We've got your back — Guitar World's guide to the 10 best backing bands of all time.Related Content
Among the first backing bands to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Booker T. and the M.G.s may very well be the most imitated house band in history, playing on hundreds of recordings for Stax Records, fortifying the sound of Southern soul in the process. During the 1960s, they would lend their talents to countless hits, including Sam & Dave's "Soul Man" and Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," even backing Redding at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.
While primarily known as a backing band, Booker T. & the M.G.’s also received some acclaim on their own, particularly with the 1962 instrumental “Green Onions,” which was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry list of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" American sound recordings earlier this year.
In 1965, original bassist Lewie Steinberg would part ways with the band, paving the way for another Stax house band member, Donald “Duck” Dunn, to join the fray, solidifying a storied musical partnership.
“Steve and I are like an old married couple,” Dunn would later say of his relationship with Cropper. “I can look at him and know what he’s going to order for dinner.”
A further nod to their in-demand status, Dunn and Cropper would later join a pair of young Hollywood actors looking to cut an album of slick blues and R&B. They called themselves “the Blues Brothers.”
