Conceived as a black Woodstock in '72, an act of healing seven years after LA's Watts district had been all but burned down in race riots to the chanting of "burn, baby, burn", Wattstax was also, in truth, a masterful idea for a showcase of all the Stax acts of the time. Still, hell of a concert—112,000 people watched seven hours of Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, The Bar-Kays, Rufus Thomas etc, and a legend was born.
There'll be more than enough excruciating hype winging your way for this, but we'll just focus on the positive. Whatever your feelings on Tarantino's films, their use of music is usually inspired. Kill Bill has Nancy Sinatra singing the old Cher hit "Bang Bang", blasts of Bernard Herrmann and Quincy Jones, Isaac Hayes' "Run Fay Run", much new material from Wu-Tang's RZA, and tantalising, foul-mouthed dialogue excerpts from the likes of Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu.
Blaxploitation movies were suddenly so hot in 1972 that it was deemed a smart idea to bash out—as the title may have tipped you off—a black vampire chiller. It wasn't. It was horrible, in unintended ways. But Gene Page came up with a very appetising soundtrack, which you could happily stick on between Isaac Hayes' Shaft and Marvin Gaye's Trouble Man without anyone noticing too drastic a drop in class.
