I love this! One of the best songs ever released put against some truly awesome dancing moves from 50’s and 60’s film and T.V.
It makes me want to dance!
This song seems to crop up everywhere, particularly in movies, but because it has no lyrics, I suspect that very people know anything about it. For example, the name of the song is called ‘Green Onions.’
The band is Booker T. and the MG’s. Who are they? Turns out, they are a big deal.
Based out of Memphis, the band wasn’t even a real band. They were the house band for a music label called Stax Records. And they did well, providing the backup music to the likes of Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, and The Staple Sisters, among others, when they came to town to record a track.
Stax Records was an exceptionally important aspect of soul music in the 60’s, in large part due to the unique sound of Booker T. and his crew. The “band” was imitated on both sides of the Atlantic, and the band appears on literally hundreds of albums during that era. Indeed, they were the very definition of soul music, particularly “southern soul,” where the groove was important.
The band changed a couple of times, but in addition to Booker T. Jones playing the organ or piano, there was Steve Cropper on guitar, Donald “Duck” Dunn on bass, and Al Jackson, Jr. on drums. However, it wasn’t uncommon for Isaac Hayes to step in for Booker T., and occasionally both of them playing on a recording, one on organ and the other on piano.
The band was also having a strong influence on The Beatles across the pond, with John Lennon even saying he wished he could play with the band. The reverse was also true, and the MG’s produced an album called McLemore Avenue, a nod to Abbey Road, as McLemore was the name of the street where Stax Records was located. The album cover even had aspects about it that were clear nods to The Beatles.
The bands they played with (C.C.R., Solomon Burke, B.B. King, Etta James, Al Green) or influenced goes on and on. The band, minus Booker T., formed the core of The Blues Brothers, even appearing in the movies with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. At times, Paul Shaffer of David Letterman fame stepped in for Booker T. and became a regular member.
In the end, the band was inducted into every hall of fame possible for the band and were given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. The band played off and on until the death of Dunn in 2012.
This is an ad for the single “Hip Hug Her” for the famously racial integrated band, Booker T. and the M.G.’s (Photo credit: Billboard, March 11, 1967)