I turned nine in 1971. "Pillow Talk" come out in 1973. It was a shock to hear it on the radio, but it was in heavy rotation where I lived, and my mom didn't mind.
After "If You Really Love Me" faded from the charts in 1970, Stevie kind of disappeared from pop radio until late 1972, when he released "Superstition". I remember being surprised by his new sound. But, we are getting too far ahead. We have a whole year to go before we get there.
All the "edits" on YouTube, with all due respect, are revisionist to the core. They do not account for two things: - In the first section, after the girls sing "Shaft!" upon Mr. Hayes' "Who's the black private d--- that's a sex machine to all the chicks?" - dead silence, totally instrumental. The profanity Isaac uttered was edited out. - In the third section (which begins with "Who's the cat that won't cop out . . . "), Mr. Hayes' line is cut to "They say this cat Shaft is a bad--" and a considerable pause before the backing singers' "Shut yo' mouth." While this "censored" version by definition went to radio stations, it even extended to the stock copies. Here's how many grew up listening to the 45 of this classic that vaunted the "Black Moses" to superstar status in the same way "Maggie May" did for Rod Stewart (and apologies were placed on the video for the skip midway): On the soul chart, it was kept out of the top spot by Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)," the third single off his landmark What's Going On. "Theme From Shaft" even made #6 on the Easy Listening charts, ferchrissakes. In Britain it made #4 - that same edit, with the same censoring, was in stereo there, as opposed to being issued in mono in the U.S. The backing musicians included drummer Willie Hall, guitarists Charles Pitts, Michael Toles and Marc "Dr. Love" Davis, Mr. Hayes himself on keyboards along with Lester Snell, James Alexander on bass - and, amongst the backing vocalist, Telma Hopkins, prior to becoming part of Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando (at this point in-between Number Ones). Mr. Hayes' particular style of music led to recording outside of Stax' own studios which were not exactly technologically cutting-edge at the time. He mostly recorded at rival Ardent Studios. That, plus the "mongrel" hit "Mr. Big Stuff" by Jean Knight which was recorded at Malaco Studios, plus another Stax hit making an impact at this time - "Respect Yourself" by The Staple Singers - having its rhythm track recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios - indicated how the "Stax sound" as people understood it from the 1960's was dying off, replaced by a headfirst plunge into the "new" sounds of black music that would captivate audiences of all races starting around this point.
This was but one factor why, when Barry White (whom we'll get to several Number Ones from now) first exploded on the scene, he was seen in some circles as an Isaac Hayes copycat - on his debut album, I've Got So Much To Give, the lead-off track was an 8-minute cover of the old Four Tops' hit "Standing In The Shadows Of Love."
As far as i'm aware, Ardent was owned by Stax and not a rival studio. If you look at the Ardent label, you will plainly see that it was distributed by Stax Records. In fact, Big Star was signed to Stax.
I know Ardent as a record label was distributed by Stax, but the Ardent studio in fact outlived the Stax organization - if a certain #1 of five years from this point that we'll get to when we get to it, is of any indication. One of us may have to check old Billboards either on Google Books or the American Radio History site to get the real story . . . but seeing their website, the Ardent studios as we've known them lo these many years were established in 1966 by John Fry, an extension of his idea for a record label (initially in partnership with the founder of FedEx) that dated back to around the time what was then Satellite Records became Stax. In short, other than Stax' early '70's distribution of the Ardent label, there was otherwise no corporate connection between the two.
Shaft was and is all kinds of cool. And I do remember how damn and mother were edited out for airplay. Damn was self explanatory but mother always puzzled me since that's where it ended. I'm guessing radio didn't want anyone inferring what the next word would be, even in their own minds. This tune also went on to win the Best Song Oscar where he memorably performed it rising up from beneath the floor all decked out in chains. I never really followed his musical career post-Shaft but I do recall a duet album he did with Dionne Warwick and a Top 20 hit he had in '79 with Don't Let Go. And for any of you who may not like this record, in the immortal words of his back-up singers - "Shut Yo Mouth!"
Mr. Hayes did quite a few acting roles over his career - and this was before South Park. In the years I was growing up, he appeared frequently as "Gandy" on The Rockford Files, and repeatedly addressed the lead character (played by James Garner) as "Rockfish."
