Booker T & the MGs

[JamesWilson]

I liked Booker T & the MGs back in the late 60s- but did they really have ANY association with MGs?

I cannot recall ever seeing one in any of their promotional material....

 

[jerryrosa]

Hi James,

As I recall,..they took the name MG from the car brand. I think I read somewhere that they'd toyed with the name the "Triumphs", and then went with MG. (smart guys /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif)

Hope this helps,

Jerry /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[SilentUnicorn]

[ QUOTE ]
Early History

In the summer of 1962, seventeen-year-old keyboardist Booker T. Jones, twenty-year-old guitarist Steve Cropper, bass player Lewie Steinberg and Al Jackson, a drummer making his debut with the company were in the Memphis studio to back up former Sun Records star Billy Lee Riley. During downtime, the four started playing around with a bluesy little organ ditty reminiscent of Ray Charles. Jim Stewart, the president of Stax, liked what he heard and hit the record button. He liked the finished product enough to want to release it. Now, they just needed a B-side.

Cropper remembered a riff that Jones had come up with weeks before and before long, they had a second song. The group, of course, now needed a name. Another Stax band featuring Jones, called The Triumphs, had succeeded with a regional hit called "Burnt Biscuits." Jackson suggested another car name, The MG's. Stax even contacted the automobile makers in an effort to somehow cross-promote each other, but according to legend, the car company did not want to be associated with such music. Everybody liked Jackson's name, so MG became "Memphis Group."

[/ QUOTE ]


from https://www.answers.com/topic/booker-t-the-m-g-s



mark

 

[LLAngus]

WOW what you can learn on the forum. Thanks that was cool.

 

[JamesWilson]

What a good site, I'd no idea that they were so heavily involved with the other soul artists of the time. I'd always liked their music but considered them less prolific/influential than they seemed to have been.

I'll dig their CD out and play it some more.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif

 

[aeronca65t]

Great question.
And great answer.
I had always wondered about that.... (and I like their music too).

 

[Morris]

I have always wanted to open up an MG specialty shop and call it "Booker T's."

Morris

 

[Bruce74B]

[ QUOTE ]
I have always wanted to open up an MG specialty shop and call it "Booker T's."

Morris

[/ QUOTE ]

I would think you'd want to use Morris Garages!

Bruce /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif

 

[Frazier]

I think that's taken.

 

[MGretired]

Interesting...parts of the MG's lived on in the Blues Brothers band! Steve Croper & Donald "Duck" Dunn played with Jake & Elwood in the movie.

 

[MGA Steve]

[ QUOTE ]
Interesting...parts of the MG's lived on in the Blues Brothers band! Steve Croper & Donald "Duck" Dunn played with Jake & Elwood in the movie.

[/ QUOTE ]And Jones, Cropper, and Dunn have performed in "the movies" even more recently than "Blues Brothers." They are the house band for a number of acts, including Eagles guitarist and former Presidential candidate Joe Walsh, on the DVD of Eric Clapton's three-day 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas. I highly recommend the DVD set to anyone who loves great guitar music--it includes not only BB King, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughn, Robert Randolph, and, of course, Clapton, but also stranger performers like Steve Vai and ZZ Top!