Episode 149: “Respect” by Aretha Franklin
A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs
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Aretha Franklin and Bob Mersey
Aretha's next nine singles would make higher than number 86 on the Hot 100, and none would make the R&B charts at all. She was paired with producer Bob Mersey, who was precisely the kind of white pop producer that one would expect for someone who hoped for crossover success. The level of racism in the media of the 20s through 40s was so astonishingly high that even a blackface performer could seem comparative to it.
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