Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion

by Robert Gordon

The story of Stax Records unfolds like a Greek tragedy. A white brother and sister build a monument to racial harmony in blighted south Memphis during the civil rights movement. Their success soon pits the siblings against each other, and the brother abandons his sister for a visionary African-American partner. Under integrated leadership, Stax explodes as a national player until, Icarus-like, the heights they achieve result in their tragic demise. They fall, losing everything, and the sanctuary they created is torn to the ground. A generation later, Stax is rebuilt brick by brick and is once again transforming disenfranchised youth into stellar young musicians.

Set in the world of 1960s and '70s soul music, Respect Yourself is a character-driven story of racial integration, and then of black power and economic independence. It's about music and musicians--Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, the Staple Singers, and Booker T. and the M.G.'s, Stax's interracial house band. It's about a small independent company's struggle to survive in an increasingly conglomerate-oriented world. And always at the center of the story is Memphis, Tennessee, an explosive city struggling through volatile years. Told by one of our leading music chroniclers, Respect Yourself is the book to own about one of our most treasured cultural institutions and the city that created it.

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction, Biography, Pop Culture, African American, American

480 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 2013

About the author

Robert Gordon (b. 1961) is an American writer and filmmaker from Memphis, Tennessee. His work has focused on the American south—its music, art, and politics—to create an insider's portrait of his home, both nuanced and ribald.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Respect Yourself tells the story of Stax Records, from its founding to its rise and eventual demise.

I got this from Netgalley. Thank you, Netgalley!

If I had to pinpoint the moment I initially got interested in soul music, it was probably in 2007 when the CD player in my car shot craps and I was stuck listening to the radio. The only station that actually played music instead of obnoxious chatter when I was driving to work played a lot of soul. Pretty soon, I was hooked on Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, and Otis Redding. When I saw this on Netgalley, I jumped at the chance to review it.

Respect Yourself covers the life and times of Stax Records. Formed by Jim Stewart and his sister, soon joined by Al Bell, it started out as a tiny operation in Memphis with less than 10 employees. By the time of its demise less than 20 years later, it was a multi-million dollar company.

Stax launched the careers of Booker T and the MGs, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, the Bar-Kays, Isaac Hayes, and many others. I found it amazing that most of the musicians and staff in the early days also had day jobs. While producing a lot of Stax's early hits, Isaac Hayes worked at a slaughterhouse and Steve Cropper worked in a grocery store, for instance.

The label went through a lot of hard times, suffering setback after setback, like horrible relationships with partner labels like Atlantic and Columbia, the deaths of Otis Redding and most of the original Bar-Kays in a plane crash, to Atlantic stealing Sam & Dave shortly after Otis' death, Stax losing it's top two attractions in the span of months, only to keep on kicking until crooked bankers and debts finally brought it down.

Far from being a dry historical tome, Respect Yourself has tons of quotes from people who lived through it, like Willie Hall, Donald Duck Dunn, Isaac Hayes, and many others. As I read the book, I couldn't shake the urge to bust out some of my older Stax stuff for the commute to work, which shows how well a lot of Stax stuff has held up, 40 years after it was initially pressed.

If you're interested in the soul music of the 60's and 70's, Respect Yourself is a must-read. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding, exhaustive, and very well written history of Stax Records. The author goes deep, not just talking about the artists and music, but also how the history of Stax paralleled, and often informed, the 60s civil rights movement and the socioeconomic issues of the 60s-70s.. The incredible strides that Stax made in terms of racial diversity and harmony are contrasted with a lot of the ugly racism and discrimination taking place right there in Memphis where they were located.

But mostly it is about the music, and the artists, and the folks who ran the studio, and it is just one great story after another. I learned a ton about Otis Redding (who first showed up at Stax as a driver for another artist), Sam and Dave, Booker T and the MGs--etc etc. My Spotify playlist has increased tenfold, too. I've been listening to nothing but Stax records since starting this book. And I picked up this DVD, which is phenomenal:
http://goo.gl/DJoAYX (You can see an edited version of the DVD on YouTube, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM9Nq...

One of the best music books I've ever read. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of pop music.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. This book does not just deal with the music but also what was going on in Memphis at the same time. You find out about the people who started stax for the love of the music and a different sound. They were looking for a heart beat inside of their soul. That was one of the statements. This small recrod company was being run by both black & white. Together inside the Stax building musics and everyone the owners as well worked side by side. When they walk out of the building the laws of the time was they could not be together or go to the same places. That is why it was different and the sound was real. The story about Stax like Memphis is sad. Other record companies came in and took advantage of the owners through different contracts. This eventuality lead to there collapse. The music that was made there was great, for it is still popular today. Having gone to Memphis, they are proud of Stax. There is a museum there all about Stax records. There are a lot of music museums in Memphis, and at one at they all helped each other or have some other connection with each one. This a good book and you don't have to be a music fan. there is a lot of information about the history of Memphis and the U.S. inside this book. A very good book.

[Konrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the one of the most important books about Memphis ever written and I loved every second of it. Memphis has always had this magical ability to punch above it’s weight class in contributions to culture, and the story of Stax is the epitome of that; Gordon stewards that story beautifully.

