The familiar finger-snapping logo of Stax Records in the '60s signified not only a sweet soul label, but one of the first fully integrated studios, where black and white musicians, songwriters and executives worked together to create a uniquely American sound.
In hits such as "Soul Man," "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," "Respect Yourself" and "Theme From Shaft," Memphis, Tenn.-based Stax mirrored the country's racial hurdles with a one-of-a-kind brand that offered a grittier sound than Motown and boasted one of the greatest house bands in pop history -- Booker T. & the MGs.
"Stax was a product of the working-class South," said Rob Bowman, a Grammy Award-winning ethnomusicologist and music professor who wrote the definitive Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records. "It was a label that approached music in a communal, collective way; an integrated company at the height of Jim Crow. It was an organized manifestation of Dr. Martin Luther King's dream of people of both races coming together in a very natural, organic way to make music."
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Stax, the logo has been reactivated by the Concord Music Group with a concert this week in Hollywood, a slate of new signings, a series of deluxe reissues and a TV documentary. The work celebrates the gritty, gospel-tinged hits from Otis Redding, the Bar-Kays, Isaac Hayes, Sam & Dave, the Staple Singers, Eddie Floyd, Johnnie Taylor, William Bell, and Rufus and Carla Thomas.
"What's important is how we put the music together," said Mable John, who began her career as Motown's first female singer in 1959 before jumping to Stax and cutting three-dozen songs and the 1966 million-seller "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)." As John, now 76, remembers, Stax was not like other companies.
"When I went there, I was assigned to [the writing and producing team of] Isaac Hayes and David Porter. ... When I sat down with them, they said, 'Let's get acquainted first.' They asked what kind of life I had, what was on my mind. They turned their attention to whatever emotion I was feeling," said John, now an ordained minister and author. "Stax wanted you to be you."
Soul aficionados can look forward to the Aug. 1 premiere of Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story, a PBS Great Performances documentary that details the story of the enduring label. As part of the Universal-distributed Concord's reactivation of the finger-popping logo (the first release was the two-disc, 50-track Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration anthology), recent signings include soul luminary and label patriarch Hayes, along with neo-soul artists Stone, Hathaway, N'dambi, Soulive and Leon Ware.
"Here we are 50 years later and people still love this music," said Hayes, the ex-voice of Chef in South Park, whose ingenious, endlessly recycled "Theme From Shaft" topped the pop charts in 1971.