How the only two women dubbed the ‘Queens of Rock’ faced the wrath of orthodox fans of one of pop’s most macho and conservative genres
There are more crossovers than you can imagine in essences of Tina Turner AND Rita Lee, two compasses that pop music after the 70s, after having had to have both as fundamental pillars, has lost in recent days. Coming from distant geographical territories, separated by racial genetics from opposite roles, the black Tina and the white Rita are reflected in two essences, one technical and the other social: they had to break with fidelity to their musical origins to become planetary. And they only managed to do that by bringing down the sexist empire with sledgehammers.
The two are somewhat tortuously called, and especially in recent days, the “Queen of Rock”. A bow as affectionate as it is limiting. Neither Tina nor Rita played the role that orthodox rockers expected of them, and they paid a price for such “infidelity”.
Tina was married to an abusive man who beat her and hated being a father, but important to the history of rock and roll. Ike Turner registered with your King of Rhythmone of the first rocks in history: rocket 88. It was 1951. From this he wanted the authorship: “I created something new when I made Rocket 88. I ended up being the first man to record a rock”, he said, sure of being the first, in a conversation we had for Jornal da Tarde, in 2007.
Ike wanted to erase the past of exploitation and machismo that made him want and seek death at least once, in 1968, at the worst moment of their relationship, in 1968, when her husband shared the house with two other women, insisting on treating Tina. at its worst, the singer took 50 sleeping pills at once. “I knew it would take some time to feel the effects, and I was counting on it,” he says in his book My Love Story. “The idea was to die after singing on our show, so Ike could get paid… I was so trained that even my suicide had to happen in a way that was more convenient for Ike.”
When she finally left her husband in 1976, after many beatings and a perverse artistic exploration, Tina broke free from the original rock matrix that she had helped build with Ike ever since her name was Little Ann and she sang Mary Fair, Nutbush city limits and versions for Take up again AND Come together. A new singer was born, with arrangements of more keyboards and less guitars, more sweetness and less revolt, more echoing reverb and less distortion.
She was Tina pop, galactic, reached those who knew her from her origins or not, and ready to beat the synthetic 80s. I don’t want to fight, We are together (Al Green in his blessings), Help! (the only version of a Beatles song that actually became another song), and the indisputable The best. Part of the public who noticed his pop turn did not forgive. “Tina is cheating on her roots,” he said, Ike Turner, leaning on the critics. Ike would regret such a sentence before he died in 2007.
Rita Lee Jones did not suffer direct violence from the beating of women, but she felt the fury of fans who saw her start singing on the soundtracks of the soap operas Globo, in the 80s. and the stonian sequence with the band Tutti Frutti, even more rock and roll than the first, it became the same key for Tina, which made her stop wanting to sing only for the orthodox and seek the heart of those who had one. dance with Me, Perfume launcher, sweet vampire, obsession with you. His core audience was unforgiving. “The traitor of rock”, they said, predictably, when they saw her in the arms of Roberto de Carvalho, her greatest translator. Rita has never forgiven them: “The rocker is too cliché”, she said, to remember the most publishable.
Tina and Rita have created, based on their lives, spaces for women in raw worlds that have yet to be occupied. Whoever comes closest to the first is Beyoncé — and some Tina scholars (and other laymen who see the two singing side-by-side in a YouTube video) will be itching to read about the possibility. But what would be another? Beyoncé, in addition to drinking large doses of Tina Turner to fuel her artistic education, came with poise, a big voice, and a husband who’s kind of… husband. Jay Z, rapper, cheated on her wife to the point of inspiring her to create an album, Lemonade. For now, Beyoncé pardons Jay Z. Speaking of Rita, the so-called queen of the genre in Brazil, who else would be suited for such a place? Sin? No, mainly due to lack of generational conditions. Kings and queens are no longer vital characters in the world of liquid idols.
Source: Terra
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
