wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] stu in nyc January 13, 2009 - 10:38AM

  Why can't we live in a world where both Motown and Stax can co-exist to be the best at what they do? Motown artists strived for cross-over success (Ed Sullivan appearances, Supremes at the Copa), and was able to keep its grit (levi Stubbs was never "soft"). Stax retained the R&B flavor, and their artists were always drenched in sweat (except maybe for Carla Thomas).

  
  
• [2] Fuva from Harlem, NY January 13, 2009 - 02:11PM

  Apples and oranges here. Stax was funky on purpose. But Motown was often funky/ soulful in spite of itself; just couldn't help it with the line-up...(And, btw, white folks liked both. No real distinction there.)

  
  
• [3] AR from brooklyn January 13, 2009 - 02:11PM

  Toure just brought up the idea of assimilation at Motown. While Motown did usher in the first crossover artists and was black-owned, Stax actually had the first integrated group: Booker T. and the MGs! Motown played it safe throughout much of the 60s...

  
  
• [4] Jack from Brooklyn, NY January 13, 2009 - 02:11PM

  I really can't believe there is a show like this on WNYC. Stax versus Motown? What's next? A "vital" Punk versus Disco debate? This kind of stuff is beneath you. How about a show just about Stax or Motown without the competitive nonsense.

  
  
• [5] jimmy from brooklyn January 13, 2009 - 02:12PM

  Stax brought the funk and Motown brought the formula.

  
  
• [6] Cory from Manhattan January 13, 2009 - 02:12PM

  Neither is better. They are simply different -- like blended scotch whiskey vs. single malt. Motown was smother and went down easier for a younger target audience, with a little less of the B in R&B. Stax was spikier and aimed at a little older demographic, with more B in the R&B. Sit back, crank up the stereo and enjoy whichever suits your current mood.

  
  
• [7] eric from manhattan January 13, 2009 - 02:15PM

  I second that emotion. Our culture is permeated with mediocrity. There's more than enough room for both of these great labels and their superb artists. I know that this argument is meant in the spirit of acknowledging both labels and voicing personal tastes but I for one refuse to make that choice. The same way I won't chose between the Beatles and Stones, Chaplin and Keaton, etc.

  
  
• [8] Jack from Brooklyn, NY January 13, 2009 - 02:17PM

  Okay, I'll join the fray: Buster Keaton was much better than Charlie Chaplin.

  
  
• [9] Margaret Langston from L.I. January 13, 2009 - 02:19PM

  I hear Duffy in "Money."

  
  
• [10] jimmy from brooklyn January 13, 2009 - 02:20PM

  motown was important in the integration era and stax was equally important in time of black power. Two sides, same coin.

  
  
• [11] robert from park slope January 13, 2009 - 02:20PM

  Motown would have been better without the tambourine

  
  
• [12] Cory from Manhattan January 13, 2009 - 02:23PM

  John -- Screen out the politics, please.

  
  
• [13] Alvin from Manhattan January 13, 2009 - 02:26PM

  Selling black music to all races didn't start with Motown. What about Atlantic?

  When it comes to integration, Atlantic used some white bad boy musicians in its Muscle Shoals studio to back up R&B singers.

  
  
• [14] JG from NYC January 13, 2009 - 02:34PM

  Funky instrumental grooves? Was Motown's Junior Walker more Stax than Motown?

  
  
• [15] Gregory from The Bronx January 13, 2009 - 02:35PM

  Hey, Jack in Brooklyn: What are you talking about? Buster Keaton was certainly a great talent, and I'm not going to debate the differences of talent between him and Charles Chaplin, but that is the only potential comparative conversation that can occur here. Not only was Chaplin was the greater innovator who continuously reinvented himself across a longer career, but he was the revolutionary artist whose political message put him forever in the limelight (yes, pun intended) of the world's political and intellectual as well as theatrical stages.

  
  
• [16] John from Manhattan January 13, 2009 - 02:36PM

  Motown: Transcends race and genre; inimitable, and therefore less influential over subsequent music, except with individual talents like Stevie Wonder and others.

  Stax: Defines genre and celebrates racial differences. More influential over subsequent music because it defined a genre that musicians wanted to continue to work in and people want to listen to.

  
  
• [17] birder from brooklyn January 13, 2009 - 02:37PM

  all i gotta say is try a little tenderness. amazing. otis is the best of them all.

  
  
• [18] Charles Holmes from Staten Island, NY January 13, 2009 - 02:37PM

  Stax has it over Motown! Stax celebrated the Soul of Southern Black music: Blues, Funk, Gospel, R&B, Soul, and some Pop, incorporating racially-integrated management, producers, arrangers, writers, and performers, for those who lived and appreciated that music. Note, the British Pop groups covered Motown's Pop/R&B hits, appealing to the "common denominator". British Blues-influenced groups covered Stax, Chess, King, and other Soul/R&B groups. Stax had several Blues artists such as Albert King, while Motown eschewed Blues. Motown's acts were polished to appeal to un-hip, Caucasians and their fearful parents. Stax's acts were honest, sexy, "give 'em all we got", blue-collar and working-class.

