I knew about her turbulent marriage and musical relationship with Ike Turner, which produced hits like “Proud Mary” and “River Deep, Mountain High,” but that didn’t seem like very long ago. Back then, I thought Tina Turner was simply a woman of the ’80s. From the synthetic harmonica solo to the flute line in the opening intro, I had to listen and dissect every part of “What’s Love Got to Do With It” to the point where, if I hear the song today, it brings back an trace of nausea. The class was designed to build the necessary vocabulary to talk about music critically.
However, that wasn’t what fascinated me. It details her career, life, hardships, and complex relationships. I was mistaken.HBO’s new documentary Tina puts Turner’s life story into perspective.
I was blown away at her ability to not only recreate her image, but also at the fact that she considered herself the Queen of Rock. I felt like everything I knew clearly wasn’t enough. Did she really reinvent herself in her late 40s? Was she really in her 80s now? There was no way in hell.
Rock ’n’ roll is controversial, bad ass, and tough—perseverance is required. Rock is a direct offshoot of soul and blues. “Rather than accept something for its value … America mixes race in it,” he added. In a 1971 issue of Rolling Stone, journalist Ben Fong-Torres quotes Ike Turner as saying the song didn’t get airplay because the soul stations found it too pop and the white stations found it too R&B. Not allowing a song like “River Deep, Mountain High” to exist on American radio is exactly what pigeonholed Tina as an R&B or soul artist. Programmers stunted the growth of both Ike and Tina.
Tina was the first black artist and the first female artist to be given a Rolling Stone cover. In that sense, she’s lived the life of a rockstar.An icon is a trendsetter. Tina, notably, lived a life that required persistence, strength, and the ability to reimagine what she could be in the music industry. A career in music is filled with hardships.
But her name doesn’t come up in the conversations as much as the usual suspects—do a quick Google search and you’ll see the predictable chatter about white icons Joan Jett, Janis Joplin, and Stevie Nicks. She wholeheartedly embodies a rock singer. Tina is electrifying from the moment she hits the stage, as notably shown in footage from her “Nice ’n’ Rough” tour. It’s on par with the spectacle that is Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe swinging upside down mid-drum solo. And the dancing? The showmanship? Her unbelievably beautiful long legs? The image of her drenched in sweat, strutting, and commanding the stage—it’s similar to Freddie Mercury flamboyantly directing the crowd at Live Aid 1985, the audience latching onto every phrase. She toured with the Stones and sold out arenas.
The guitar solos alone are serious business. So when we drop names like David Bowie, Jagger, and Steven Tyler as iconic rock figures, why don’t we include hers? Listening to 1984’s Private Dancer today , tracks like “Show Some Respect” and “Steel Claw” feel like obvious, no-brainers for rock radio. She owns the band, demands power, and leads an energetic, dynamic show. How is that possible?Tina is a natural frontwoman. However, toward the middle of the film, we rush past what might have been the most interesting part: Labels wanted nothing to do with Tina Turner, especially the version of Tina Turner that dreamed of selling out arenas and being a rock vocalist.
Tina Turner Music Videos Skin Color To
The world is tightly attached to the idea of categorizing everything—from skin color to orientation to sex. Perhaps this is because songs like “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and “The Best” are the most notable, award-winning tracks in her solo discography. Yet many, myself included, have become accustomed to viewing her as an R&B or pop singer.
As she told Rolling Stone in 1986:“It hurts to be a minority. Truthfully, I think this has more to do with the color of her skin. Maybe the gravitas of her voice, deep and powerful, alludes to that as well. People wrongfully assume in looking at Tina that perhaps she is an R&B singer. Whiteness in rock is captured by the image of Elvis Presley or the Beatles.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees will be announced in May, and Tina—who entered the Hall in 1991 for her work with Ike—is nominated as a solo artist. It’s wishing that we, as a Black people, had had a chance to be as fantastic as we were before being knocked down and made slaves.”This year could be a significant one for Tina. … We can stand now, but it’s still there—it’s a memory, because you are branded.
Black artists live in the confines of R&B, soul, hip-hop, gospel, and blues. “It sucks that whenever we—and I mean guys that look like me—do anything that’s genre-bending, they always put it in a ‘rap’ or ‘urban’ category,” he said.Tyler was right, but he neglected to acknowledge that this happens to women too—maybe even more so than men. But in his view, it wasn’t a rap album—he sang most of it. He had just won Best Rap Album at the ceremony for his fifth LP, IGOR. The issue was deftly captured in Tyler, the Creator’s post-Grammy press conference in 2020.
Dare I even mention Greta Van Fleet. My ideal music career would easily consist of touring the world, playing guitar and being in a band like Alabama Shakes. The one thing that was repeated was some sentiment of we just don’t know where to put you. Black women like Nicki Minaj or Lil’ Kim are allowed to be hard and angry, but why can’t others channel their anger outside of rap or hip-hop? What about rock? Genres that were started by Black folks are suddenly deemed spaces that we cannot thrive in.As a musician and young actress, I went into audition rooms and labels and sat with executives.
But what made sense to me was a Black woman on stage, gutterly singing and I wanted that.Labels, on the other hand, didn’t. Brittany Howard was my everything. Alabama Shakes’ 2015 Coachella blew my mind. Nobody cared about it or received it in the first place, but that was the music that felt right to make to me. My first EP, Sophomore Season (which is floating somewhere on the internet), was closer to the music I wanted to make. I love guitar-driven hooks and the freedom of expression, to wear James Bay wide-brimmed fedoras.
She broke onto the scene with “ Bye Bye Boyfriend,” a guitar-heavy, power-punk anthem that features Fefe roaring the lyrics. Regardless of the talent or quality of the work, it was the look that needed to make sense, and a mixed-race girl singing alt-rock or going out for a role in Thirteen just didn’t “look” right.I found a lot of solace in an artist named Fefe Dobson. I found more success with my new music, but I was disappointed about “selling out.” Even though I produced and wrote the music myself, the new songs felt like a departure from the girl I had always dreamed of being. That same publication that had passed three years prior gave me a huge write-up with a single that leaned a bit more indie pop. So I labeled myself as “alternative.” I shifted gears, partly because I knew that meant my music would be better received. In one instance, a publication rejected a premiere of my single because it was “too classic rock,” as they put it.
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