3 things I cant stop thinking about:
1. Otis Redding showed up at Stax as another artist’s driver. The other artist’s session was going poorly, and the whole day Otis was in the Stax drummer’s ear talking bout how he could sing man, just give him a chance. Finally, after all the musicians packed up, the drummer relented and let Otis get on the mic. He sang “These Arms of Mine” and they hurried everyone back in, recorded it, and signed him on the spot.

2. At the peak of its popularity, Stax lost all their masters from their first 10 years in a shady business deal with Atlantic Records. It then totally rebuilt, from the ground up, to become the second largest African American owned business in the 1970’s before the white power establishment killed it for good.

3. The Beatles were so inspired by the Stax sound that they planned to record the album that became Revolver at Stax. The local newspaper leaked the days and times of the session, and because Beatlemania was so crazy, they had to cancel it last minute.

[Richard J. Alley · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful book. The rise of Stax Records is a fascinating story, its demise is devastating. Anyone interested in music (of any kind, really) - the heart of it, the business of it, the passion behind it - Memphis history or the fight for civil rights should read this.

One of the most telling quotes about the change in the air of the first incarnation of Stax comes from Wayne Jackson, one half of the Memphis Horns, about halfway through the book. It describes the corporate and violent air that pervaded the studio and its offices, the ego and greed, around 1970. Jackson: "When we started, it was about family, and genius and Otis [Redding] and the fun we were having – and now Paramount wants to know where we are every hour and there's guys walking around in the halls with guns? They had to search my horn case, me and Andrew [Love, the other half of the Memphis Horns] both, going in the door and coming out. They weren't searching for fried chicken."

I've written a bit about the Stax Museum of American Soul and the Soulsville Foundation, but reading this book I see that I haven't even scratched the surface. I'm glad Robert Gordon did that and more. Writing this book must have been a massive undertaking and it deserves nothing but respect.

[Judd · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, brilliant storytelling from Robert Gordon. The story of Stax is really a three part'er: creative ("classic" Stax), corporate (the Al Bell years) and chaos (the unraveling of Stax the company and the ethos that underpinned it.

This story isn't all glory days, either - the warts are left on and they will leave you shaking your head. That being said, the music that Stax made will having you taping your feet. Read the book and fire up some of the best American music eve made.

[Aaron Brame · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished Respect Yourself, Robert Gordon's excellent new book about "Stax Records and the Soul Explosion." Gordon is the lord protector of Memphis' musical history and heritage, and he has done an incredibly thorough job of researching the history of the Stax label.

This is the third book that I've read that addresses the rise and fall of Stax (the others being Soulsville, U.S.A.by Rob Bowman and Sweet Soul Music by Peter Guralnick, both excellent), and I felt that the first half of the book covered familiar ground. It's an well-known story, but, Jesus, what a story it is! The way that Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton created an internationally-influential label out of a forgotten movie theater on the south side of Memphis and turned out so much amazing music is miraculous, and a miraculous thing to read--even for the third time.

The second half of the book, however, was more eye-opening. Gordon delves into the business blunders of the Al Bell era without blinking. There was violence, intimidation, foolish deals, misappropriation, payola, and graft taking place in the name of Stax, even as Isaac Hayes and Johnny Taylor were topping the charts. He pays particular attention to the shady business practices of Johnny Baylor, who used manipulation and strong-arm tactics to keep Stax records spinning in radio stations and record stores, but whose influence was a significant factor in the label's demise.

Respect Yourself is often a heartbreaking book. Especially harrowing is the section concerning the death of Otis Redding and five of the Bar-Kays ensemble. There are plenty of villains in these pages--from Jerry Wexler to Union Planters to CBS records--and the anxiety that picks up at the midpoint of the story never relaxes until the miserable denouement, when Al Bell is led from the Stax studio at gunpoint.

Most impressively, though, Gordon couches the successes and failures of the label within the historical context of Memphis. In this way, Respect Yourself would appeal to anyone with an interest in twentieth-century history in general and the Civil Rights Era in particular. This one is not just for music buffs.

see more at mrbramesblog,org

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to make the soul music aficionado's eyes light up, just mention Stax Records where many of the great soul singers began their careers against all odds. Stax, founded by a white brother and sister who didn't know anything about the music business, started in the back room of their music store where young African American kids could walk in off the street and sing and talk music. Memphis was reeling under racial tension but the record store was a place where racism didn't exist and the owners decided to start recording some of the music with idea of bringing soul music to a larger population, including whites. And that was the beginning of Stax Records which morphed into the greatest of the independent record labels and home to artists like Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. and the MGs, Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd and many more.. This book traces the rise and fall of Stax and how it affected those who sang and worked there.

It is both a joyful and sad story........the owners were ingenuous and a handshake was as good as a written contract. Stax was riding high but as the company grew and new management took charge, the label overreached itself and excess and payola ran rampant. Soon the IRS and the Justice Department appeared on the scene and the intricate internal and often illegal financial workings of Stax were exposed and bankruptcy was declared. Many people, including some of the artists lost everything and careers were ended. For them it was the day the music died.

This is a must read for the music scholar, well written, and full of interesting and little known facts. RIP, Stax Records, 1957-1976.

