The Hippest Trip in America

January 13, 2014
The iconic music-and-dance television show that defined the look and moves of Black America gets a fond though unfocused retrospective in this nostalgic history. Music historian George (The Death of Rhythm and Blues) recounts Soul Train’s run as a pioneering showcase for African-American music and pop culture, recalling the bell-bottoms, platform shoes, and planetary afros of its 1970s heyday, the on-set drama of ambitious young dancers jostling for camera time, and the show’s centrality in the ‘hood as a Saturday tele-ritual that inspired fashion and dance floor trends. The story loses steam as it chugs into the 1980s and 1990s, when crossover acts abandoned the show for whiter audiences, viewers departed for music-video channels, and producer/host Don Cornelius, once the epitome of cool with his elegant suits and suave baritone, fell behind the times in his estrangement from the hip-hop scene. George relies heavily on interviews from the eponymous VH1 documentary; some of these reminiscences, like Rosie Perez’s exuberant recollection of dancing, are a hoot, but the narrative stalls during lengthy monologues, including four solid pages of Cornelius’s congressional testimony against gangsta rap. Still, George captures some of the energy and creativity of black youth cult busting out of the ghetto. Photos.

September 15, 2013
George, the author of several key black music histories (e.g., W"here Did Our Love Go?"), here tells the story of the groundbreaking variety show "Soul Train", launched in 1971 and aimed at young African Americans. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2013

George, the author of several key black music histories (e.g., Where Did Our Love Go?), here tells the story of the groundbreaking variety show Soul Train, launched in 1971 and aimed at young African Americans. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2014
Put on your dancing shoes, and get funky with this romp through the history of a cultural touchstone. George (Thriller: The Musical Life of Michael Jackson, 2010, etc.) points out that when the music-and-dance show Soul Train premiered in 1970 on a local Chicago TV station, the "landscape of black images on television and in film...was pretty barren." Was the country in need of such an entity? Perhaps not, but sometimes the country doesn't realize what it needs until it's available. Enter Don Cornelius, an opportunistic, passionate DJ who figured out that Americans (or at least a healthy percentage of them) were ready for a black version of American Bandstand, a show where up-and-coming soul and R&B artists could perform their latest hits. The affable Cornelius was right, and soon enough, Soul Train was a national phenomenon (even though it tailed off in importance before it ended in 2006), certainly an entity that, four decades later, is worthy of a serious re-examination from a serious writer. Those familiar with the prolific George's work might be surprised that a writer known for his serious studies of African-American culture would tackle a subject that's so flat-out fun, but his palpable love for the show makes it obvious that this is a passion project, a topic that gave him the opportunity to relive one of the joys of his youth. George's approach--and mix of narrative and oral history--is the ideal way to tackle the topic, since the combination of voices allows readers to feel and enjoy the love, the peace and the hair grease. The author chronicles his interviews with the performers, but most importantly, he got Cornelius on tape before he died in 2012. George's in-depth look at a revered TV show is one of those rare music-centric books that will transcend its subject's core fan base. Even those with just a casual interest in Soul Train will be happy to take this trip.

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