  
  
• [19] zenundone from NYC January 13, 2009 - 02:40PM

  Which was the greatest soul label: Motown or Stax?

  Stax - no question.

  If the question was the greatest pop label in American history - Motown hands down.

  Atlantic Records was more of a soul label than Motown.

  
  
• [20] Sara Hopkins from Randolph, NJ January 13, 2009 - 02:51PM

  We were lucky to have both!!.....and we should be so lucky to have such consistenely superior popular music today. Having a teenage daughter, I am exposed to a lot of current popular music, and it is very rare for me to hear anything that comes near the quality of music from either Motown or Stax.

  
  
• [21] Peter from Manhattan January 13, 2009 - 03:01PM

  Motown is GM!

  Stax is Mopar!

  
  
• [22] spooney v from portland January 13, 2009 - 03:20PM

  mopar from whitey ??? hows that working out for you peter....nyc

  
  
• [23] bhaten from Los Angeles January 13, 2009 - 03:27PM

  Motown is Kragen!

  Stax is Pep Boyz!

  Motown is Wonder Bread

  Stax is H&H Bagles

  Motown is Flashdance

  Stax is WWF

  IDIOT!

  
  
• [24] cha-cha from brooklyn January 13, 2009 - 03:45PM

  Stax. That's all I have to say.

  Love Motown. No love for Berry Gordy.

  Just love the grit of Stax.

  
  
• [25] Paul in Brooklyn from Brooklyn January 13, 2009 - 05:08PM

  Great show. Stax vs Motown doesn't do justice to the majesty of each of them. I go with Stax for how real and authentic the music was, and how life-affirming it was. Perhaps the fact that most (all?) of the Stax singles were recorded and released only in monaural while Motown recorded a lot in stereo demonstrates how different the two were.

  My fondest memory in more than 50 years of enjoying live music was seeing Otis Redding and Arthur Conley perform in April 1967. But my favorite album of all time remains The Temptations Sing Smokey.

  My friends and I, anticipating the show today, got into the Mays vs Mantle discussion, to which I added "Yeah, but who was Duke Snider?" We agreed it was Chess.

  
  
• [26] Orlando from Queens, New York January 14, 2009 - 10:59AM

  Of course, it's not a question of which label is "greatest", but to me, whose music was more relevant as I was growing up in those days. In my pre-teen and early teen years growing up in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, I loved listening and dancing to the Supremes' "Back in my Arms Again" and Smokey Robinson's "Tears of a Clown" looking to my older friends and their friends to learn how to do the "skate" or other dances.

  But as I started maturing more in the '70s, I began to appreciate the records put out by Stax, especially albums like Wattstax and Hot Buttered Soul, in a different way. They reflected and helped form my views and feelings culturally and socially. But I also adulated the sounds of Motown's the Temptations' "Ball of Confusion" or being Latino, the "Live" recordings by Fania at Yankee Stadium and movies like "Our Latin Thing". All these I carry indelibly in me and I consider them so much a part of my experience and upbringing.

  
  
• [27] Steve from West Hills, Ca January 15, 2009 - 02:22AM

  Motown was getting ready for the prom....Stax was making out in the back seat after the prom!

  
  
• [28] Jeremy Shatan from NYC January 15, 2009 - 09:32AM

  I would probably pick Stax over Motown - but only if I had to. Great stuff abounds on both labels, obviously. I'm picking Stax because, at this late date, I think there is more to discover there and I'm still recovering from some Motown songs being overplayed.

  Also, three areas where I think Stax has the edge: Sure What's Going On is a fabulous, life-changing record. But Berry didn't even want to put out the single! It was only after it became a hit that he gave Marvin the dough to record the album. That's just one case of Berry being out of touch with the talents of his own artists. Also, when it came to signing White artists, Stax made some brilliant choices on it's Ardent imprint, most notably Big Star.

  Finally, Motown has squandered and revised much of it's legacy with a reissue program that can only be described as lacking. How many people have heard "Any Way You Like It" by Thelma Houston? "Slippery When Wet" by The Commodores? "Look Around" by Stevie Wonder? Motown does not find it convenient to make these amazing tracks easily available and for that - smack!

  
  
• [29] Randy February 17, 2009 - 05:56PM

  Did you know you could get a free poster of artists like Lightnin’ Hopkins and Albert King? Yeah! If you buy any Motown, Chess, or Stax record you get a commemorative poster which is a reproduction of a painting by Kenji. Thought yall might wanna know, I thought it was a great deal. Heres where you can find out if your record store is doing it.

  http://www.gotdownloads.com/blackhistorymonth