[John Steel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book i've read about popular music. Would give it 6 stars if I could

[Tony Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of Stax is more than the familiar tale of an independent record label that went from rags to riches only to collapse under the weight of its unprecedented growth. It is also the unlikely tale of white siblings, he a banker, she a school-teacher, and their personal journey from the segregated society of Jim Crow Tennessee to the heart of something they created in an old cinema on 926 East McLemore in South Memphis: Soulsville, a place where blacks and whites could record together at a time that they could not publicly share a dining table together.

It’s a story that Robert Gordon unravels in Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion, and it reads all the better for the fact that Jim Stewart, who ran the Stax & Volt labels, and his sister Estelle Axton, who ran the Satellite record store from the former theater’s concession stand, lacked the nefarious character traits that desecrated many other seemingly great musical exteriors. One would like to believe that their general decency, both culturally and artistically, explains why Stax is so often depicted in the pages of Robert Gordon’s long-awaited book as an integrated family, especially during its initially prosperous phase, when it was home to Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Johnny Taylor, Booker T. and the MG’s, Rufus Thomas and his daughter Carla Thomas, Albert King, the Mar-Keys, the Bar-Kays, Mable John, the Mad Lads, Eddie Floyd, Sir Mack Rice and more. Throughout this period, which ran from approximately 1962 and “Green Onions” to the end of 1967, Stax was the gritty southern yin to Motown’s polished northern yan, and by most modern accounts, the more authentically soulful label.

But then came a series of disasters that should have felled the company. First, Otis Redding, Stax’ star artist and most beloved personality, died in a plane crash, taking all but two members of his backing band, the Bar-Kays, with him. (Reading survivor Ben Cauley’s account of staying afloat in a freezing Lake Morona while his teenage buddies drowned around him is truly heart-breaking.) Then Atlantic Records, purportedly just Stax’ distributor, announced its contractual ownership of all the company’s master recordings, leaving the smaller independent without any musical assets. And while the label was still coming to terms with these losses – the posthumous success of Redding’s “Sittin’ On The Dock of the Bay” provided only financial compensation – Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the nearby Lorraine Motel. The cruel home-town blow to the label’s racial harmony was accentuated by the fact that the Lorraine was one of the only establishments that would entertain an integrated social group; it was where Steve Cropper, Issac Hayes, Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn, David Porter, Booker T. Jones, Stewart, Axton and others would regularly break for lunch and dinner. In the wake of King’s death, riots broke out across Memphis (and much of America), and the color of one’s skin became an issue inside Soulsville for what all involved claim to be the first time. Estelle Axton got out soon after.

But Stax fought back, with the former DJ and promotions man Al Bell stepping up to take the helm as the label’s musical visionary, community cheerleader, and staff pastor. A new-look Stax – that of the instantly identifiable snapping fingers – announced itself with Soul Explosion, the near-simultaneous release of some 28 albums in 1969, with Isaac Hayes stepping forward from the relative shadows of his successful songwriting career alongside David Porter to become the very public voice and face of his Hot Buttered Soul. Thanks in equal parts to Hayes’ popularity and Bell’s drive, Stax entered the 1970s as a vital force not just in American soul music, but a strong voice for black self-empowerment. In 1972, the label hosted the Wattstax Festival at the Los Angeles Coliseum, proof that a stadium of over 100,000 blacks from a riot-torn corner of a major city could party peacefully all day long. Featuring performances from Hayes, the Staple Singers, Kim Weston, the Soul Children, Rufus and Carla Thomas, and the Bar-Kays, Wattstax begat a double album and a movie; it was the Woodstock of its generation.

It was also the pinnacle of Stax’ second coming. The unraveling was not so much about black or white as multiple shades of grey. Guns replaced guitars at Soulsville, with the well-connected and equally well-protected Johnnie Baylor, hired after King’s assassination to protect Stax from the new street gangs of South Memphis, working his way up to a position as promotions executive, touring the country with a team of strong-arm men who ensured both that Stax’ records got played, and that Stax Records got paid. When, in November 1972, Baylor was found boarding a plane with $129,000 in cash, along with a check from the Stax Organization for a cool half a million dollars, it appeared to all (except Bell and Baylor, who protested otherwise) that the label was involved in both payola and protection. A distribution deal with Columbia proved disastrous, misunderstandings turning to mistrust and misdeeds, culminating in mutual lawsuits and the eventual return from Columbia of “several eighteen-wheelers” full of not just unsold, but unopened Stax stock. Meantime, the label’s man at its local bank, Union Planters, who had eagerly financed Stax’ rapid expansion, turned out to have left a trail of fraudulent paperwork, and as the Feds and IRS swooped into Memphis, it was the white-owned bank that cleaned up its act first – by bringing down the now black-run label.

