STAX NUMBER ONES OUT NOW
Stax Records — now operating within Concord Music Group — have released Stax Number Ones, a compilation of 15 chart-topping hits by Stax’ best-known artists. Included in Stax Number Ones are Booker T. & the MGs’ “Green Onions,” Sam & Dave’s “Hold On! I’m Comin’” and “Soul Man,” Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood,” Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” Johnnie Taylor’s “Who’s Making Love,” “I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)” and “Jody’s Got Your Girl and Gone,” Rufus Thomas’ “(Do The) Push & Pull [Part 1],” Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff,” Isaac Hayes’ “Theme from Shaft,” The Dramatics’ “In the Rain,” The Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There” and “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)” and Shirley Brown’s “Woman to Woman.”
Stax Records has placed more than 175 hit songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 pop charts as well as a staggering 250 hits on the R&B charts. Stax Number Ones represents all 15 songs that hit 1 on either chart from the label’s golden era. It is a perfect sampling of classic Stax.
The legacy of Stax Records is a unique one that spans nearly
half a century. Stax Records is critical in American music history as it's one
of the most popular soul music record labels of all time - second only to Motown
in sales and influence, but first in gritty, raw, stripped-down soul music. In
15 years, Stax placed more than 167 hit songs in the Top 100 on the pop charts,
and a staggering 243 hits in the Top 100 R&B charts. It launched the careers of
such legendary artists as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Rufus & Carla Thomas, Booker
T, & the MGs, and numerous others. Among the many artists who recorded on the
various Stax Records labels were the Staple Singers, Luther Ingram, Wilson
Pickett, Albert King, Big Star, Jesse Jackson, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, the
Rance Allen Group, and Moms Mabley.
But Stax Records was more than just a label. It was a culture. While segregation
was fervently supported in the South during Stax's formative years in the 1960s,
Stax was one of the most successfully integrated companies in the country - from
top management and administration to its artists. With more than 200 employees,
it was the fifth-largest African-American owned business in the United States
during its time, and was the most successful record label ever to come out of
Memphis, Tennessee.
While Stax Records was an oasis of racial harmony, and the color of one's skin
was not an issue, Stax gave back to its African-American music-buying public in
many ways. It utilized its marketing budget to help keep publications like Jet
and Black Enterprise operating. Stax financed free benefit concerts with its
artists, helped raise money for the needy during the holidays, participated in
and helped publicize the federal government "Stay in School" program.
Stax Records became one of the first record labels in the country to evolve into
a multi-media company. It invested in and produced movies, such as the acclaimed
Wattstax documentary, filmed during the time of the free Wattstax concert it
produced in Los Angeles in 1972 to raise funds for charities in the Watts
community in the wake of the Watts rebellion. The film was the 1973 opener at
the Canne Film Festival, was nominated for a Golden Globe Awards, and is now in
the Sundance Film Festival Collection. Stax was also involved with Broadway
plays and soundtrack albums, and was a major force in opening the doors to
minorities in Hollywood.
Musically, the influence of Stax Records is still vivid today in R&B, soul,
rock, pop, jazz, hip-hop, and gospel music. Stax songs have been covered by the
likes of Aerosmith, Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, the Black Crowes, the
Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Blues Brothers, Salt 'N Peppa, En Vogue, R. Kelly,
D'Angelo, Willie Nelson, Cream, and numerous other bands and artists.
Having released more than 800 single 45s and nearly 300 LPs during its 15-year
run - picking up eight Grammys and an Oscar along the way - Stax created music
that has reverberated throughout the world in many ways, and continues to play a
major role in the music industry. It helped usher in a genre that the world came
to love, and had a major impact on generations of music fans and artists. At the
core of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music's mission is to be sure it
continues to impact future generations forever.
