Artist: Aretha Franklin
Video: From YouTube.
“Freeway of Love” peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985, winning two Grammy Awards. It features Clarence Clemons, my all-time favorite saxophone player. The video was filmed in Detroit and is filled with automobile footage: factories, tollbooths, junkyards, even lines at the DMV.
However, I did not enjoy “Freeway of Love”. I found the song vaguely annoying in 1985.
Look, I appreciate that Aretha Franklin is the Queen of Soul. She is one of the top female recording artists of all-time, if not the greatest. R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me. She's amazing. But this was the problem with 1985. Aretha was just one of several legendary rockers who laid an egg in our Year of the McFly. Let’s review just those already featured on this blog:
David Bowie - This is Not America
Stevie Wonder - Part-Time Lover
Mick Jagger - Lucky In Love
Michael McDonald - No Lookin’ Back
I actually did enjoy Part-Time Lover, but it pales in comparison to Stevie’s artistic peak. The rest of these songs are duds. And yes, McDonald doesn’t really belong on the same level historically as these other folks, but he made some outstanding music with the Doobie Brothers.
Anyway, that’s five underperforming superstars so far, including Aretha, and we’ve got 70 more videos to go. By the time we’re done, Pete Townshend (The Who) and Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) will join this group. I’m just thankful that the 1985 contributions of Bob Dylan and Neil Young were too lousy to even make the chart, so my later appreciation of them was untarnished.
Fortunately, I learned years later that David Bowie, Steve Wonder, The Rolling Stones, The Doobie Brothers, Aretha Franklin, The Who, and Led Zeppelin created some of the greatest music the world has ever known.
But in 1985? Please. Give me more Katrina & The Waves and Teena Marie.
Year of the McFly!!
ReplyDelete