Jim Stewart, tiring of the politics and the payola, had by now followed his sister and effectively sold out – only to return and bet his entire $6,000,000 payday on bringing the company he founded back into the black. He lost it all, his possessions eventually sold at auction. Al Bell was found innocent of charges that he engaged in $18,000,000 of fraud and slowly fought his way back into the music business to become President of Motown. Isaac Hayes had jumped ship before the collapse, but without the royalties from his platinum Stax albums, could not support his extravagant lifestyle, and declared bankruptcy. Estelle Axton, having turned her own payday into a profitable real estate business, returned to the music business with “Disco Duck” (of all things!) and promptly blew every last penny of profit; she ended her days as a cafeteria cashier. As the label was proclaimed insolvent, Stax’ masters and its publishing company copyrights were sold for a metaphorical song (nobody capable of predicting their enduring value), the company’s physical assets stripped to the bone, and Soulsville all too literally brought to the ground. The city of Memphis almost willfully erased all memory of its monumental contribution to soul music.

It’s not an easy story to tell, but fortunately, in Gordon’s skilled hands, Respect Yourself is a deft one to read. Gordon conducted the interviews for the 2007 documentary of the same name, and along with loaned interviews from other writers (several lead characters having passed away), those accounts largely inform his book. Gordon’s tone is frequently conversational, and liberally peppered with first-hand quotations, but it contains just enough colorful prose and political analysis to establish the proven writer behind it. He is unforgiving in his historical accounting of Memphis’ institutionalized racism, weaving in the accounts of the sanitation workers’ strike that led directly to MLK’s assassination, along with details of the desegregation of the city’s schools, the busing and white flight that followed, and how it all played into the culture of Stax. For a Memphis home boy, Gordon reveals deep shame for its history – but, of course, great pride in its music. It makes for a riveting account.

In the summer of 2012, my family took a road trip across America, stopping in at as many musical museums as we could manage. We spent two nights in Memphis, camping at and touring Graceland, and additionally visiting Sun Studios. Given my own musical tastes, however, the highlight was always going to be the Stax Museum of American Soul, housed at none other than 926 East McLemore, within an exact replica of Soulsville, down to the marquee outside and the sloping studio floor within. If it seems blasphemous to have torn down the original building (though no more so than the city of Liverpool ripping down the Cavern Club to build a car park), then the Memphis community leaders who came together to resurrect the physical Stax deserve all commendations for addressing that error.

Specifically, in rebuilding the Soulsville community, they got their priorities right. In the year 2000, they opened a Stax Academy, where the likes of Isaac Hayes, Wayne Jackson, Mavis Staples, and Rufus and Carla Thomas would stop by to provide neighborhood students with free after-school tutoring. Next came the Museum, and in 2005, the Academy begat the Soulsville Charter School where, writes Gordon, “the school days are long, and part of the reward for good work is getting to make music; suspension from music rehearsal is a punishment.” For the most part, I’m not a proponent of charter schools, but in a city that has endured so many years of under-funding for its children of color, there appears little doubt that Soulsville, the school, just like Soulsville, the original home of Stax, has been a force for good. As for the Stax Museum, it offers the finest display and the clearest depiction of black American music that I have yet experienced. Also, it’s fun – there aren’t too many museums that replicate the Soul Train dance floor. (Photographs from the tour follow at end of review.)

In essence, Respect Yourself presents Stax as a microcosm of the American experiment. Racism is ably countered by harmony; co-operation is ultimately swallowed by corruption; brotherhood gives way to its share of brutality, and the goodness that lies within the heart of Stax is challenged by the evil that waits outside. But always, there is the music. And right until the end – when Al Bell outbids various major labels for the rights to release the debut album by Lena Zavaroni, as sure a sign that the end is nigh as his eventual escort from the building by armed Fed bailiffs – that music is amongst the finest that the nation has ever had to offer.

- See more at: http://www.ijamming.net/respect-yours...

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

What starts as a straightforward history of Stax Records quickly evolves into the parallel histories of Memphis, TN during the 60's and 70's which was a hotbed of racial discrimination and of the record industry in the same time period, including payola. The book really focuses on Stax as a company, so little time is spent fleshing out the "talent" that recorded for Stax. The author assumes the reader is already familiar with many of the songs and the acts that were part of southern soul: Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett and, later, Isaac Hayes.

I know there are other books covering the same topic(s), but I doubt I will read any of them after reading this. I might consider a biography of Otis Redding whom I consider probably the greatest soul singer of them all.

[Marvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion
caused me to wax nostalgic. In the mid-sixties, every community had their ma and pa record store. We had a little one that sold nothing but 45rpm singles. If you don't know what a 45rpm single is, ask your parents. If you are under twenty, ask your grandparents. In Pacoima, our store of choice was off the corner of Nordhoff and Woodman. The walls had writing on them that kept track of all the weekly hit lists including Billboard, the local radio charts (which unlike now, tended to have a lot of regional bands next to the national stars), and the R& B charts. My interest was always the R&B chart. For even if this was California, where surf music and the British invasion held reign, I lived in an ethnically diverse community which stoked my love of soul music next to my original love of Jazz. The R&B and Billboard charts mainly had the sophisticated urban sounds of Motown but some of us craved the coarser more soulful sounds of Stax, Volt and Atlantic. The singles out of Stax include "Green Onions" by Booker T. and the MGs, "Try a Little Tenderness by Otis Redding,"Knock on Wood" by Eddie Floyd and "Respect Yourself by the Staples Singers including many others by Sam & Dave, Rufus and Carla Thomas, The Bar-Kays, and other too numerous to mention. The Stax registrar later included the more polished Isaac Hayes, Luther Ingram, and the Staples Singers. But these earthy records were frowned on by our parents. They were too coarse, too loud, too sexual, too black. "Why couldn't you listen to those nice Beach Boys or even those Beatles?" was their question. We had no answer. It just felt right.

