Untouchable
I have a fascination with this image.
A white superstar and a black superstar riding high on a rock arena stage…shoulder to shoulder, back to front.
A white male superstar channeling a black female superstar’s energy from behind…her absorption of his…aided by his wrap-around assist.
Throw in that he assumes greater vulnerability in this lockup…she with an enhanced-control vantage.
A less likely ying-yang sort of entanglement with no shortage of tactility :0
And, literally, the woman behind the man.
So, in this shutter-snap second the transaction level isn’t just air-borne electrons but full on body to body transmission.
Elite entertainer professionalism is undergirded by deep adoration, and we also enjoy ample hijinx…and prolific sexiness.
Ironically, he’s been imitating her dance moves all these years, while she adopted his brazen pout…honestly, he probably stole that too.
Both figures live large in my gen’s worldview, probably a couple more, regarding what ambition-success looks like, each of them highly-visible-perpetual-pop-cultural-forces during a lot of people’s coming of age.
If Mick had hung it up after Some Girls (1978), he’d be sitting below the fold beside Peter Noone (Herman’s Hermits). Maybe I wasn’t the only one thinking surely they must be done…good to go out on a high note because it is a great record.
But this tour photo was taken three years later just after their release of Tattoo You…Start Me up…Waiting on a Friend….with George Thorogood opening.
So, instead, Mick’s still serving as the undisputed Dynasty King of Classic Rock, for white people…
as well as a Madame Tussaud-esque freak of nature who’s inner cyborg reworkings…afforded only by the 1%…conceal a high-functioning replica of himself even though he’s probably still actually alive. And none of us will be surprised when the Stones mount a Nonagenarian World Tour.
Whether epic phenomenon or tired franchise, their present-day debatable relevance is for another post. And really…nothing against good ole Mick or the oldies but goodies.
As for Tina, the Queen of Rock ‘n Roll, it’s hard to even put HER into words.
How to express my appreciation for her raw talent (literally), enduring fortitude, hard-earned longevity, rugged beauty, button-pushing style, relentless energy…uncompromising work ethic…classiness, classic-ness and timeless-ness?
Without question all female rock and pop performers today descend from her…how could there be a Madonna or Beyonce’ without her…not at the level they bring they sting now.
How to express my gratitude for her mold-breaking?
Requiring peripatetic and line voltage in the same sentence…her beguiling androgyny…an alchemy of estrogen-infused strutting here to there…everywhere…fused with her testosterone syphoning through-you gaze…you know it…the Warrior Queen thing.
How to express my gratitude for her emotion-making?…that stirred feeling from her moody-broody, tension-filled beginning orchestrations, to her vocal range from velvety to guttural, then rasp to nasal, then explosive full-throat-high-decibel-throttle…all filtered through volcanic passion…fierceness…iconoclastic presence…like this is it right here, right now, no fomo, and you’re just left submitting to HER larger than lifeness (at 5’-4”)…willingly sucked into the deep, vast vortex of HER enigmatic worldscape.
Or that disarmed feeling by her frequently flashed, self-possessed, high-beam grin…the signature gesture of her very conscious intention:
“I saw that by overcoming my obstacles, I could build indestructible happiness and inspire others to do the same.”
Indestructible happiness…but, I digress.
This image, shot during the 1981 Stones tour stop in Philly, immortalizes these two holding court over ninety-thousand (90,000!) animated fans intent on witnessing their trip-the-light-fantastique-pas-de-deux.
Rare enough they ever shared the limelight, here’s celebrity idolization at its zenith…that cultural quaila so woven into our nation’s DnA...America’s most celebratory indulgence is celebrity celebrations, especially at rock concerts.
As we see, M & T are in era-defining performance mode, by this time, each with innumerable global smash hits plus 61 years commanding the stage between them. Sure, it was a very different time and, yes, they were supported-protected by serious record labels, PR machines, and nationwide disc jockey relationships but that’s a really long time to maintain attention, sanity, and adequate bank.
Ok…back to the photo, and not even considering all of that, they just look like they’re genuinely having a magnanimously, rip-roaring, good time.
So now let’s enjoy all of the image.
Yes, the lower portion :] Ha!
Well, in this view we appreciate Tina’s to-die-for boots! Not to mention her tour-de-force-legs, even covered up by black leather. But there’s something more here, right? How deft the photographer’s trigger finger…or did such an exchange happen more often or for longer periods than any of us are aware?
Again, this post isn’t to get into all of that…
yes, the press claims Tina had a crush on Mick but who cares and probably more likely pure hype which, of course, we gulped down with glee.
To put a pin in it, my fascination, titillation, reflection, and projection is all about Tina in this electrically charged moment.
Here they are…two icons…mid-song…coming together…fleetingly…from their autonomous preening-prancing to vocalize some particular lyric with seemingly unscripted exuberance…
and then there IT is.
With limber synchronicity, while leaning way-way back, bodies fused in a graceful, impossibly casual, convex curve, Mick’s right hand subtly palms her…area.
‘Well isn’t that special?’ [Dana Carvey’s church-lady]
Back then, we’d all say: well, that’s all in good fun <;} plus well within the self-expressive, audacious rights of your average white-male 80s rock star. Unlike now, peering through the 21st century’s Me Too lens…not so much…but again…not why I go here.
I go here because of what Tina’s reaction, expression, and embodiment tells us.
In front of an obscenely enormous crowd of people, with deafening amplification from behind, and incredibly hot mic in hand, a top 10 globally worshipped music industry megastar makes surreptitious contact with your nether-region, and you _________?
Well, if you’re Tina, you enjoy it.
You subsume the affront…ride the stride…and roll like the Killer-Coiffed Proud Mary Divina Boss you are…now don’t you.
You are…Nimble, Neoteric, and Naughty…a tantalizing traits trifecta! [RARE]
So, for me, tasked with creating a meme that signals women’s empowerment I could not top the way this singular image conveys it:
the Titan Goddess…titilated by Zeus’s meanderings…leans back for…maybe…a little more. [BLUSH]
Why?
Because she’s confident, tested, and knows who she is…the woman in possession of indestructible happiness means she’s…
powerful, sensual, feminine, masculine, universal…
earning it all through eons of hard knocks from Nutbush through the patriarchial labyrinth of can’t…don’t…won’t…
which altogether renders her absolutely untouchable.
Long live the Queen.
Thank you Tina Turner for all you brought to Life in this World during the 83yrs you Lived Large in it and brought Us all along with You…
rest well in lots of radiant love and dappled light always: 11.26.1939 - 05.24.2023
Tina Turner joins Mick Jagger onstage during the 1981 Rolling Stones/Tattoo You tour at JFK Stadium, Philadelphia....do your best to unsee Mick's shoes.
#TinaTurner #identity #archetypes #icons #MeToo #WomensEmpowerment #power #MickJagger
I serve brand, business, and nonprofit clients as a Creative and Foresight Strategist helping people engage better and do more through 21st century best practice process frameworks and bespoke workshops.