Pop Culture Retrospective Podcast #52 - Soul Train : The Hippest Trip in America

If you were to ask any adult who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s like me and my sister did, what a Saturday morning was like during their childhood, they may offer up a multitude of answers.  They may have watched Saturday morning cartoons like Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Care Bears, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or He-Man.  Or maybe their soccer team played their games on Saturday mornings.  Perhaps they routinely visited family members on Saturday mornings.  In our household, however, late Saturday mornings meant the dreaded viewing of my Dad’s favorite show.  We knew we were in for an hour of torture when we heard this song come on, on our large tube tv which was built into a cabinet, I might add:

SOUL TRAIN THEME MUSIC HERE.

Soul Train was one of the longest running shows in television history, airing nationally from 1971-2006.  And for me and my sister, the hour long episodes that we were forced to watch as children felt like a lifetime.  At the time, neither one of us had any clue as to why Soul Train was so important.  We didn’t know how much it brought black culture into a positive light.  We didn’t know that the show was produced by a predominately black crew or that it was the first time that black culture was depicted on tv.  All we knew is that we would not be watching Shirt Tales like we had planned, instead we would be watching an hour of dancing, lip-syncing, and word scrambles.  Little did we know back then just how significant this show was and is.  

With that being said, on today’s show we will be taking a look back at Soul Train, the once local Chicago show, later nationally syndicated show which was viewed in many people’s living rooms all over the country on Saturday mornings, including mine.  You will learn how the show got it’s start, how it grew in popularity as well as the many ups and downs the show and it’s host experienced during its run. So, join me for the “Hippest Trip in America” here we go!

Hello and thank you so very much for tuning in to the Pop Culture Retrospective Podcast, a show inspired by, and in memory of, my big sister Rebecca and her love for all things pop-culture, especially the people, places and things of the 80s, 90s and early 00s.  My name is Amy Lewis and I am your captain aboard this pop-culture time machine and the Soul Train, I can just envision my sister rolling her eyes at that comment and the subject of this episode.  You are tuning in to episode #52 - Soul Train, one of the longest running television shows in entertainment history, falling just short of Wheel of Fortune’s record.  BANKRUPT NOISE HERE.  Gotta love that classic Bankrupt noise.  Anyways…

Before we get into the show, Soul Train, we must speak about the man behind the groundbreaking show.  Donald “Don” Cornelius was the brainchild behind Soul Train.  He was born on the south side of Chicago in 1936.  He was a Marine for some time and allegedly fought in the Korean war, but returned to Chicago and would go on to marry and have 2 sons.  He sold insurance for a while but was called to the world of broadcasting.  He took a short course on broadcasting and eventually landed a job as a back up DJ and later as a sports anchor on a tv program called “A Black’s View of the News”.  His deep baritone voice was perfect for broadcasting.  He would then go on to produce a show called “Soul Train” with 400 dollars of his own money. He wanted to have a radio show on television.  

He pitched the idea of having a show focusing on black music and thankfully it was greenlit.  According to one article I read the name Soul Train came from Cornelius traveling on the Chicago subway from place to place when he worked as a DJ, providing music for sock-hops.  Another article said it came from a road show Cornelius did for high school students.  However the name came to be, Soul Train’s tracks were laid and Cornelis was the conductor! 

Soul Train premiered on August 17, 1970 on local Chicago television WCIU-TV.  I didn’t realize this but the first season of Soul Train was in black and white, later years were all in color. At one time, Chicago was dubbed the “dance capital of the world” so it seemed fitting that a show would be based here.  Part of the reason why it was possible to get the show on the air was due to a sponsorship from Sears Roebuck and Co. which was based in Chicago. The show was an almost immediate success and was groundbreaking.  The show depicted black culture and fashion through music and dance.  Unfortunately, there weren’t many outlets for this at the time. Louie Ski Carr, a Soul Train dancer, once said: “I’m black and Mexican and grew up on the streets of Inglewood, and every Saturday morning, that was our chance to see our people, and to indulge in our own dances, styles, eras, and crazes.” In addition to showcasing black culture in a positive light, gay black culture was also represented on the show. Most of the shows followed a pretty similar format - a vast majority of the episode showcased people dancing, sort of resembling a night club scene but with better lighting, better dancing and no alcohol spilled on the floor.  There was also a segment where 2 dancers would try to unscramble letters on a magnetic board.  They were given 60 seconds to solve the puzzle.  Usually it spelled out the name of the musical performer who would perform 2 songs or a famous African American figure.  Then there was the classic Soul Train line where 2 lines would form parallel to each other and as you got to the end of the line one person from each side of the line would dance down the path created by the two lines of people, showcasing their best moves. In some instances, for the best dancers they went down by themselves. Each show ended with Cornelius saying:  “Love, Peace and Soul.”  The Soul Train line was based off of a dance craze from the 1950s called “The Stroll.”  AUDIO CLIP HERE.  That clip came from YouTube and one of the people who commented on the video said:  “By The looks on their faces, the strolling dancers looked like this was their last dance before being executed.”  I’ll post a link to that video in the show notes, and you can see for yourself.  There was certainly no life in the eyes of the stroll dancers, but Soul Train was definitely the exact opposite. The Soul Train line is where the infamous “Soul Train dancers” - some of the best of the best dancers, who were often hand selected on the streets and in high schools, got a chance to show their dancing prowess on Soul Train. The dancers were not well-known at the time, but some would go on to have successful careers.  Celebrities like Fred “Re-run” Berry, Carmen Electra and Rosie Perez all got their starts on Soul Train.   If you’ve ever been at a dance or wedding reception and everyone got into 2 lines facing each other and one by one people come down the line dancing, you can thank Soul Train for that.  

