Tina Turner was one of history’s greatest rock stars

Plus, a brilliant exploration of masculinity, parenthood and hip-hop.

View this email online May 27, 2023 by Stephen Thompson This week, we’re thinking about the power and genius of Tina Turner; plus, Rodney Carmichael reflects on masculinity, parenthood and hip-hop, and the musical guests on Saturday Night Live’s 48th season are subjected to our cold-hearted-but-crucial annual ranking. Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty Images Tina Turner died Wednesday at age 83. In the days since, the life and music of the queen of rock and roll have been the subjects of countless media tributes and statements from high-profile fans, all trying to summarize her incredible legacy. With that came plenty of superlatives — you’ll notice that the phrase “the queen of rock and roll” has already appeared in this paragraph — and acknowledgement of some of the milestones that put her career into perspective.  And, look, you want statistics? Turner won eight Grammys (she was recognized four more times in hall-of-fame or lifetime achievement categories), was the first Black woman ever to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone, had the top-grossing tour of 2000 (shortly after turning 60), inspired an Oscar-nominated 1993 biopic and a Tony-winning 2018 jukebox musical, wrote a best-selling memoir (I, Tina: My Life Story) with Kurt Loder, acted in major film roles, got enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice (most recently in 2021) and sold more than 100 million albums worldwide. She became a superstar several times over, first with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, then as one of the biggest solo artists of the 1980s, then as a global touring phenomenon, then as an elder stateswoman who lent gravitas to awards ceremonies and documentaries. NPR has published several tributes in the last few days, and I recommend all of them. My dear pal and Pop Culture Happy Hour co-host Aisha Harris sat down with Ann Powers shortly after news of Turner’s death broke and examined a few of the singer’s many career highlights. Annie Zaleski wrote an excellent obituary for NPR Music, surveying Turner’s career from her early days through her rousing performance of “Proud Mary” with Beyoncé at the 2008 Grammys. Eric Deggans celebrated Turner’s rich pop-cultural legacy on All Things Considered. And the great and good Brittany Luse (host of It’s Been a Minute) performed a great public service, also on All Things Considered, by joining host Juana Summers to examine how Turner — so frequently regarded as the actual queen of rock and roll — was, in fact, under-appreciated. “Tina Turner is an architect of rock and roll,” Brittany said during the segment, “and I'm just not sure she's seen that way. You know, I think for many people, when they close their eyes and they think of a rock star … they picture someone like Mick Jagger. But Mick Jagger learned how to dance, learned how to perform standing in the wings watching Tina Turner when they toured together in the 1960s. Tina Turner essentially taught Mick Jagger how to be Mick Jagger. And I just feel like, despite all of the accolades, I don't know if she really received, in her lifetime, the ‘queen of rock and roll’ treatment.”   *** It’s hard to believe that I first became dimly aware of Tina Turner nearly 40 years ago — I’m 50 now, and was just becoming obsessed with the Top 40 as 1984’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It” helped make her one of the world’s biggest rock stars. At that point I was more than two decades late to the game. Turner had already risen to great heights and fallen on hard times; she’d already left Ike (famously with 36 cents and a gas card) eight years earlier, and had resorted to cheesy TV and Vegas gigs to pay the bills. What I’d experienced as a rise was, in fact, one of the great rebirths in rock and roll history. Of Turner’s solo work, the songs that have surfaced the most in recent days — the ones most widely used to celebrate her legacy — would have to be “What’s Love Got to Do with It” and 1989’s “The Best,” which pulls double-duty as a pop standard and a commentary on the singer herself. But revisiting Turner’s discography unearths so many hits worth rediscovering, starting with 1984’s “Better Be Good to Me,” which couldn’t have been more relevant to Turner’s story of reclamation and self-advocacy. From the album of the same name, “Private Dancer” does an exceptional job of humanizing sex work, which was hardly common in 1984. (The song itself was written by Mark Knopfler with the expectation that it’d be recorded by Dire Straits! But Turner gave it the home, and the rich and weary voice, it desperately needed.) Because Turner so carefully curated her solo career, rolling out several greatest-hits packages and lucrative valedictory tours, it has been easy to refresh your memory (if you happened to be around when she was a mainstay on the pop charts) or catch up on what you missed (if you only know her as a hall-of-famer whose biggest songs pop up now and then). Though it’s not chronological, 2005’s All the Best is a solid double-length hits package that sweeps up the