Taking Sides: Booker T. & the MGs vs. The Meters

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Memphis vs. New Orleans. "Green Onions" vs. "Cissy Strut". Hell, if it comes down to it, who did a better version of "Hang 'Em High"?

― Nate Patrin, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Maybe I should make this difficult and proclaim that the MGs' work with the likes of Otis Redding and Sam & Dave shouldn't count*- only their solo stuff.

*If it did, the MGs would SO win.

― Nate Patrin, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Booker T & the MGs still win.

― Dan I., Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The MG's are bad-ass and all, but The Meters are in a different league when it comes to funk. The MG's might have been the perfect r&b backing band, but their funk sounds dated, while the Meters grooves have still never been bested.

― Jordan, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Meters win for me. I like their funk much more. More grit and much cooler breaks. I have some Booker T. & the MG's on vinyl, but have yet to acquire an early funky Meters record. Both groups put out some weaker material as they aged. The MG's were definitely at their best in support of strong Memphis/Stax singers. Stax & Hi- Records put out some of the best music period. In the 60's and 70's, New Orleans couldn't even touch Memphis.

― bryan, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Clash of the titans! I would marginally give the edge to Booker T & the MG's since they were the house band and principle songwriters (specifically guitarist Steve Cropper)for Stax records. I think the Stax catalogue of the '60's ranks with the Beatles, Beach Boys, Dylan and Motown - combined. No disrespect to the Meters, though. More funk than Rick James on three week hookers and blow binge.

― Brent, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The meters are a band (a very good one too)

The MG's are THE band.

Kris.

― Kris England, Wednesday, 15 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Meters win. However, I think I would support the artists Booker and co. backed over the artists The Meters backed.

― dleone, Wednesday, 15 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I love the Meters. They're a great band. However, I absolutely revere the MGs. Booker T was great, Duck Dunn is one of the great bassists, Steve Cropper is one of the top guitar heroes, and above and beyond all that they had Al Jackson Jr on drums, and he is the greatest of all time and a big, big idol of mine.

I'll tell you how good a drummer he is: he accompanied Al Green on most of his best records. Al Green is my favourite singer ever and I love him like life itself, except more. When listening to classic Al Green records (especially How Can You Mend A Broken Heart) I not infrequently find myself ignoring Al Green's singing (IGNORING AL GREEN'S SINGING!) to focus entirely on the beautiful drumming. That's how good he is.

― Martin Skidmore, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

six years pass...

Listened to Potato Hole this morning and really enjoyed it, far more than I expected to. Sad that it took the presence of the Drive-By Truckers to get me to check out a latter day Booker T album, but the hook worked on me. Love the organ sound thats all over this thing. Anybody know which track(s) Neil Young plays on? The credits don't list on which ones he plays and I couldn't tell for 100% sure on my first listen.

― homage is parody gone sour (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 27 April 2009 16:40 (sixteen years ago)

booker t by a mile

― 4,000 hoes in blackburn, lancashire (M@tt He1ges0n), Monday, 27 April 2009 16:46 (sixteen years ago)

I misread this as...

Taking Sides: Booker T. & the MGs vs. The Mentors

― Alex in NYC, Monday, 27 April 2009 17:14 (sixteen years ago)

...which, of course, would have been a much more awesome thread.

― Alex in NYC, Monday, 27 April 2009 17:15 (sixteen years ago)

two years pass...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/06/arts/music/road-from-memphis-booker-t-joness-solo-journey.html?pagewanted=2&ref=music

“I decided that instead of trying to approximate a Booker T. sound, let’s take him further down south to New Orleans and put just a slight break-beat drum feel under it and see what happens,” Mr. Thompson said. “I wanted at least four or five songs to be b-boy friendly, so instead of going for the Stax house band sound, which would have taken a lot more work, why not play revisionist fantasy here and pretend that Booker T. did a session with the Meters,” New Orleans’s funkiest band.

Was Questlove inspired by this thread for his production of Booker T.'s new solo effort Road from Memphis?

― curmudgeon, Friday, 5 August 2011 12:51 (fourteen years ago)

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