Rosie Perez once recalled a disagreement she had with Don Cornelius.  Cornelius was apparently very particular about the dancers and how they danced.  He apparently wanted her to dance a certain way down the Soul Train line, I believe he wanted her to do her infamous chest pumps.  She didn’t want to and as their argument escalated, she threw fried chicken at him from a bucket filled with chicken that was allegedly what the dancers were given for meals when they were filming the show.  

The chicken wing hit Cornelius in the forehead. I feel like I can just envision her throwing the chicken at him and it brings a smile to my face everytime.  They also apparently got into an argument about a women’s singing group that Cornelius was putting together and he wanted Perez to be a part of it, but she wasn’t interested.  She and Cornelis’s relationship fell apart and she didn’t appear again on the show. And another random Rosie Perez story, I’m not quite sure which movie she said this in, but my sister and I often said “All she’s got left is the damn dog” in our best Perez voice, all of the time for no reason.  

Anyways, back to Soul Train. 

Since the show was such a huge success in the Chicago-based television market, it moved to LA so that it could be broadcast nationally, the first episode was aired on October 2, 1971 just one day after WDW opened..  Local parks and high schools were where many dancers were found - they were paid with exposure and probably fried chicken.  Part of the reason why the show was able to go national was because of a sponsorship by Johnson’s Product company which produced Afro-Sheen. Soul Train would become well-known for not only depicting black culture on the show, but also for commercials targeting black audiences.  I’ll never forget the advertisement for a butcher in the Chicagoland area called Moo and Oink.  

“Moo and Oink” was yet another phrase uttered by me and my sister for no reason.  As well as the jingle from this fur coat store:  AUDIO CLIP HERE. God forbid someone said the word “feel” or “warmth” which would then lead to me and my sister reciting the jingle.  We also liked to harmonize the song together while chatting on the phone.  I don’t eat meat or dairy products, and I think furs are just disgusting, but if I ever decided I wanted to spend 7,000 on a fur coat, you know where I’ll be going! It will be really hard for me to decide if I want a luxurious coat made out of fox, mink, chinchilla or racoon.  Gross.  

Musical artists who were on the show typically performed twice, some artists would lipsync (which has always driven me nuts but sometimes I understand why that is necessary) and some would perform live.  One memorable performance happened in 1973 when the Jackson 5 appeared on the show.  Michael Jackson debuted his “robot dance” which is still pretty incredible if you haven’t had the chance to see a young MJ busting out some impressive moves. 

Other well-known musicians and artists who performed on the show during the 1970s included:  the Ohio Players, Kool and the Gang, The Temptations, Aretha Franklin and the Supremes.  

When Soul Train became more and more popular, Dick Clark who you likely remember from American Bandstand, tried to profit off of black culture. Soul Train was starting to take over in popularity from American Bandstand.  Clark produced a show called “Soul Unlimited” which premiered in 1973.  It was essentially a rip off of Soul Train, but was really created for the wrong reason. Cornelius and famous civil rights figures like Jessie Jackson were furious about the show. After all, American Bandstand was a well-known show, however it was very much focused on white musicians. After receiving some pressure and criticism, the show went off the air after only 1 year.  

