The scramble board - “with the name of an artist you should know” - seemed rigged for ease, so that contestants could get back to dancing. Viewers knew the dancers (the Omega with the purple feathers, the Asian woman with the hair that hung past her behind). To pose, show my rings and my fat gold chain In the 1987 hip-hop anthem “I Know You Got Soul,” Rakim laid it out: They watched together in their living rooms or on the pretend dance floors in their basements, where they tried out their best moves so that they, too, could feel like superstars. They tuned in so they could talk about “Soul Train” at school and work. To hear themselves through the collective grapevine, because the black world still seemed like an extended family. They tuned in to look in the collective mirror. Cool white performers such as David Bowie, Hall and Oates, and Elton John also made their way to the “Soul Train” stage.īut black people didn’t just tune in to see the stars. It was appointment television with superstars such as Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin, and groups not likely to be booked on “American Bandstand”: The Bar-Kays. “Soul Train” trumpeted itself as the “longest-running, first-run, nationally syndicated program in television history.” In a span that stretched from 1971 to 2006, it produced more than 1,000 syndicated episodes. “He would make sure everyone was comfortable. . . “I wasn’t satisfied with the performance, but he was,” Brown said. Local music great Chuck Brown remembers Cornelius as “smooth, cool, extremely intelligent.” He met him on a “Soul Train”-sponsored tour in the early ’70s but didn’t get to perform on the program until 1979, when his definitive hit “Bustin’ Loose” topped the charts. It was an opportunity to see people that you otherwise were not be able to see.” “ ‘Soul Train’ really attracted a lot of African Americans when there wasn’t much for African Americans in that regard. . . “Don Cornelius made a major impact on television and on so many people around the country,” said D.C. Even if the rest of America didn’t know Evelyn “Champagne” King, or wear their hair fried, dyed and laid to the side, or realize that there was a dance called the “Errol Flynn.”
It was fine if others tuned in, but all the fashion, all the jokes, all the references were black, even if that meant the rest of America didn’t get it. At the center stood Cornelius in all his preternatural cool.įor one hour once a week, black people were the cultural insiders.
#Last soul train shoe how to#
Then a sustained round of going back in the day.īefore BET or MTV, before cable television or the Internet, TV’s “Soul Train” taught a generation how to dance and let black America see itself having fun. “the hippest trip in America” - had died, apparently by his own hand, at first brought shock and disbelief. Books about Pop Culture Television ShowsThe news Wednesday morning that Don Cornelius, the iconic host and founder of “Soul Train” - a.k.a.You may notice at your local library branch we're doing a promotion on popular culture where we're highlighting these subjects and if you click on the links you'll see some great suggestions for books to read and dvds to watch: There is even sheet music you can borrow for those of you musically inclined. Soul surely has to be the foundation of Disco in style and sound. Copyright Toronto Star Archives.Īnd I will freely admit I learned to dance and dress watching Soul Train in the 70s. 1974 copyright Toronto Star Archives.įashionable Clothing from the Sears Catalogġ979 Disco sandals in glitzy copper: New styles from Davids. Another fashion hazard is platform shoes which reduces sensitivity of the foot on the pedals".
#Last soul train shoe driver#
"Big-Brimmed hat is hazardous for the driver because it blocks side vision. And, if you find this very retro and a bit hip, I urge you to try and dance in platform shoes and see what all the fun was about.Īnd in case those disco moves beckon you and are not natural (or remembered).Īnd who knew fashion could be so dangerous? So, if you grew up wishing you could dance, look and act like they did in Saturday Night Fever then this should be a Proustian madeleine moment. And that diversity is a great thing because we can sample each other's and create a very tasty melange of experience.
The platform and stiletto shoe, the gold and silver lamé (for men and women), the glittery glass disco ball, the polyester shirt, Soul Train, the Solid Gold Dancers all evoke that vibrant late 70s early 80s era. It's not too late though to add it into your dance and clothing repertoire. If disco wasn't part of your life growing up you missed something fantastic.
0 kommentar(er)
