Think - when Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi saved Aretha Franklin's career

This is a story of a woman whose career was in the toilet, and two men who were in the process of throwing their career in the toilet.

In this case, I'll go with men first. Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi had arisen from comedy-improv world and were part of the hottest show on television, Saturday Night Live. But after four years on the show, they were quitting it to concentrate on a single, odd comedy-musical routine that they had first performed on the show - something they called the Blues Brothers. Yes, Belushi had scored a hit with "Animal House," but was it worth it for the two to leave Saturday Night Live? Look what happened to Chevy Chase.

But at least Aykroyd and Belushi had a career, unlike the woman who was on the top of the world just a decade ago.

Popular music was transitioning from classic soulful sounds of the late 1960s to the disco party vibes of the ‘70s, and [Aretha] Franklin was struggling to adjust to the changes. Her 1979 album La Diva—her 28th and the final studio project under her 12-year tenure with Atlantic Records—was a flop and she was having trouble securing a new record label.

Here's how Robert Christgau reviewed La Diva:

Aretha Franklin: La Diva [Atlantic, 1979]
Blame what's wrong with this record on the late trite Van McCoy, one of the most tasteless arrangers ever to produce an LP. What saves it is that McCoy didn't control half of these songs--arrangements by Richard Gibbs and Arthur Jenkins (rhythm only) and Zulema Cusseaux and Skip Scarborough (rhythm plus orchestration) provide frequent relief. Aretha contributes two sisterly originals, which are really fine, and one loverly original, which isn't. Because McCoy keeps intruding she never gets a flow going. But there haven't been this many good cuts on an Aretha album in five years. B

Oh, and to top it off, her father was also shot during that period.

Well, you know what happened next. The two men who left SNL put together their movie based upon their comedy-music routine, and included an all-star cast of soul greats - including Franklin.

Source: http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6937
And Franklin's role, though short, was prominent.



Upon Aretha Franklin's death, Dan Aykroyd tweeted:

"Happy memories of being with Aretha on movie sets and industry events. The Queen had a wry, skeptical eye on the world but once you got her laughing you were in. What a voice! What a soul. Angel choirs should prepare for increased rehearsal and discipline."

A little more on Licorice Pizza

When I moved to California in 1983, there was a record chain called Licorice Pizza. I've mentioned this chain (at least) twice on my blogs. Back in 2008, I referenced it in passing in this Empoprise-MU post:

Yankovic is not the first person to celebrate rapid release of songs - John Lennon released "Give Peace a Chance" roughly a month after recording it - but modern digital technology and distribution supports more rapid release of songs, without having to worry about pressing the discs and shipping the stuff to your local Licorice Pizza - whoops, I mean WalMart.

I mentioned it in passing again in this tymshft post from today:

For my younger readers, I should explain that these cases hold something known as “compact discs.” You see, back before iTunes or Amazon Music or any of those services, if you wanted to buy music, you would actually have to go to a physical store (kinda like a 7 Eleven, but these stores had names like “Tower Records” and “Licorice Pizza”), get a physical item like a compact disc or a tape or a vinyl platter, take it home (or, in some cases, to your car), insert the physical item into a player, and play the music that way.

But I didn't really know much about Licorice Pizza - it wasn't until recently that I realized that the store name referred to the color of a vinyl record - so I read up on it a bit.

Licorice Pizza, based in Glendale, opened its first store in Long Beach in 1969. Founder James Greenwood borrowed the company's name from remarks made in a comedy sketch on an album by '60s folk singers Bud and Travis. The entertainers mused about sprinkling their records with sesame seeds and selling them as licorice pizzas.

By 1986, Licorice Pizza was deriving more of its income from video rentals than from selling music. That was the year that Licorice Pizza was sold to Musicland, and the stores were rebranded as Sam Goody a year later.

Of course, 1987 was a long time ago...