Soul Train

Soul Train
Created by	Don Cornelius
Starring	Don Cornelius (1971–1993) various guest hosts (1993–1997) Mystro Clark (1997–1999) Shemar Moore (1999–2003) Dorian Gregory (2003–2006)
Narrated by	Sid McCoy
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	1,117 (as of season 35)
Production
Producer	Don Cornelius
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	First-run syndication
Release	October 2, 1971-March 25, 2006

Soul Train was a syndicated, music-related television program. In its 35-year history, the show primarily featured performances by rhythm and blues, soul, and hip hop artists, although jazz musicians and gospel singers have also appeared.

The program was created by Don Cornelius, who also served as its first host and executive producer, and aired from 1971 to 2006, with reruns continuing until 2008.

History

The origins of Soul Train can be traced to 1965, when WCIU-TV, an upstart UHF station in Chicago, begain airing two youth-oriented dance programs: Kiddie-a-Go-Go and Red Hot and Blues. These two programs -- specifically the latter, which featured a predominantly African American group of in-studio dancers -- would set the stage for what was to come to the station several years later.

Don Cornelius, a news reader and backup disc jockey at Chicago radio station WVON, was hired by WCIU in 1967 as a news and sports reporter. Cornelius also was emceeing "record hops" at Chicago high schools, calling his travelling caravan of shows featuring local talent "The Soul Train". WCIU-TV took notice of Cornelius's outside work, and in 1970 allowed him the opportunity to bring his road show to television.

After locking up a sponsorship deal with the Chicago-based retailer Sears, Roebuck and Co., Soul Train premiered on WCIU-TV on August 17, 1970 as a live show airing weekday afternoons. The first episode of the program featured Jerry Butler, the Chi-Lites, and the Emotions as guests. Its immediate success attracted the attention of another locally-based firm -- the Johnson Products Company (manufacturers of the Afro Sheen line of hair-care products) -- and they later agreed to co-sponsor the program's expansion into syndication. Soul Train began airing in selected cities across the United States, on a weekly basis, on October 2, 1971. When it moved into syndication, the program's home base was also shifted to Los Angeles, where it remained for the duration of its run. Syndication of the program was initially handled by Syndicast Services until 1985, when Tribune Entertainment took over those responsibilities.

Though Don Cornelius moved his operations west, Soul Train continued in Chicago. Cornelius hosted the local Chicago and Los Angeles-based national programs simultaneously, but soon focused his attention solely on the national edition. He continued to oversee production in Chicago, where WCIU-TV aired episodes until 1976, followed by three years of once-weekly reruns.

Cornelius ended his run as host in 1993, and guest hosts were used from that time until 1997, when comedian Mystro Clark began a two-year stint as host. Clark was replaced by actor Shemar Moore in 1999. In 2003, Moore was succeeded by actor Dorian Gregory, who hosted through 2006.

The show was known for its animated opening titles and sequences between musical performances featuring the popular cartoon train created, written and produced by various unknown cartoon studios.

As a nod to Soul Train's longevity, the show's opening sequence (during later seasons) contained a claim that it was the "longest-running, first-run, nationally-syndicated program in television history," with over 1,100 episodes produced from the show's debut through the 2005-06 season.

Production of first-run episodes was suspended at the conclusion of the 2005-06 season, the show's thirty-fifth. For two seasons starting in 2006-07, the program aired archived episodes under the title, "The Best of Soul Train". The future of Soul Train was uncertain with the announced closing of Tribune Entertainment's syndication division on December 18, 2007, which left Don Cornelius Productions to seek a new distributor for the program. Cornelius soon secured a deal with Trifecta Entertainment & Media.

In May 2008, the rights to the Soul Train library were purchased by MadVision Entertainment, whose principal partners come from the entertainment and publishing fields. The price and terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, by the start of the 2008-09 television season, the Tribune-owned stations (including national carrier WGN America) that had been the linchpin of the show's syndication efforts dropped the program, and many others followed suit. The move coincided with Trifecta Entertainment and Media's transfer of its only other major syndication effort, American Idol Rewind, to network television, indicating it may have exited the syndication business as well. Soul Train's website acknowledged that the program had ceased distribution on September 22, 2008.

