Legendary broadcaster Don Cornelius passed away earlier this week. I’m not sure there’s a way to adequately measure the impact of Don Cornelius and his creation Soul Train on post-1960s culture. Soul Train currently reigns as the longest running “first-run” show, broadcast continuously from 1971 to 2006, 35 full years, documenting so much American cultural history during that time that it boggles the mind. Personally, I spent most of my youth watching Soul Train on Saturday mornings and afternoons, I’m pretty sure most of my sensibilities as a dancer came to me from watching the show, as was the case for millions of people watching the “Soul Train Gang” and later “The Soul Train Dancers” do their thing.
Growing up in the 1980s, I only really knew the 1980s version of Soul Train. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered the absolute treasure trove of material from the show in the early 1970s. My wife and I were visiting some of my family in Atlanta, up late at night (which wasn’t late at night for us, since we were still on west coast time) when flipping through the channels we happened upon a live performance from Al Green. The experience was shocking for me, both because the performance was so amazing and because I hadn’t had any idea just how good the early Soul Train was. When you look at the list of all the artists who made their way down to the show, many of them playing live, it’s just extraordinary, just so much dynamite soul.
What also was fascinating about the show was just the simple fact of representation, by which I mean, Soul train didn’t try to do too much, it just showed the artists and the people getting down as they were. The dancers were mostly just local kids with serious style. They weren’t professionals, though many of them became professionals. When artists came on, these regular black folks got to ask the kind of questions regular people would have loved to have asked their heroes. When you think about the kinds of images that American culture often used to represent Black culture, what Soul Train did to humanize and normalize blackness is nothing short of revolutionary. That’s why I’m thankful to have grown up when I did, to see the show when it ran, and that now so many of those classic episodes are much more readily available. Below are some of my favorite moments from what’s available online. Thank you Don Cornelius and all the Soul Train gang…may you rest in love, peace and soul!
Honorable Mention: Afro-Sheen Commercials
As Questlove makes note, the Soul Train gang produced these spots and as corny as they may seem, it’s pretty special considering how rare it would have been in 1972 to have had ANY representations of black people in advertising, and to have these commercials highlight blackness from our own perspective is again, nothing short of revolutionary.
5. Sly & the Family Stone – Dance To The Music / I Want To Take You Higher
Everybody knows how much I love Sly, and seeing him in this space, with what looks like his band from the Small Talk era (mentioned already as my favorite Sly Stone LP), cooking with some serious gas is like a dream come true. Amazing…
4. Stevie Wonder Serenades Soul Train:
Just about the most heart warming thing you’ll ever see from one of the most heart warming musicians of all-time.
3. Al Green with his arm in sling performing in 1974:
This is that performance I mentioned, that my wife and I saw late at night in Atlanta a number of years back. Transcendent to say the least…
2. James Brown on Soul Train:
This clip is a collection of the many times that James Brown performed on Soul Train. I especially love when during “Super Bad” a dancer jumps up on stage to get funky, surprising James so much that you can literally see it in his face.
1. Don Cornelius on the Soul Train Line:
Perhaps the only time that Don Cornelius got down on the Soul Train line, to James Brown no less and with Mary Wilson as a dance partner…absolutely priceless