Maybe the quintessential gospel-derived sound of Stax Records, even though they were overshadowed for many years by the likes of Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, et al.

Sam Moore and Dave Prater, who had been moderately successful (at best) on Chess' Roulette Records in the early 60s, really thrived after they signed with Atlantic Records (whose Jerry Wexler "discovered" them in S&D's hometown of Miami), who, as they did with many of their Memphis-recorded artists, released the recordings under the indie-R&B Stax/Volt label. Their big hits, written and produced by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter (with Booker T. and the MG's as a backing band), include classix like "Hold On, I'm Comin'" (1966), "Soul Man" (1967), and "I Thank You" (1968).

Towards the end of the decade, Stax and Atlantic went their separate ways, but the duo kept recording at Stax, though later Atlantic released the records under their own imprint, and sent them to New York to record. With Hayes gone, having launched a solo career, their era was over anyway, and each embarked on his own solo gig.

The pair reunited on occasion, but even the mini-S&D revival brought about by The Blues Brothers' fame failed to keep them together; there were combos, over the years, involving Dave and a Fake Sam (quote from Dave: "I change Sams like I change underwear"), which strained the already-frosty relationship, seeing as the Real Sam had bought the rights to the "Sam and Dave" name towards the end of their brief heyday. There was also, in later years, a one-off duo of Sam and Lou Reed, for a pointless (feh) oil and water recording of "Soul Man", a couple of years before Prater's 1988 death in an auto accident.

The Good Stuff, captured on tape and vinyl in the 60s, lives on, and on the strength of it, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

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