Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America premiered on VH1's Rock Docs and filled the show with enough platforms, line dancing, attitude and hipness to save the world. This was the show that revealed what dances everyone did in the seventies, how good they were and how good they looked doing them--even the funky chicken.
Don Cornelius was the creator, executive producer and host of the show which began in 1971 and ran for 35 years. The Soul Train Line remained a hugely popular part of the show - see a clip of the dancers demonstrating their extremely creative techniques below.
VH1 will be reairing Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America, Wed Feb 10 at 1 AM Eastern; check your local listings.
Official VH1 Episode Description of Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America: In the 70's there was American Bandstand and there was Soul Train.Few television series were as innovative and influential as Soul Train. Set first in Chicago, and later in Los Angeles, the Soul Train dance party reached national significance and became the longest running syndicated show in television history. In commemoration of its 40th anniversary, Soul Train: The Hippest Trip In America is a 90 minute documentary celebrating the show's many contributions to pop culture, music, dance and fashion. From 1970-2006 the series offered a window into the history of Black music, and its charismatic host, Don Cornelius was The Man responsible for a new era in Black expression. A trained journalist, Don created a media empire that provided an outlet for record labels and advertisers to reach a new generation of music fans. As the epitome of cool, many of his expressions entered the popular American lexicon: "A groove that will make you move real smooth," "Wishing you Peace, Love and Soul!" The documentary will feature performances and great moments from the show, as well as behind-the-scene stories and memories from the cast and crew. In addition, popular musicians, comics and actors of yesterday and today will comment on growing up with the show and will share their stories of how Soul Train affected their own lives.
Popular program elements (from Wikipedia) were the "Soul Train Scramble Board" - "Two dancers are given 60 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 of 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."
Famous and notable in-house dancers included Rosie Perez, Carmen Electra, Nick Cannon, MC Hammer, Jermaine Stewart, Fred "Rerun" Berry, Pebbles, NFL legend Walter Payton, Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniel.
Watch Rock Docs: Soul Train - Upcoming Airings
Wednesday, February 10
1:00 AM ET/PT ON VH1
Saturday, February 13
12:30 AM ET/PT ON VH1
Friday, March 05
12:00 AM ET/PT ON VH1
The Soul Train Line - The O'Jays - Love Train
Read more about the great talent that has appeared on different Soul Train episodes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Soul_Train_episodes_(seasons_1%E2%80%939)
"We wish you love, peace... and SOUL!" Enjoy the clips below.
ROCK DOCS: SOUL TRAIN VH1
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