For the purposes of this book, one does not proceed without the other.
#Last soul train show plus
Moving into the ‘90s, the show functioned as “a utopian clubhouse for every ethnic group with a common love of rhythmic expression.” It featured performances from Babyface and Teddy Riley, two of the more successful figures in R&B’s last 20 years, plus more and more rappers, and future pop stars: Usher, Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey.Ĭornelius stepped down from his role as guide on the “hippest trip in America” in 1993, and though the show kept going, history finds Soul Train and Don C. Scantily clad female dancers got more air time.
Cornelius brought in all kinds of synth-driven pop-the Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, a-ha, and a number of white American acts with varying degrees of R&B influence: Hall & Oates, the Doobie Brothers, the Eagles’ Don Henley. These two trends excited the heck out of Questlove…though Cornelius generally found them baffling, if not off-putting (aside from the members of the Jackson family, whom he adored).ĭuring these years, Soul Train also transformed from a show primarily focused on black music and a black audience to something broader. It also happens to be when hip-hop began its own rise to the top. (Sadly, Cornelius killed himself in 2012 we’ll never know his favorite seasons.) This period coincided with ‘80s pop domination by Prince-or his affiliates the Time, Jesse Johnson, Sheila E, and Vanity 6-and the Jacksons, Michael plus Janet. For Questlove, the show really hit its stride post-disco, from 1984 to 1988. The show changed alongside them.ĭisco arrived on Soul Train at the end of the ‘70s, and neither Don C. Music, culture, technology, fashion and dance moves changed greatly between Soul Train’s syndicated debut in 1971 and its final episode in 2006. It also provided “some of the first opportunities to buy television advertising and create ads targeting the African American audience.” Soul Train represented “he first time that many people had ever seen Black Americans at the center of an entertainment television show,” writes Questlove. 2, 1971, and eventually moved from Chicago to star central: Los Angeles.Ĭasual dabblers in Soul Train likely know it best from the show’s first decade, when it brought on most of the big names in soul and funk-Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, James Brown, the Jackson 5-and explicitly endorsed products for African Americans during advertisement segments. “Fourteen months after the first local airing,” Soul Train aired nationally Oct. What started “small,” “no frills,” and “black and white,” soon developed into a five-day-a-week live show syndicated in eight large cities.
#Last soul train show tv
It “felt like a train” said Cornelius, and just like all trains, it cost too much.Ĭornelius adapted, creating a TV show instead, with dancing teenagers. On the side, he put together concerts that brought local musical groups into one high school, then on to another school, then to a next, in a series. Presumably, that deficiency will be remedied when the Soul Train Deluxe edition comes out some decades from now.ĭon Cornelius, visionary host, originally worked as a back-up radio DJ and news-reader in Chicago. The only thing this book lacks? A pair of speakers-or better yet, speakers connected to a video screen. For parents out there: Questlove says Soul Train was the only show his parents allowed him to watch as a child “except Sesame Street.” Look how well he’s doing for himself. So now we have such a book, with prose handled by The Roots’ drummer Questlove, a well-known soul aficionado…and Soul Train devotee. What could be better suited to a large, shiny, coffee-table book than Soul Train?Įverything about the old TV show feels tailor-made for the coffee-table format: gleaming grooves, stunning dance moves, amazing outfits, beautiful-or, at the very least, sweaty-stars.
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