R.I.P. Don Cornelius: All Aboard that Soul Train Line in the Sky

Soul Train svengali Don Cornelius tragically hopped off the life train yesterday, dying at age 75 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Soul Train, of course, was the hipper, blacker counterpart to Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. Both shows showcased the newest sounds and freshest dance moves of the day. 

But the Genius o' Cornelius was to populate a dance show with people who could actually dance, as opposed to the white folks on  Bandstand who so often looked like guests at a wedding reception doing the white man's overbite.

Case in point: the moneymaker-shaking Soul Train Line, a funky testament to what white people think they look like when they dance, but never, ever in a million years  actually do.

YouTube has dozens of priceless clips of Soul Train funkitude such as this one to Kool & the Gang's "Jungle Boogie," made famous many years later by its use in Pulp Fiction.

It’s acually kind of amazing that Soul Train debuted a good decade after Bandstand. Usually the white man takes the music from the black man, like when Pat Boone used to score hits of vanilla versions of Little Richard songs. But in the case of Soul Train, the black man got the Payback. and the results, as demonstrated in this James Brown clip, were often Superbad.

In addition to being a brilliant music impressario and businessman, Don Cornelius also possessed one of the coolest names ever. There's simply no way to grow up with the name Don Cornelius and not becaome a badass mutha.

Don only joined the Soul Train Line once in his career, appropriately enough to James Brown's "Doing it to Death." (He was joined by Mary Wilson of the Supremes.) And when he did, he showed the  kids that funky is as funky does.

R.I.P. and TCB, DC. Thanks for bringing the funk.

Get 100 Soul Train Hits for just $24.99 on iTunes here.