watched this last night.
fascinating.
gotta watch it, if you dig modern music history.
plus, the performances are awesome.
Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, the film details the story behind the legendary label that launched a who's-who of soul music greats: Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, the Staple Singers, Isaac Hayes, Eddie Floyd, Carla and Rufus Thomas, Albert King, and Booker T. and the MGs, to name a just a few.
Classic Hits By Otis Redding, Booker T. & the MGs, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes, And Others Chart The Rise Of The “Memphis Sound” During The Heart Of The Civil Rights Movement
NEW YORK, N.Y. - In 1957, a square, white bank teller who knew nothing about African- American music launched a record label with only a tape recorder in a barn on the outskirts of Memphis, Tennessee. Over the next two decades, the racially-integrated Stax studio – which had moved to a theater in South Memphis by 1960 – would produce a string of hits that defined the “Memphis Sound”: “Soul Man,” “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” “Green Onions,” “Midnight Hour,” “I’ll Take You There,” “Respect Yourself,” “Theme from Shaft,” and many more.
“We were so busy working and having fun that we didn’t realize the impact that we were creating at the time,” says Stax superstar Isaac Hayes. Stax Records would become one of the largest and most successful black-owned companies in the nation and a virtual soundtrack to the Civil Rights movement before succumbing in 1975 to financial and legal battles.
Now, Stax is back for a 50th anniversary re-launch, and GREAT PERFORMANCES will “take you there” with Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story, premiering Wednesday, August 1 at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings).
