When I was a teenager back in the 1970's,I can remember getting up early on Saturday mornings to catch uop on my non-stop grind of cartoons,and then around the 12noon hour,I would run to the kitchen to get a snack or whatever I had to do,and then all of a sudden there was this show that define not only a generation,but a generation of African-American symbolism that remains to this day. Soul Train was that show. I can remember Sid McCoy saying these words................
Soul Train! The Hippest trip in America!
And then the host Don Cornelius came on,and back then did it deliver the goods and then some. Back in the early 1970's,Soul Train had some of the biggest R&B acts ever to grace the TV screen and sometimes made you get up and dance if you wanted to. Stars that were on there(and in my opinion the best years of that show from the 70's)like The Staple Singers,Al Green,Marvin Gaye,Barry White and Love Unlimited,The Ohio Players,The O'Jays,Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass,The Manhattans,and so many more. and have some that were just starting out as well,but became top successes too like Rufus featuring Chaka Khan,LTD that featured a youthful Jeffrey Osbourne made it happen! In the 1980's they had some of the best acts on there as well like Midnight Starr,and Shalamar as well as the young rappers like LL Cool J,and Kurtis Blow.
The show also established other acts as well like Elton John,David Bowie,and Billy Joel to name a few as well as comedians like the great Richard Pryor and blues legends B.B. King and Bobby "Blue" Bland.
They had the classic scrambled board as well as the Soul Train line that have everybody getting up and doing there thing,including some of the wildest dances ever devised(they were done by skillful male and female dancers that knew what they were doing and then some)! Who can remember the commercial they used to sponsor................
"All nubian queens,use Ultra Sheen"................................
Then,what happened in the 1990's? After the end of the 1980's,the show went into a declined that featured cladless women and to me it wasn't the same anymore. The reason? The show was replaced by another host after Don Cornelius stepped down and now serves as executive producer on the show. Who the heck got Mystro Clarke? Clarke really sucked. Then in 2000, Clarke was replaced by actor Shamar Moore(aka of TV's The Young and the Restless)and the show changed dramatically. But still brings out some of the best soul/R&B/rap acts out there and it shows. Even after 30 years in syndication(which started out as Chicago teen show back in the late 1960's),the Soul Train rides on. Get on Board.
I remember growing up remembering the words that Don Cornelius said......
"I wish you love, peace and soul."
NOTE: Soul Train has outlasted them all,including Dick Clark's American Bandstand,Dario Terry's Dance Fever,and even the country variety show Hee Haw with Buck Owens and Roy Clark,and dethroned some area local teen shows that tried to follow the Soul Train formula(one of which that came on in the Raleigh/Durham area back in the 1970's was a college supported show called "Teenage Frolics" that was on WRAL-TV that featured college kids and teens getting down right on the WRAL studio lot with J.D. Lewis as the host and also a teen show called "Party" that was on the same station but you know who was the host of that,and it was syndicated? The Godfather himself..............James Brown.). Kudos to Don Cornelius for keeping it real and keeping it with soul.