Despite this, in years on air, Soul Train will continue to hold the honor of the longest, continuously-running first-run syndicated program until at least 2016, if and when its nearest competitor, Entertainment Tonight, completes its 35th season. (If ET does not complete a 35th season, Wheel of Fortune would pass in 2017 if it continues to air.)

Influence

During the heyday of Soul Train in the 1970s and 1980s, the program was widely influential among younger black Americans, many of whom turned to it not only to hear the latest songs by well-known black artists but also for clues about the latest fashions and dance trends. Moreover, for many white Americans in that era who were not living in areas that were racially diverse, Soul Train provided a unique window into black culture. Some commentators have called Soul Train a "black American Bandstand", another long-running program with which Soul Train shares some similarities. (Cornelius, however, tended to bristle at the Bandstand comparison.)

Program elements

Within the structure of the program, there were two enduring elements. The first was the "Soul Train Scramble Board", where two dancers are given sixty seconds to unscramble a set of letters which form the name of that show's performer or a notable person in African American history. In describing the person's renown, the host concluded their description with the phrase "...whose name you should know".

Near the program's conclusion, there was also the popular "Soul Train Line", in which all the dancers form two lines with a space in the middle for individual dancers to strut down and dance in consecutively. Sometimes, new dance styles or moves are featured or introduced by particular dancers.

In addition, there was an in-studio group of dancers who danced along to the music as it was being performed. Rosie Perez, Carmen Electra, Nick Cannon, MC Hammer, Jermaine Stewart, Fred "Rerun" Berry, Pebbles, and NFL legend Walter Payton were among those who got noticed dancing on the program over the years. Two former dancers, Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniel, enjoyed years of success as members of the disco group Shalamar after they (along with singer Howard Hewett) were tabbed by Soul Train talent booker/record promoter Dick Griffey to replace the group's original session singers in 1977.

Performers who appeared on Soul Train generally lip-synched their songs to its recorded version, though several chose to sing their songs live. Each guest usually performed twice on each program; after their first number, they were joined by the program host on-stage for a brief interview.

The show was also known for two popular catchphrases: Referring to itself as the "hippest trip in America" at the beginning of the show; and for closing the program with, "...We wish you love, peace... and SOUL!"

Spin-offs

In 1987, Soul Train launched the Soul Train Music Awards, which honors the top performances in R&B, hip-hop, and gospel music (and, in its earlier years, jazz music) from the previous year. Soul Train later created two additional annual specials: The Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards, first airing in 1995, celebrated top achievements by female performers; and the Soul Train Christmas Starfest, which premiered in 1998, featured holiday music performed by a variety of R&B and gospel artists. The Lady of Soul Awards and Christmas Starfest programs last aired in 2006.

The Soul Train Music Awards were most recently held on March 10, 2007. In April 2008, Don Cornelius announced that year's ceremony had been cancelled. Cornelius cited the three-month-long strike by the Writers Guild of America as one of the reasons, though a main factor may have been the uncertainty surrounding Soul Train's future. Cornelius also announced that a motion picture based on the program is currently in development and could be released theatrically in 2009. Despite the television series' cancellation, it appears these plans will continue to move forward.

Theme music

Soul Train used various original and current music for theme songs during its run, including:

• 1971-1973: "Hot Potatoes", by King Curtis, and later redone by the Rimshots.

• 1973-1975: "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)", by Philadelphia soul studio group MFSB with vocals by the Three Degrees. Released as a single, this song became a pop and R&B radio hit in 1973.

• 1975-1976: "Soul Train '75", by the Soul Train Gang, which was later released as a single for the newly formed Soul Train Records.

• 1976-1978: "Soul Train '76 (Get on Board)", by the Soul Train Gang.

• 1978-1980: "Soul Train Theme '78", produced by the Hollywood Disco Jazz Band with vocals by the Waters.