Respect Yourself chronicles the rise and fall of Stax Records. Stax was like many of the small record companies in the U.S. in the 50s and 60s that served up a local sound, in this case the Memphis sound. Ran by a white man and his sister, they opened their studio to the community and began a place where black and white could buy records together and record their own music together. While most of their artists were black, they were backed by the integrated house band, the MGs. This was a major thing in the 60s, especially in Memphis, Tennessee whose segregation and violent history is also well documented in this book. Like many locals, Stax reached national distribution through an agreement with the larger Atlantic Records. The Stax sound, at least at first, was instantly recognizable. the owner Jim Stewart and producer/arranger and house band leader Booker T had a style that was all Stax.

Robert Gordon knows his music and he writes expertly about what that Stax sound was and how it originated. Some of hallmarks he discuss include the rise and death of Otis Redding, the ascent of Isaac Hayes from arranger to star, and the recording of hits like "Hold on. I'm a'coming" by Sam & Dave and "Walkin' the Dog" by Rufus Thomas, and "Respect Yourself" by the Staple Singers. Gordon also writes well about Stax's place in Memphis as a cultural icon and a place of community. One of the things that interested me was how long these legendary singers had to continue their day jobs while making regional hits that we now consider soul classics. Otis Redding worked as a limousine driver while Isaac Hayes worked in a slaughter house. But that was not much of a surprise to me since, in the 70s, I was playing sax in bars on the weekends and washing dishes on weeknights while going to college. But then again I never had a hit record, but I digress..

Yet there was a dark side too. As Stax become more popular, they grew out of their tight knit family environment and became a corporation. The author is also writing about the decline of the local record company and the rise of the conglomerate. At the height of their success in the early 70s, Stax became gobbled up by large corporations and pretty much became one themselves, leading to a glut of financial scandal, criminal activity and often violent episodes. Their sound changed and the company collapsed under its own weight bringing in mind the old saying that nothing fails like success. Gordon's book is as much about the fall of the regional record company and the rise of the music conglomerates as it is about the music.

It's a mesmerizing story of "rise and fall" and Robert Gordon tells it well. The story goes from Jim and his sister Estelle recording country Western acts as a hobby to a small but active company thriving on the enthusiasm of its black community to a profit above all else concern led by Music mogul Al Bell and plagued by guns and drugs. But the core of this book is about the music and the dedication lesser known musicians like Donald "Duck Dunn, Steve Cropper and, of course, Booker T gave to the music. If you have any interest in popular music, especially soul and R&B, this is an essential read.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most detailed and deeply-researched book on the Stax Records story. If you don't know about Stax but do love the music of, say, Booker T and the MGs, Otis Redding, and Isaac Hayes, then you must read this book.

Other books somewhat equalize the contributions by Jim Stewart, Estelle Axton, and Al Bell, but this book presents many more stories about Al Bell than I've read about before.

The book weaves in significant accounts of the Memphis sanitation strike and the legacy of racism. Well into the 70s, white Memphis couldn't get its act together with regard to the enormous creativity of its African-American community; in his account of the dispersal of Stax to its creditors, Gordon makes a solid case that the black-run company was an embarrassment to the local economic powers-that-be. Particularly in the final chapters, the book is a scathing account of Memphis, somewhat redeemed by the attempt to revive "Soulsville" with the new Stax museum and the neighborhood school.

[Alex Rubenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story of racism and hope, music and family. Told through the lens of the growing soul music company, Respect Yourself tells us about the power of following your dreams, while embedded in a society and time that pushes back and tries to say "no". Equally, from a pure organizational perspective, it's a fantastic case study on change, strategy, and organizational culture.

Highly recommended reading not only to expose yourself to kickin songs from the Mar-Keys, Booker T., Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, the Staple Singers, and so much more (nice to have Spotify by my side while I read!), but also to dive into the realities of racial prejudices and history that people dealt with in Memphis in the 1950s-1970s. It also really brings awareness to myself living in Memphis, and what this city was not that long ago, and what it is starting to become again. Five stars

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Gordon's prose vividly brings to life the characters involved in the rise and fall of Stax, showing how, amidst segregation, violence, and a plethora of bad business decisions, they managed to produce some of the greatest records of the 20th century.

The story is one that, for Americans, is perennially compelling. Will the tenacious belief in white supremacy manage to destroy progress made in demanding and preserving equal rights and respect for people of color? Can you take something small, with a regional flavor and a real sense of family, and manage to succeed financially on a national scale without destroying the elements that made the business special? And just how does great art happen?

There's everything here - drama, tragedy, violence, empowerment, brotherhood, joy, and, above all, soul.

