 · #12 Post by **wbtravis007** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:59 pm

Well, seeins how Gaucho (and "Hey Nineteen") was released a little before Beyonce was even born, maybe we ought to cut her a little slack.

mrkelley23 · #13 Post by **mrkelley23** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:58 pm

T_Bone0806 wrote:I didn't catch the intro. Did she say "Queen of SOUL", or just "queen". If "queen of soul" was used, Aretha has the right to be a little pissed, as that has always been her "title". If it was just "queen", eh, shouldn't have been a big deal. The world has more than a few queens.

I have several punch lines I could apply to that last line, but I'll just leave it at that...

I think, as Aretha correctly pointed out, it wasn't so much the fact that Beyonce was praising Tina, but that she mentioned Aretha in the intro, then used the word Queen applied to Tina immediately after. If you know writers, you know that's intentional. And again, I thought Aretha reacted (and she WAS ASKED for her reaction, it's not like she went out of her way to call the world up and b*tch) pretty minimally, especially since she is kind of a diva.

T_Bone0806 · #14 Post by **T_Bone0806** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 6:21 am

mrkelley23 wrote:(and she WAS ASKED for her reaction

Ahh..now THAT makes a lot of difference. More of a non-issue.

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #15 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 8:25 am

T_Bone0806 wrote:
mrkelley23 wrote:(and she WAS ASKED for her reaction
Ahh..now THAT makes a lot of difference. More of a non-issue.

I didn't read that in the article. It does make a lot of difference.