Can you guys tell me about Soul Train?

My Dad worked 3rd shift, so he'd get home late from the factory, and my brother and I would get up to hang out with Dad while he had his dinner and drank beer, and watched Soul Train, Tomorrow, and The Midnight Special. The music was always the most current (not what my Mom played on AM radio in the car) and we just watched the dance moves in admiration. I still chill out watching clips on YouTube from Soul Train.

What a lovely memory, R1! I can see how nostalgic that must be to still watch the clips now.

All that goofy shit was glorious. Even if some of it was kinda disco.

Yeah, the lines between genre can be pretty blurry, I find. I generally think of myself as someone who really enjoys funk, but am less keen on disco (I'm talking in their original 70s senses, rather than nu-disco or whatever it's called), but really, they do bleed into each other in parts.

[quote]All that goofy shit was glorious.

Just the fact everyone looks like they're having fun. Yes, they're peacocking, as humans do, but it's not just about posing at the expense of enjoying yourself.

70s Soul Train was better than 80s Soul Train and wayyyy better than 00s Soul Train. Fun Fact: Don Cornelius HATED hip hop.

[quote]Fun Fact: Don Cornelius HATED hip hop.

Oh, that is interesting! (I'm assuming I'm right that he was the producer?). In the Rosie Perez clip she mentions him and saying he didn't like the overly sexual moves she did either.

I didn't realise there was a 00s Soul Train!

Because it's not music, with rare exceptions.

Classic Disco (sorry the quality is rather fuzzy).

R6, producer, host and creator. I"m not surprised he didn't like Rosie's moves, her moves are wild lol.

They delight me so much, R9. I think I read her talking about having a bad back once, and having seen that video, I'm like: "Well, we could see that coming!"

Thanks for the clip, R8! So am I right that disco is disco due to the beat? "Four on the floor"? I always think: "If it has strings in it, it's disco", which isn't very intelligent of me, I know.

Apparently this song is the originator of that disco style drumming, for those interested:

Miss Jody Watley got her start as a Soul Train dancer. For some of the dancers it was probably near effortless on their part. Though I've no doubt some practiced their dance moves a lot to make it look effortless. And yes seems there are some gay boys in the mix.

R10, I only know that Disco was active from the mid 70s through the early 80s. I always thought Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder defined the style, but it was already in effect when 'I Feel Love' came around. I tend to follow Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards as the parents of Disco. There's a Youtuber who claims that Disco has its origins in 'Bubble Gum Pop', and I can see that.

Interesting, R13! It's one of those things I should read up on because I know little about it, and my preconceptions are probably wrong. The Giorgio Moroder/I Feel Love stuff I almost think of myself as being early HiNRG, rather than disco, but born out of disco, if you get me? But who knows - as I mentioned above, the genres don't really seem to have as defined boundaries as we think.

I have a vague recollection of reading about the origins of disco coming from underground parties in the late 60s/early 70s - parties that were both gay and black. I've tried to find out more about what music that would've been, but haven't had any luck so far.

Jody Watley Soul Train dancer

I loved Soul Train in the 70's. It came on right after American Bandstand. I watched and so did Dad but for different reasons.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time, it was fun to see the excellent dancers along with the goofy dancers, on both shows. Soul Train had much better music.

Growing up in the 90s, I'll be honest that a lot of 70s stuff was viewed as a bit dated/cheesy (being so close in time I guess), but I'm so glad enough time has passed that it's no longer viewed that way, because my god could we use a bit of "everyone having a good time"-ness in our entertainment these days. I am loving watching these videos!

[quote]Though I've no doubt some practiced their dance moves a lot to make it look effortless.

I mean, don't you think the results speak for themselves?

I know it came on right after Grizzly Adams and Little house on Sundays in the '80s. I turned the channel after the animated intro.

Loved the opening The sooooooooul traaaaaain!

Hey there Dark n Lovely.

How did you get to be a dancer on it? Buy a ticket or were you chosen through audition, or..?

.....

Don Cornerlius abducted two Playboy Bunnies, torturing and anally raping them with a wooden crucifix over the course of a weekend. He shot and killed himself decades later.

In my city in the 70's, it was on Saturdays at about noon. It was on right after American Bandstand, so you got two similar, yet very different shows, one after the other.

For a non-black kid living in a mostly white suburb, it gave a window into a completely different culture that existed right under my nose.

Even the commercials were different. They'd have McDonald's commercials where everybody was black. It was a kind of fucked-up segregation in a way. But I think that's where the nickname "Micky D's" came from...the all-black McDonald's commercials that aired during all-black shows like "Soul Train".