[Byron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was like most people in that I knew a lot more about Stax' more crossover-friendly northern counterpart, Motown. (Ironically, Stax was founded and—for about half the time it was around—run by all white people.) Of course I was familiar with a lot of Stax music, but I knew very little about the actual story of the label. In particular, it was interesting to read about the label's demise in the mid '70s—one of the all-time great stories of music industry fuckery, which is also addressed (in not as much detail) in Frederic Dannen's Hit Men. I wasn't as interested in the history of public sector labor disputes, school desegregation and what have you in Memphis, but I guess it added a certain context.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Gordon knows Memphis, and he knows music. He also knows how to write in an appealing conversational style. Here he tells the rags to riches to rags story of Stax Records, from its humble beginnings through its rise to international prominence to its sad demise in a sea of red ink. For fans of Stax Records this book is a must, but there is much to enjoy here for even those with just a casual interest in music.

[Marc Ballon · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion" is the best book ever written about soul music in America. Robert Gordon's book sparkles with good writing built upon a rock-solid foundation of original research. If you like the incomparable Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes and Booker T & the MGs, do yourself a favor: pick up this book today. It's that good.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't finish. Being from Memphis, I'm too familiar with the history of the city and Stax. Being a child of the Seventies, I'm not familiar enough with most of the recording artists who drifted through the studio doors. May come back to it, but just decided to move on.

[Caryn Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

In depth, comprehensive, and blessedly written with a voice and with emotion.

[Marcas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Respect Yourself is a well researched, well written, and enjoyable account of Stax Records and its plethora of magnificent artists: Sam and Dave, The Staple Singers, Booker T and the MG's, Otis Redding, William Bell, Isaac Hayes, and more.
Gordon captures the story of Stax Records and harnesses the energy of the Soul explosion by featuring the incredible highs (and lows), highlighting the important strides made by the company musically and socially across the sixties and seventies, and placing Stax Records within the context of American history more broadly.
It's all in here. From making beautiful music, early hit records, and breaking down barriers, to ugly financial troubles, racial strife, business disputes, and even gratuitous gangster flexes in the halls of Soulsville.
Respect Yourself features a host of larger than life characters and the best of Memphis lore. Robert Gordon has written a book that is at times humorous, brutally honest, and tragic, but always hopeful.

[Rob S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Gordon’s book Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion is a fascinating story. Gordon tells the story of Stax (formerly known as Satellite) Records rise in the late 1950s and 1960s in Memphis, Tennessee to become one of the significant record labels of all time. Many of soul music’s legends found their start and home at Stax. Figures such as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, Booker T. & the MG’s, and Albert King. All of them found a place at a record label founded by a white brother and sister, who would go on to create one of the best interracial places in 1960′s Memphis. Gordon does a really wonderful job using the events of the Civil Rights Movement during this era as a backdrop to demonstrate how things were different at Stax Records and then later changed.

Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Stewart Axton created Satellite Records, making their home in a former movie theater to run not only their studio but also a record store out of. It’s interesting to read how they used the sales of the record store to determine not only what customers were currently listening to but also what they wanted to hear. Due to smart business acumen like this among other factors, Stax Records quickly found itself gaining successful in a short period of time that other labels would never taste. It’s amazing to consider the stories of the individuals running the label and the musicians who supplied the music. It seems beyond comprehension that successful musicians who have been played nationally would still have day jobs at a bank, grocery store, or elsewhere but this is what happened here.

It’s fascinating to read the origins of groups like Booker T & the MG’s, the interracial house band of Stax among others. It’s amazing to consider that Otis Redding got his start at Stax after being someone’s valet and simply coming to Stax one day begging to be heard. All the while, Stax Records and the people who worked within it promoted a racial equality and harmony far ahead of its time. Skin color truly didn’t matter at Stax, even more impressive considering what African Americans were going through in Memphis at the same time as Gordon tells.

Without realizing it, some of my favorite songs were made in that little studio. “Green Onions”, “Born Under a Bad Sign”, “Soul Man”, “Dock of the Bay”, “Hold On, I’m Coming”, and several others.

Just as interesting it was to read about Stax’s rise, it’s equally saddening to read about their first major setbacks. It’s amazing to consider how Stax Records was able to recover after the death of Otis Redding at the age of 26 (Stax’s biggest money earner and huge part of the label), Sam and Dave being taken by Atlantic, and Estelle leaving. Enter: Al Bell. Whether it was better or for worse, Bell changed Stax and brought it in an entirely different direction. Bell is a fascinating individual and someone I never really heard about.

Despite the Soul Explosion, unfortunately, all things must pass. Stax’s eventual downfall due to a combination of factors is unfortunate. The shady business practices, the pushing by bigger labels, and the violence make for an interesting second half of a book.

Overall, Respect Yourself is a look an interesting part of American history and music history. This book would interest far more than just music fans. It’s a book that shows what a small group of passionate individuals can accomplish, but it also shows what kind of pitfalls await those same group of individuals.

