Gladiators, get your groove on: 'Scandal' soundtrack drops Sept. 3

Stax Records has partnered with ABC Studios to release “Songs from Scandal: Music for Gladiators” Sept. 3.

The 12-track collection includes some of the iconic ’70s music heard in the first two seasons of Shonda Rhimes’ (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Private Practice”) sexy political drama “Scandal,” starring Kerry Washington as fixer extraordinaire Olivia Pope.

Rhimes, who was born in Chicago and grew up in south suburban University Park, contributed to the album’s liner notes: “During those four days [of writing the ‘Scandal’ pilot], the soundtrack of my writing was the funky, delicious music of the 1970s,” she writes.

The set features tracks from Booker T and the MG’s (“Green Onions”), Sly & The Family Stone (“Everyday People”), The Staple Singers (“Respect Yourself” – RAC Remix), Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell (“You’re All I Need to Get By”) and KC and The Sunshine Band (“Get Down Tonight”), among others. It costs $9.99 on Amazon and can be pre-ordered at http://smarturl.it/scandal_amzn.

“It’s the music that came after they killed Jack and Bobby and Martin and Malcolm,” says Rhimes in the liner notes. “It’s the music after Nixon disappointed a nation, it’s the music of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement.”

“Songs from Scandal: Music for Gladiators” track list:

1. War – Edwin Starr

2. Green Onions – Booker T. & The MG’s

3. Everyday People – Sly & The Family Stone

4. I Can See Clearly Now – Johnny Nash

5. Tell Me Something Good – Rufus and Chaka Khan

6. Get Down Tonight – KC and The Sunshine Band

7. I Believe in You (You Believe in Me) – Johnnie Taylor

8. Respect Yourself (RAC Remix) – The Staple Singers

9. Crazy – Bettye LaVette

10. You’re All I Need to Get By – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

11. I Think It’s Going to Rain Today – Nina Simone

12. The Light – The Album Leaf

The third season of “Scandal” bows Oct. 3 on ABC.