Later, in the 1980s hip-hop started to emerge on the music scene.  Cornelius was initially not a fan of the genre of music, but he eventually came around which may have had to do with ratings starting to fall a bit.  Rapper’s Delight was one of the most popular hip hop songs of the time (and of all time, really).  Kurtis Blow from the group Sugar Hill Gang who performed the song, was the first hip-hop artist to appear on Soul Train.  Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC, LL Cool J and a host of other hip-hop stars appeared on the show, which indicated a bit of a transition for Soul Train.  For many musicians, an appearance on Soul Train was their first national exposure. 

Some other notable performers on Soul Train in the 1980s included “Chic” performing their hit song “Good Times” which, if you remember, has a memorable line in the song that goes:  “Don't be a drag; participate.  Clams on the half shell, and roller skates, roller skates.”  Rick James, The O’Jays, Al Green, Hall & Oates, Cheryl Lynn, A-Ha who performed their hit “Take on Me” and the Pointer Sisters, whose music is often blasting in my house and in my car.  

In 1987, the first Soul Train Awards Show took place. The first hosts ever were Dione Warwick and Luther Vandross.  In later years, Brandy, LL Cool J, Heavy D and Shemar Moore hosted. The awards show is still broadcast annually.  Do you know who has won the most Soul Train Music Awards?  Beyonce is at the top with 16, followed by my favorite artist of all time, Janet Jackson aka Janet aka Ms. Jackson aka Ms. Janet if you’re nasty, with 13.  

In the early 1990s, Cornellus took a step back from his hosting duties, but still remained involved with the show he had worked so hard to bring to television. Many different celebrities filled in to host the show including comedians like Mystro Clark and later with actors like Shemar Moore and Dorian Gregory. 

Some notable performances during the 1990s came from musicians such as:  Bell Biv Devoe who performed Poison, Prince who performed a song from the soundtrack to one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, Graffiti Bridge, Boyz II Men, TLC and Mary J. Blidge.  

As the 2000s approached, the popularity of Soul Train was starting to take a bit of a nose dive.  Ratings were going down and television stations started dropping the show from their lineups.  On March 25, 2006 the final episode of the show aired.  Like I mentioned earlier, the show was one of the longest running shows in television history, with over 1000 episodes being produced.  Thankfully though, black culture is still celebrated through the Soul Train Music Awards.

Following the end of the show, the last few years of Don Cornelius’s life took a pretty sad turn. He had been dealing with seizures for the last few years of his life, and he had been hit with some domestic violence charges and restraining orders with his ex wife.  He was also accused of some alleged abuse from Playboy bunnies as he was a VIP member of the Playboy Mansion.  And in 2012, at the age of 75, Don Cornelius took his life.  Friends and family said they had seen Cornelius just a day or two beforehand and he seemed just fine.  Perhaps his health issues or run-ins with the law lead to his passing, but we will never truly know.  All of the sad parts aside, flash mobs broke out all over the US in honor of Cornelius. Clad in 70s clothing, dancers recreated what Soul Train had brought to the public - a celebration of music, fashions and culture among black communities.  

And that’s what we should really focus on whenever we think of Soul Train.  The good that it brought to all of those who had the chance to watch it.

I hope you have enjoyed this look back over the Soul Train, the groundbreaking show that graced our television screens for 25 years.  Although Soul Train has been off the air for quite some time now, it still has a loyal fan base, including my dad.  Apparently at one point you could go on a Soul Train themed cruise.  There are multiple DVD compilations like the Best of Soul Train.  You can also read up on the classic TV show with books like “The Hippest Trip in America: Soul Train and the Evolution of Culture & Style” by Nelson George or “Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation” written by Questlove who is the drummer for the band the Roots.  

I wanted to take a moment to thank both of my parents for exposing me and my sister to music performed by black artists.  Although I rolled my eyes whenever my Dad put on Soul Train which was because I was not a fan of anything my parents watched for the most part, I think the bigger message that I was too naive to pick up on at the time, is that music brings people together.  Culture and fashion and dancing and music should be cause for celebration, not segregation.  I can thank my parents for me and my sister loving artists like Tracy Chapman, the O’Jays, Tina Turner, Janet Jackson, Kool Mo Dee, the list goes on and on.  This has led to a life-long love and passion for some of the greatest music ever created for genres like Disco and Hip-Hop.  And as much as me and likely my sister would hate to admit it, a lot of that probably had to do with Soul Train.   

I hope you will join me for my next show where we will be discussing some of the most famous bears of the 1980s - Teddy Ruxpin, the Care Bears, The Gummi Bears, the long-forgotten Furskins and perhaps some others.  Until then, BK, BS and HOTYM.