You couldn’t grow up in Memphis without knowing who Steve was and being aware of his many, many accomplishments. And he was a really nice guy to boot. RIP
Loved him in “The Blues Brothers”.
By my count, exactly half of the band from the original Blues Brothers movie are gone now. Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Alan “Mr. Fabulous” Rubin and John Belushi have left us. Murphy Dunne, Willie Hall, Tom “Bones” Malone, “Blue Lou” Marini and Dan Aykroyd are still with us.
Play it. Steve!
You left out Paul Schaefer. He wasn’t in the movie but he was on the records and in the band for the live performances. I think “Briefcase Full of Blues” is a very underrated album. I could listen to it every day.
He was, in fact, in the band’s original lineup. He was originally supposed to be in the movie, but dropped out of it to work with Gilda Radner on a Broadway show and concurrent film; this angered John Belushi, who (at least temporarily) kicked Shaffer out of the Blues Brothers Band, and replaced him with Murphy Dunne for the film.
Booker T & the MG’s were one of the greatest and most important bands in musical history. Without them, there’d be no Stax, and Southern Soul would be a much poorer genre. I had the pleasure to see them as Neil Young’s backing band on their short European open air tour in 1993 at the Schüttorf Festival. I’ll never forget the moment when Neil introduced a song with “Now we gonna play one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded. And this is the guy who wrote it!”, pointing at Steve Cropper, and then breaking into “The Dock Of The Bay”. RIP, Colonel.
I love that John Belushi and Sam & Dave say that same line, for the same player.
One of my favorite YouTube rabbit holes is clips from Stax’s 1967 Europe tour. All that massive talent (Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd, Arthur Conley, Carla Thomas, the M.G.'s, and The Mar-Keys) was brilliantly orchestrated by Cropper and Booker T Jones. Calling them “backing” musicians is one of the greatest misnomers in music history.
I long ago stopped being surprised when I’d hear some music, think, “That’s a tasty guitar part!”, and when I looked it up said, “Oh - Steve Cropper again!”
One of those guys who would be a joy to play with, and who made any song better. Not only for what he played, but also what NOT to play."
@Dinsdale has it right. History’s crime, in this case, is creating the idea that “backing” musicians are less important or less worthy of admiration than lead musicians. Cropper was not a shredder; his musical statement was not, “look at me! look at me!”. He played as much as necessary to make the song the best it could be and no more. He wanted the singer to stand out–not the guitar player.
Took the words right out of my mouth. I’ve always been scared to do kareoke, but I figure if I ever really had to, I could maybe do Soul Man without butchering it too much. If I ever do, I shall be sure to throw in “play it, Steve” at the appropriate moment.
“Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn!”