I finished watching the first half of a documentary about the Stax Records story, Respect Yourself. WOW. To live during an era where music ruled… if only I’d been born a few decades earlier.
Stax Records was a music record label based in Memphis, TN. It was founded during a time when segregation and hatred were prevalent in the world. 1961. Stax Records (previously called Satellite Records), was founded and run by two white people, Jim Stewart and his sister, Estelle Axton. They were color blind, so musicians from all over, blacks and whites, began to take interest in the new label. They bought out an old movie theater and turned it into a recording studio and record store.
While Stewart ran the recording studio where the auditorium was, Axton ran the Satellite record shop. Originally, she converted the refreshment stand, where the movie theater sold drinks and popcorn, into a place to sell records. The store was later moved next door to a vacated barber shop. She sold records from many different labels, giving Stax first-hand knowledge of what kind of music was selling. Axton would play music through the speakers in the store that went outside on the street as well and people would flock there to listen. It became a new hang out, especially since there was no other place like it. Axton had her pulse on what people wanted to hear. More about her later. She was freakin’ cool.
Stax got their momentum when they signed their first handful of artists. There was Booker T & the M.G.’s, which started out as the house band for Stax. (And let me say this. Booker T and the drummer were both black men, the guitarists were both white me. They were bandmates and friends. That in itself set the bar for what Stax Records brought to the people during that era). Then there was the fabulous duo who were also talented songwriters, Sam & Dave. And finally, the amazing Otis Redding. The gem. He gets his own post later.
There were more that came and went as the years went on at Stax, but these guys were the starters. They became a little family, touring together all over Europe and slowly recognizing that people were loving what they were putting out. They realized they were actually making money doing what they loved.
So they allowed their talent and PASSION for what they loved doing the most channel their motivation and hard work, resulting in financial security and success. They weren’t all sitting around brainstorming a list of the easiest ways to make money or find the niche. They were doing what they HAD to do. Making music. And their music was real. They were FEELING what they were playing and singing, and they made you feel it too. That’s what their careers were built on… talent, hard work, and the internal groove that moved them to create. The authenticity in the music brought people together. Blacks and whites found something they had in common. It brought healing to the hurt all around them.
More to come about the Stax Records story…. until then, I’ll just have to leave you hanging.