This one I definitely remember from its time as a hit. My uncle was already a fan of Hayes - he owned Hot Buttered Soul, The Isaac Hayes Movement, and ...To Be Continued by the time "Theme From Shaft" started rolling up the pop charts. This was without question my favorite song as a little kid, so much so that they used to blast it from my uncle's stereo in the evenings to get me to come in for dinner! The single edit is fine, but I lived for the album version, which my uncle was kind enough to spin often off his copy of the soundtrack. In fact, this was probably the first record I ever played for myself on my uncle's turntable. An incredible track, with its powerful orchestration, exceptional engineering, funky guitar work and unapologetically black lyrics, this might be the most important single of the decade. Its unprecedented mainstream success - as has been noted, it hit across multiple Billboard charts, including what we'd now call adult contemporary in addition to pop and soul - not only changed the sound and content of mainstream R&B, but also pop in general and also soundtracks, many of which quickly came to sound like Shaft clones (some successfully, many laughably). The hit that launched a million wannabe funky rhythm guitar hooks, I don't think any of its successors quite captured the lightning in a bottle qualities of the original, and indeed Hayes himself I don't think ever quite equalled this work. This track was absolutely pivotal in the coming success of disco on the pop charts. By demonstrating how powerful the combination of rich, dramatic orchestrations and funk grooves were, it both influenced the development of the genre and also encouraged labels to spend money recording and promoting the tracks, as they are always engaged in the quest for the next big "X". We're about two years out now from the first disco or proto-disco hits, and the coming rise of Philly Soul (which was also heavily influenced by the success of "Shaft") would also provide another key ingredient in constructing the environment where disco would be nurtured. I think without "Shaft" the whole genre might not have developed, or might have remained somewhat underground. You could also argue that with his talk-sing lyrics, Hayes also laid the groundwork for the commercial success of rap almost a decade later, but that one's probably a bit more tenuous. There's no question tho that Hayes was rapping before anybody had invented rap. Hayes himself was an immense talent, who like Sly got mixed up with drugs which ultimately derailed him. With songwriting partner David Porter he wrote a string of indelible hits in the '60s, including "Soul Man", "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby", "Hold On, I'm Comin'" and "Wrap It Up" for Sam & Dave. He also had a fairly successful career as an actor after music had sort of passed him by in the mid-'70s, with notable roles in The Rockford Files and the film Escape From New York. Rediscovered by a younger generation for his indelible voicework as Chef in South Park, he enjoyed a late-career renaissance and re-appreciation or his earlier work. His last big hit was the disco remake stomper "Don't Let Go", and he also scored a final big success as a songwriter with Dionne Warwick's "Deja Vu", which along with "I'll Never Love This Way Again" marked a huge commercial comeback for her in '79/'80. A good friend of a friend of mine grew up near Memphis and actually went to school with Hayes. He wanted to date her, but her mother forbid it - too dark, and his nose was too big. Her mom said he'd never amount to anything. But the times, they were a-changin'...and they changed in good part thanks to work done by Hayes, producing massive commercial and culturally influential hits like "Theme From Shaft". It may just seem like a bit of early-'70s iconic fun, but this is one of those hits that I think really mattered - it changed the course of pop music, while the success of the film (which it helped propel) had a big influence on the movie business and pop culture in general.
I was a senior in high school when this hit so it plays a big part in the soundtrack of that school year '71-'72 as well as the holiday season where it shared airtime with other notable songs like Imagine, American Pie, Have You Seen Her, Got To Be There, the last few #1s and many more that others will likely recall as evoking the Christmas feels. Shaft is also one of the few instrumentals to top the charts in the 70s in stark contrast to the popularity of that genre in the 50s and 60s. Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet in '69 was the last time this occurred and it will be over 3 years till the next one.
Maggie May : I've heard this song a few times too many due to overexposure on radio but it is a well-written pop song and deserved to become the hit that it became. Theme From Shaft: A stone cold classic.
Yeah, there's that. I guess I thought of it as an instrumental because it was nominated for a Best Instrumental Composition by The Grammys. Okay, scratch that, the gulf between instrumental #1s just got bigger.
Yeah, definitely an outlier. Is "Shaft" an instrumental? I'd say no, but it's certainly odd in its construction, as most of the song is in fact just instruments. Have there been any other big, mostly-instrumental hits like this? I think you could probably include "The Hustle", although it's structured differently, with voices cropping up intermittently instead of primarily in one section of the song.
Let's see ... I like Theme From Shaft but not a whole lot. However, I've said the same about numerous songs featured in the thread and I think it's in the upper half. Certainly cooler than most of them!
"Theme From Shaft" may've been only partly instrumental (all first half, Hayes comes in at 1:50), but its B side, "Cafe Regio's," was all instrumental through and through. Also said so on the label.
Not sure what B-Sides have to do with anything. The B-Side didn't get the credit for the #1 placement of the single, didn't chart on its own as far as I'm aware, and didn't win the Grammy.
No, but - it was a full instrumental, whereas the A side had vocals in the second half. Like they say, "Theme From Shaft" was an odd duck - but a very successful, chart-topping, Grammy-winning one.
In 1973, he had a big hit with David Porter called "Ain't That Lovin' You", and later in the year, and "Joy". In 1975 he had a soul hit "Chocolate Chip" after he moved the distribution of his Hot Buttered Soul label to ABC Records.
Not really. Many instrumentals have vocals in them. When you think about it, "Theme From SHAFT" isn't really an instrumental at all. But, it was the best representation of the emerging "blaxploitation" films of the era. Among them are "Son Of Shaft", "Shaft in Africa" , 'The Men" TV show (which Isaac Hayes also did), "Let's Do It Again", "Sparkle", "Car Wash", "Superfly", "Cleopatra Jones", "Blackula", and several others I can't think of at the moment. Most of these films featured major hit singles from them by artists like The Four Tops, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, The Staple Singers, Joe Simon, Rose Royce, and, of course, Mr. Hayes. Isaac Hayes also continued to be the musical director at Stax during this period.
For anyone who never heard the album, I very highly recommend it. It will surprise you. It also contains another hit single "Do Your Thing".
Theme from Shaft is one bad mutha....... This one and Maggie May were both banned at my Catholic grade school from the list of acceptable 45s we could play during recess when we had to stay inside because of the weather. I was the pseudo DJ during many of these times.
