'Classic' Is in the Ear of the Beholder

I was recently talking about music with my good friend Margaret. The topic of classic soul came up and Margaret said she prefers pre-1980s Aretha to her later, more pop-flavored work. She’d rather hear “Respect” or “Natural Woman” than “Freeway of Love” or “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”

As I pointed out to my friend, I was over my grandparents’ house a lot as a kid, and the only music they listened to was country and gospel music.So, therefore, I wasn’t exposed to “classic Aretha.” 

But Aretha started out singing gospel, Margaret argued. However, my grandparents saw her as a secular artist, I countered, and didn’t play her music around the house – not that I remember, anyway.
 

Furthermore, I’m 10 years younger than Margaret (I hope she doesn’t mind me telling her age), and when I started listening to music as a preteen in the mid-1980s, my first real exposure to Aretha was 1985’s “Who’s Zoomin’ Who” and subsequent albums.

I love some of the post-“classic Aretha” stuff like “Another Night,” “Jimmy Lee” and her duets with Michael McDonald (“Ever Changing Times”) and George Michael (“I Knew You Were Waiting”). These songs are classics to me.

So, I guess the term “classic” depends on how you define it.