RIP to Aretha Franklin, My Choice for the GOAT of Singers
On the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff Angel, there was a side character named Lorne, a kind of lounge lizard who ran a karaoke bar. He was played by an Massachusetts actor named Andy Hallett, who I actually got to meet at a party on Cape Cod and it was one of the great moments of my life because I loved the show and the character. (Sad side note: Hallett died a few years ago.) Anyway, Lorne just happened to be a demon whose power was that when he hears you sing, he can see your future, which was a weirdly clever and really effective plot device. So in one episode, someone asks him how he ended up here instead of in the demon dimension where he comes from. And he answers something to the effect of, “The first time I came to Earth I heard Aretha Franklin sing. Right then, I knew I was never going to leave.”
Which I admit is a long and winding road to get to my point. Aretha Franklin was arguably the greatest singer of all time. Of any genre. Of either gender. I say that understanding music is the most subjective thing in the world. There are mega-popular vocal artists whose voices don’t appeal to everyone. But if we were doing a Singer Fantasy Draft of the vocalists we’ll have to listen to for eternity, she’s my first pick.
I’m not going to pretend I grew up listening to a ton of R&B. I knew of her. She was the Queen of Soul; you couldn’t not know. And I’d heard some of her songs. But I pretty much got introduced to Aretha Franklin the way you’d assume a white boy from Weymouth, MA would: by seeing her in The Blues Brothers. Hearing Matt “Guitar” Murphy’s wife sing “Think” in the diner scene:
…turning to my friend Yodel and saying “Holy crap. What a set of pipes on this chick,” only to see it was her in those closing “Jailhouse Rock” credits. In fairness to me, the cars I grew up riding in didn’t have their stereos preset to a lot of stations that were playing her music. Which was my loss.
After that, I was hooked. I went out and bought Aretha’s Gold, for my money the best “greatest hits” collection I’ve ever heard. And on my short list of “Take to a Desert Island” CDs. Every song just straight fire, one after another.
Classic Soul anthems:
Love ballads:
Arena rockers that show off her range:
And that album came out way before her 80s pop/dance music renaissance:
Again, musical tastes are totally subjective. Arguing over who’s better than who? That way lies madness. And God knows there are a plenty of other singers I like. But for me personally, no one was ever better than Aretha Franklin. RIP, Queen of Soul.