And of course, every week the show was "brought to you by Afro Sheen, Ultra Sheen, and Ultra Sheen Cosmetics!" Again, stuff I would have known nothing about were it not for "Soul Train".

There was some overlap in the music with what I heard on the radio, but there were also R&B hits that never crossed over to pop, so that was great. Got to know and love lots of songs I wouldn't have ever heard otherwise.

Watching "Soul Train" also helped me when I got to junior high, and suddenly there were all these black kids who got bused in. That music and sports gave me stuff I could talk to them about, and a few of them thought I was pretty cool because I knew a bit about their culture.

Fantastic memories, R24! Thanks for sharing that, was really interesting to read.

I remember as a kid trying to stay up on Saturdays to watch midnight movies, (especially if was Hercules movie!) but almost always falling asleep during the 11:00 airing of Soul Train.

American Bandstand was more my speed.

Was the difference between American Bandstand and Soul Train based on the type of music they played?

AB was American pop music and ST was soul and disco.

The first time I heard of and saw Teena Marie was on Soul Train when she performed with Rick James. I think they did I’m just a Sucker for Your Love. It was must-see television in my house back in the 70’s.

When I was growing up, it would come on after American Bandstand on our local TV station. I still remember the commercials for Afro Sheen, Ultra Sheen, and Ultra Sheen cosmetics.

As a young gayling, I liked watching Soul Train for all the hot black guys in tight pants showing off their bulges and big, round booties.

2022 BT & 2022 AT (Before Thread & After thread)

I'm late to this. Many knew this before me, but, suddenly, by this thread, I know that the 70s was the last great decade of interesting fashion.

+1 with r16 and r24.

Does anyone remember one Soul Train episode where they had a couple of white hippies in the crowd who just sat around an undulated? It was bizarre. I was watching with my mom and sister and we couldn’t stop laughing. And we’re white!

Donna

R34, I know, just watching these clips there are some good looking guys dancing!

“Feel the Need” (1972) by the Detroit Emeralds was also an early example of disco. It became a big hit in Europe in 1977.

Me and Mavis Perkins secretly would watch this to learn dance moves so that we could compete in the senior center spring fling contest so that we could win top prize! The kitchen and housekeeping staff were the judges and they were mostly colored and we always won! Mavis had problems doing the bump due to her hip replacement but we are still able to pull it off with her using her walker.

Our midwestern TV market was too small and too white to carry Soul Train, so I was super happy when cable came to town and I got to see it over WGN from Chicago. I was a nerdy white kid but I always had a thing for soul and R&B. A couple of the black girls at school were always surprised by the singles I brought to “record day” in music class.

Did Mavis bump with a big, fat woman?

I grew up watching the '90s-'00s era of Soul Train. It's funny how the post-Don seasons only focus on the female podium dancers. Also, during the Soul Train Line, the women get 20 seconds of screen time, while the men are lucky to get five seconds.

For a while, I thought Soul Train was the only show of its kind. I didn't learn about American Bandstand, Club MTV, and The Grind until years later. It's too bad because Club MTV and The Grind had the same energy as Soul Train, in my opinion.

I wonder if Don Cornelius and Bill Cosby ever hung out?

R23, WTF!? I had no idea about that.

Dancin’ on Air was the 80s Philly dance show that ran every afternoon on channel 17. Biggest hair you’ll ever see and it was integrated just like in Hairspray.

Well, it went nation as Dance Party USA but it was always Dancin’ on Air to me. Sad that this kind of thing doesn’t exist anymore.

Don Corneilius did dance the Soul Train line once, Mary Wilson of the Supremes got him to do it. And yes, the whole thing is very joyous.

R24 You described it perfectly. Watching the very white American Bandstand, then watching Soul Train right afterward was like being transported into a whole other world I knew nothing about, but was fascinated by.

It's also the first time I understood the concept of target marketing, what with all the advertising of products aimed strictly at black audiences.

There really were the best time..the good old days as they say

There's a series on BET about Don Cornelius & the early days of Soul Train, called "American Soul". It's pretty good, worth checking out if you love Soul Train. Sinqua Walls, who plays Cornelius, is great. It's returning for a third season in July.

White appeasement crap. It lacked the gold chains, tattoos, gang colors, violent lyrics, and liberal use of the word "niggah" that true black people enjoy.

Jada, don't you have some blonde wigs to try on?

As it turns out, the host was a disgusting human being.

Thanks, R49, I will definitely check that out!