I always loved the way she could take music from one genre and turn it into another. It’s actually more noticeable on the album tracks than the better known stuff.
This was her version of The Beatles Help! which sounds like a genuine plea for assistance rather than the overly jaunty pop that John Lennon originally wrote:
Also, I noticed The Who’s Acid Queen further up. She recorded an album of the same name featuring reworkings of hard rock standards. This was her version of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love which she turns into absolute filth without ever having to sound suggestive:
Sad to hear of her passing. RIP Tina Turner. So many iconic songs and moments.
I’m being reminded of her greatness as people pay tribute. Her personal life too. From nothing, family picking cotton in rural Tennessee, to singing in the small local church, to making her way to Nashville. Escaping the abusive relationship with Ike was a triumph, even if they were stars together. Then going again, and having a massive global career as a solo artist, and finding love, and moving to Switzerland. (How the heck did that pass me by?)
Lol, here is another example. She was winning awards for her role every year up to that point, but the second Tina Turner came calling she left it behind to go and be a back up singer for her https://twitter.com/ProfMMurray/status/1661751456121393154?s=20
I watched a programme about the Iron Sheik recently. He came to the fore when the Iran hostage crisis was fresh in the memory, and he really worked that angle to build up a lot of animosity in the American crowd that helped to make WWE a much bigger spectacle, rather than a regional thing.
His time at the top was short lived, as Hulk Hogan was coming through. Hulk Hogan talked about how the Iron Sheik had these big clubs, like large wooden Billy clubs, that he would rotate around, and none of the other wrestlers could do it when they tried, as they didn’t have the arm strength.
Early on the Iron Sheik was a proper wrestler, then added loads of muscle, and later fat (!) and unfortunately also had a lot of personal problems, with substance abuse and so on. I think his daughter may have been murdered, if I remember correctly, and that sort of broke him.
They threw him a bone and let him win a comeback match. They realized by then that he was not the man he was, and his knees had gone, and he couldn’t do the moves any more.
Later on he got cleaned up and was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He gave a rousing speech and after always being an outsider, he felt the love and acclaim of the great and the good from the wrestling world.
Edit:
I know we have some big fans of wrestling. I only have an occasional or passing interest, and even then from years ago, and all this stuff about the Iron Sheik is because I just happened to catch a programme about him recently.
He achieved his wrestling ambition and paved the way for the spectacle it became.
Unlike most of the other “heels” who whip up nativist sentiment with their character, he was actually the nationality of the character he played. He represented Iran in the Olympics and was even a body guard for the Shah before moving to the US. I used to date a woman whose dad was Iranian and similarly had worked in the sphere of the shah so had no love for what the country had become, and he hated him for the way he stoked up anti iranian sentiment in the US
EDIT: I get that laugh emoji may feel misplaced, but Im laughing because it’s an absurd conversation to be able to share memories of
He and the likes of sgt slaughter were before my wwf watching time. They might have made some appearances in the mid-late 90s though which was when I started watching wwf.
The actor Treat Williams has died following a motorcycle accident. I probably first remembered him from the film version of Hair but he was quite prolific:
The sort of guy you immediately recognize but cannot identify anything you’ve seen him in. That might be taken by some as a slight, but it definitely isnt meant that way