[Riley Haas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the story of Stax Records, but it isn't just a the story of Stax the record label, as it also places the story in the context of Memphis and the civil rights movement, and there are some very interesting parallels between the rise and fall of Stax and other American businesses.
Stax is my favourite soul label and this book was given to me as a gift because of that. And I read the book because of that (and went to Memphis, in part, because of that). But even if you are not a particularly huge fan of some or most of the artists who released music on Stax in the '60s and '70s, there is a lot here of interest to anyone who is interested in racial politics in the US or in how businesses fail.
For me, the initial appeal of the book was in Gordon's description of this unique label, founded by white people but putting out music by black people in one of the most segregated cities in the United States. (I had no idea howsegregated Memphis was back then until reading this book.) Gordon's choice to focus on the greater context for the label is really illuminating, and honestly makes the formation of Stax seem kind of miraculous.
Gordon tells a good story and the book is super easy to read. It's full of interviews with most of the major players but it also moves along at a pretty brisk clip for a book as long and detailed as it is.
For me, everything builds up to Otis' death and I figured the rest of the book might not be of interest to me, given that most of what I listen to from Stax was released prior to the crash.
But I was wrong. The story of how Stax got bigger and bigger and bigger and then imploded is more interesting than its foundation. It is a crazy, convoluted story and, at times, Gordon seems almost as confused as the reader. One kind of needs a forensic accountant to figure out exactly what happened and I do sort of wish he had presented the actual financial data of the fall a little more clearly. But that minor criticism aside, the second part of the book is a quintessential story of American business hubris - betrayals, over-expansion and what we would now call 'mark to market' accounting - that recalls so many other American business stories. Reading the latter half of the book, I'm left with the impression that the story of Stax isn't so much the story of a record label as it is the story of an American business.
It's fascinating and compelling stuff, with some aspects that are stranger than fiction. So even if Otis Redding isn't your favourite soul singer - or Isaac Hayes, or whomever - this is worth reading for the story of how an American business could succeed against improbable odds and then fail both for reasons of racial politics and for normal the reasons so many American businesses have failed
Great.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

RESPECT YOURSELF by Robert Gordon was an easy read & seems to be very accurate. It covers an area I was driven by at night as a child, taught in as a beginning teacher & people I knew as an adult. All details blossomed under his descriptions from the lighted block on McLemore at night to the Bar-Kays.

One of the Bar-Kays favorite "cheerleaders" was a BTW teacher Katherine Johnson. Miss Johnson was under 5 feet tall, but her love of all the Bar-Kays were everlasting. She never let her grief interfere with her teaching.

James Alexander is superman to us, from Miss Johnson to me to my daughter. He is cool. He is kind. So are all the Bar-Kays, but James Alexander & Ben Cauley are teachers' pets. Mrs. Brinkley & Mrs. Griffin claim the others. I loved the tales of Mr. Martin. "Lunch Dance in the Band Room 10 cents" is the only part you left out. I wonder how many reeds & cork grease those dances bought.

RESPECT YOURSELF talked about my hero Marvell Thomas. Marvell was always the quiet one, always working quietly for music & musicians. We first met him selling albums raising money for the U of Memphis School of Music scholarship fund. Later he helped the daughter get an internship at NARAS. He was always doing for others. When he died, a comet appeared flying near the moon. That was Marvell heading to heaven.

My only problem with RESPECT YOURSELF is that I never knew WHBQ had low ratings & Stax music floated through the air waves down to where I was attending school. Stax discography was the soundtrack of my life.

In the middle to late 1950's, WHBQ was the #2 pop radio station after WMPS. #3 on our dial was WHER or WREC's Everett Flagg's "Music 'Til Midnight" program. Transistor radios gave young people freedom of hearing. WHBQ had George Kline & played Broadway one night a week.

We heard Stax music on WMPS & WHBQ. WHER had all female d.j.'s. WREC broadcast from the Peabody basement & played music from the 40's & the Met on Saturday afternoons. WDIA was the black station. Nat D. Williams was a d.j. there as well as Rufus Thomas & deserves a mention. He was an awesome man & great history teacher at BTW.

Issac Hayes is buried in Memorial Park, across from the Grotto.

[Cold Cream 'n' Roses · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Dreams to Remember: Otis Redding, Stax Records, and the Transformation of Southern Soul, I read Respect Yourself. It is a much better book than Dreams to Remember.

Stax was actually founded by a white brother and sister, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, who nonetheless had their pulse on African-American music. Respect Yourself covers the various artists associated with Stax, such as Booker T. and the MGs, Rufus Thomas and his daughter Carla, Otis Redding, and Isaac Hayes. It traces the history of Stax and covers the bad deals that it had with larger corporations, which also sucked the vitality of Stax. Moreover, the story of Stax is told against the social and political backdrop of Memphis, including segregation, the garbage workers' strike, and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

There is all sorts of fascinating trivia in Respect Yourself:

- Booker T. Jones was still in high school when he recorded Green Onions

- Otis Redding drove guitarist Johnny Jenkins from Georgia to record at Stax. He hung around all day, and Stax agreed to let him audition. They were blown away.

- Atlantic Records shipped Sam and Dave off to Memphis to record. They were crestfallen, as they had thought they would be going to New York and the big time. Sam recalled that he cried when he met the songwriters David Porter and Isaac Hayes. Hayes had yet to go solo and develop his persona, but he was wearing garish clothing when he met Sam & Dave.

- The Lorraine Motel was a home away from home for Stax. The Lorraine Motel was, of course, where MLK Jr. was assassinated.