major highlights and peppers them with film work, collaborations, Ike & Tina hits and live appearances. If you want to focus on Turner’s 1983-91 run as a chart-topper, Simply the Best has you covered — there’s a reason it sold millions of copies. It’s much harder to find a definitive package where Ike & Tina are concerned, if only because they recorded for so many labels that licensing every highlight is basically impossible. Time Life’s The Ike & Tina Turner Story: 1960-1975 suffers from a few major omissions — most notably Phil Spector’s 1966 production of “River Deep – Mountain High” — but it’s a fine place to start. Newsletter continues after sponsor message More to read, watch and hear I’ve adored and admired Rodney Carmichael for ages, dating back to when we used to sit in adjacent cubicles during the pre-pandemic before-times. But I’ve never known him the way he reveals himself in this week’s stunning episode of Louder Than A Riot, which Rodney thankfully adapted into a gorgeous essay if you’d rather read than listen. This whole brilliant season of LTAR has focused on marginalized communities within hip-hop — on hip-hop’s intersections with gender, queerness and all manner of accountability. But for this episode, Rodney looks at himself as he contemplates how to raise his young children on the music that shaped him. It’s a remarkable undertaking, this episode: biographical and personal, written with love, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility. It’s about who has a voice in hip-hop, and it’s about parenting. But it also explores the way reckoning with the music we love can help us reckon with ourselves: the way we were raised, the mistakes we make along the way, the generational cycles that shape us and the ways we can find the strength and wisdom to break those cycles. It’s hard to follow Rodney, but now’s as good a time as any to remind y’all that I rank Saturday Night Live’s musical guests at the end of each season. And, since Season 48 is officially over — shortened as it was by the ongoing writers strike — this week brought about the sixth annual installment of this cruel but crucial exercise. A good year for Megan Thee Stallion, Kendrick Lamar and Sam Smith! A less-than-stellar year for Coldplay and Jack Harlow! Morning Edition’s Rachel Treisman talked to composer Nicholas Britell about his Emmy-winning, and extremely viral, theme for the TV show Succession. Britell’s music is a big part of the series, and since the guy’s already made two of my favorite movie scores of the 21st century — those would be Moonlight and the exquisite If Beale Street Could Talk — I’m duty-bound to listen to everything he touches. NPR Music podcast roundup! On top of the Louder Than A Riot episode referenced above, Alt.Latino’s Anamaria Sayre talked to Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti about embracing imperfection. On New Music Friday, Robin Hilton presided over a panel to discuss new albums by Lil Durk, Arlo Parks, Gia Margaret, Kassa Overall and Miya Folick. And on the new episode of All Songs Considered, the magnificent Hazel Cills talked to also-in-attendance Bob Boilen about Tiny Desk Contest winner Little Moon, as well as yeule, Sweeping Promises, Cola, ANOHNI & The Johnsons and Chris Farren. Speaking of Bob, one of his favorite personal discoveries of 2023 so far is the music of Peter One, a former Ivory Coast pop star who reinvented himself in Nashville. Watch him perform at WNXP's Sonic Cathedral.   We’ve got reviews of three other notable new albums — one by R&B vanguard duo Kaytranada and Aminé, one by the noise band Wolf Eyes and one by 87-year-old folk singer Shirley Collins. We take our breadth seriously, folks. And, speaking of recent albums, Ann Powers and I joined All Things Considered host Ari Shapiro for the show’s “Group Chat” segment, wherein we discussed Kesha’s hugely compelling new album Gag Order. Tiny Desk NPR Tiny Desk (home) concerts were the norm during the height of the pandemic, then mostly faded into the archives as we returned to recording in the office. But the home-set shows had an advantage we couldn’t abandon entirely: the opportunity to highlight artists from all over the world, without regard for whether they could make it to Washington, D.C. Enter Jay Park, whose Tiny Desk (home) concert finds the South Korean rapper and singer showcasing his smooth and versatile sound with the help of a full band. Also this week: Ann Powers writes that singer-songwriter Anna Tivel’s “remarkable empathy elevates her folk-based, jazz-touched compositions from mere stories to secular prayers.” One More Thing Take a few deep breaths and let this one wash over you: Sylvan Esso pays tribute to Low’s Mimi Parker, who died last November, by covering “Will the Night” with the Attacca Quartet. Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WUFT 89.1 (edit station). Need a new playlist? Follow NPR Music on Spotify and Apple Music What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: nprmusic@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Books, Pop Culture, Health and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to NPR Music emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy