Ian Mathers

Ian Mathers

The Singles Jukebox: Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin was one of the pillars of the modern world. There were other soul singers, other musicians who brought the music of the Black midcentury church into the worlds of rhythm & blues, pop, and rock and roll; but there were none who so demanded, with such unmatched authority, to be heard. And not only to be heard, but to be respected.
Addded Aug 20, 2018

Tom Petty

He was the unlikeliest of pop stars in the hairsprayed and shoulder-padded MTV era, a thin-lipped, stringy-haired Florida ne'er-do-well whose thin, scouring-pad voice sang anthemic highway-ready pop choruses about the feelings you wish you didn't have and the bad decisions you have to learn to live with.
Addded Oct 9, 2017