I have a Starbucks CD compilation of Stax music. One of the fascinating items is "What a Man," by Linda Lyddell, a "blue-eyed soul" singer whose career ended early because of threats from the KKK for recording black music. Surely, this is a story that could have been worked into Respect Yourself.

[Stacy Bearse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of the Memphis sound, music that draws from blues, jazz and rock. I try to visit the city every couple of years. So it is not surprising that I reveled in Robert Gordon's excellent chronicle of Memphis soul music. The book is both a celebratory and cautionary tale. Gordon's focus is on Stax Records, a mainstay of the Memphis music scene from1960 to 1975. Readers of the boomer generation will recognize many of the players - Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, the Staple Singles and the incomparable Booker T and the MGs. Fans of classic rock and soul will remember the songs: Green Onions, Shaft, Dock of the Bay, Try A Little Tenderness and Midnight Hour, to name just a few. Gordon tells the Stax saga in the context of the African-American struggle for equality using Memphis as a crucible for the simmering tensions between conservative whites and freedom-seeking blacks. The story has three arcs: The simple days of creating a new genre of music and building a record company to bring the tunes to a diversified audience (1960-66). The tragic death of mainstay artist Otis Redding (and most of his backing band, the Bar-Kays), closely followed by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King (1997-68). And, the hyper-success and the hyper-hubris that eventually led to the downfall of the label (1969-75).

I found the book pleasurable on a couple of levels. It evoked a continual stream of pleasant memories ... I began listening to music on my transistor radio during the onset of the soul music revolution. And, as one who spent his career in the media business, I appreciated the cautionary lessons of trying to run a fast-growing enterprise without strong discipline. Gordon's research is meticulous. His style is engaging. And his portrayal of the South in the 1960s is stunning. Note that the author also created a fantastic documentary film based on the book (available through YouTube).

[Naomi Krokowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this well-written book and highly recommend it! It was a riveting read for me. I grew up loving the incredible music from Stax and had enjoyed a book Gordon credits in writing this one by the incredibly thorough Peter Guralnick, and admittedly wondered if this book would rehash things I'd learned from Sweet Soul Music by Guralnick. Enjoyed this one so much more! It was much more conversational and focused on just Stax rather than other soul music sources such as Atlantic. I absolutely ate this one up, loving the material about Otis Redding and Sam and Dave particularly. Gordon does a poignant job with the Redding plane crash and the young man who was the only crash survivor, trumpeter Ben Cauley. This book made me appreciate anew the amazing confluence of things that made Stax music so incredible and enduring. In an era when black and white musicians were unable to eat together, the interracial studio siblings Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton founded created a stunning achievement.

[Graham Tennyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly excellent book. A gripping account of the great Stax record label. So many wonderful stories and insights into this amazing organisation. It's not just a list of anecdotes about the hits (although there are plenty of them) it is a compelling tale of struggle, creative spirit, tragedy and hope. I can't pretend to be a soul fan but I always loved the Stax sound - that Memphis, R&B, groove. This talented bunch of hopefuls crafted some of the most perfect sounds of the era - Green Onions, Dock of the Bay, Soul Man, the list is extensive. With almost amateur enthusiasm they spun local talent into gold. It was cooperation at its best, colour blind creativity, turn it up sweat it out solid gold. I laughed out loud at some of the Seventies excess, I wondered at some of the characters and I cried as it all went wrong. Something so wonderful was never going to survive the American corporate machine. However, in its own way (in the music and spirit) it has done more than survive - Stax was precious and has found its place in history.

[Chris Lilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel really bad giving Robert Gordon three stars. 'Deep Blues' would get ten out of five, and this is just as insightful, just as well-researched. The problem is that I loved the story of the founding of Stax, the incredible music, the location in the heart of civil-rights USA. Then Otis Redding and the Bar-Kays die in a plane crash, and the story becomes a detailed account of Al Bell and his plans for a Black-run business empire that would rule the world, and how Columbia Records and corporate shills brought down Bell and Stax. Soul musicians following dollars into disco didn't help, Isaac Hayes buying gold-plated Cadillacs didn't help, but essentially the second half of the book is about dirty deals and high finance. Jim Stewart wanted to leave Stax because of it, I wanted to stop reading. Only my respect for Mr. Gordon got me through it. If you have a mild fondness for 60's soul and an intense interest in corporate cowboys, this book is for you. I'm going to put 'Green Onions' on heavy rotation and try to forget everything that happened after Otis died.

[Ben Kalman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched book that covers the history of Memphis soul through Stax - while the author clearly champions Stax and its principals (Axton, Stewart and especially Bell) through thick and thin, he doesn’t pull his punches when including the bad with the good, and does try to maintain neutrality to a certain degree.

The book would be a five star if not for certain aspects of the writing - repetition between chapters that retells - or re-explains - certain points multiple times, and the pacing gets more rushed and frenzied towards the end which feels as though the author skimmed the downfall when there was a lot of story to be told - then slowed it back down for the post mortem.

Regardless, this is a must read for any interested musicologist, music fan - or those interested in history and how Stax fit into the rising tide of the civil rights movement and Black empowerment through the 60s and early 70s.