• 1980-1983: "Up on Soul Train", first by the Waters and later by the Whispers, whose version appears in their 1980 album Imagination. .

• 1983-1987: "Soul Train's a Comin'", by R&B artist O'Bryan.

• 1987-1989: "TSOP '87", a remake of the original "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" composed and produced by George Duke.

• 1989-1993: "TSOP '89", a remixed version of "TSOP '87", also by George Duke.

• 1993-2000: "Soul Train '93" (Know You Like to Dance)", by the hip-hop group Naughty by Nature with a saxophone solo by Everette Harp.

• 2000-2006: "TSOP 2000", with rap vocals by hip hop artist Samson and music by Dr. Freeze, and again featuring an Everett Harp saxophone solo. has been used. However, at the beginning of the second half of the program, "Know You Like to Dance" was still used.

References in popular culture

• The sketch comedy show, In Living Color parodied Soul Train in 1990 with a sketch called Old Train. Keenen Ivory Wayans portrayed Don Cornelius as a very elderly and forgetful host of a show that featured dancing elderly people. Participants in the "dance line" included a nurse pushing an old person in a wheelchair, and a casket being carried by pallbearers. Playing on elderly senility, the "Soul Train Scramble Board" had the contestants unscramble the words "Mr. DE".
• The improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? once featured a game in which one of the actors pretended he was the host of Soul Train, repeatedly morphing into a "goofy white guy" and back again.
• The video game Streets of SimCity has a parody called Soul Transit featured briefly in the intro.
• The Simpsons featured a parody of the show entitled Soul Mass Transit System.
• A sequence in the movie Charlie's Angels featured actress Cameron Diaz dancing on Soul Train.
• Don Cornelius played himself in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, where the main characters appear on Soul Train. Cornelius also made a cameo appearance in the 1998 comedy Jane Austen's Mafia!. He appears during the funeral of Vincenzo Cortino, portrayed by Lloyd Bridges.
• IGT acquired the rights from Don Cornelius Productions to created a slot machine based on the show.
• Johnnie Taylor's No. 1 hit "Disco Lady", from 1976, contains the line "Girl, you oughta be on TV... on Soul Train!"
• In 1974, Junior Walker recorded a song called "Dancin' Like They Do on Soul Train."
• Marvin Gaye's "After the Dance", includes the line, "You were looking good on Soul Train."
• Archie Bell & the Drells' "I Could Dance All Night", includes the line, "See those kids on that Soul Train show."
• In the "Arthur Plays the Blues" episode of the PBS Kids Arthur cartoon series, Arthur's piano teacher Dr. Fugue says to Arthur after giving Arthur a second chance at piano lessons "I don't want to miss Soul Train".
• Cartoon Network's Dexter's Laboratory did an animated parody of Soul Train called Groove Train in the episode, "Sister's Got A Brand New Bag."
• The Proud Family featured a similar program entitled Hip-Hop Helicopter.
• In a Summer 2003 Old Navy commercial, a parody of this was used as Cargo Train, and the song "Boogie Fever" by The Sylvers was spoofed as Cargo Fever.
• Zapp & Roger's "In The Mix", includes the line, "Don Cornelius, Hey, Soul Train, I love to see your body talk."
• Soul Train was referenced in an episode of The Golden Girls. Blanche asserts that she believes that all men are created equal, but Rose disagrees and suggests that those who don't believe her should "watch a white person dance down the line on Soul Train".
• In the film I'm Gonna Get You Sucka, the lead character Jack Spade and his ex-girlfriend have a flashback about their experience of dancing on Soul Train. They dance down the Soul Train line (to the song "Dancing Machine" by The Jackson Five) but are so terrible they knock out all the other participants.
• In Spike Lee's film Crooklyn (1994), the kids are watching and dancing to an episode of Soul Train on TV.

See also

• Lists of Soul Train episodes
• Guests on Soul Train
• SOLAR Records
• Soul Train Music Awards
• Showtime at the Apollo

External links

• Soul Train website
• Soul Train at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show
• Jump the Shark - Soul Train
• The official website of Jeffrey Daniel