The Hippest Trip...Of De-Evolution

I was watching the one-eyed jew box the other day and there's an "afro-centric" new channel that has just premeired called (get this) The Centric Channel. Another reason for black folks to stare aimlessly at the TV. This one seems to be a combination of re-hashed VH-1 material that fell by the wayside (re: black shows that didn't last) and more adult type shows aimed at the 30-40 year old crowd. I guess a hipper version of TVOne (if that makes any sense).

At any rate, it's just another tool to make the black masses feel "empowered". Though the reality is to control them. As long as you're watching TV, you're not out LIVING.
Anyway, the reason I was watching it in the first place is because they have aquired the rights (finally) to all of the old Soul Train episodes in their entirety. No more "best of" shows. Just the episodes as they originally aired.
On this particular night, I got to watch two episodes back to back. One from 1971 and the other from 1983. It was an interesting study and I found it very jarring in it's differences. What I noticed was you were dealing with two entirely different worlds all within a ten year span.

I came up in the 80's era of Soul Train. I rarely, if ever watched it in the 70's. So, my view on Soul Train could probably be summed up in one word: sex. That's why I watched it. If nothing else was memorable from the show, the one thing most people would be in agreement with is that they had some of the sexiest dancers ever to grace a TV screen. The entertainment was cool and all, but nothing compared to watching those fine hoochies strut down that Soul Train line in their miniskirts, fishnet stockings and high heel shoes. This was the Soul Train I knew.

The first episode I watched was NOT the Soul Train of 1983, however.

In watching the 1971 episode that featured Al Green (who Don called the "messiah" at one point), I was shocked at how conservative the dancers were back then. In particular, the women. Where were the miniskirts? The high heels? The closest thing I could find was one girl who had her shirt tied up in a knot, revealing her belly button. These girls from the 70's were sporting turtlenecks, long bellbottom pants, and even sportjackets. The show was almost to the point of being a-sexual. Very innocent. Now flash forward to my era, 1983. This is what I knew. But I realize I haven't watched these episodes uncut for over 25 years. So, in watching this episode, it also became a revelation. I figured after all this time, those dancers I remembered as being so sexy back then would now look dated and even unattractive now. How wrong I was. I found that the episode has not only stood the test of time, but was far sexier than even most of the junk you see on the so called sex filled TV of today. The stuff that's being displayed today is NOT sexy. There is nothing sexy about "Sex in the City". A bunch of old white women trying to recapture their youth. Take a picture of Vanity 6 and stand it next to those broads and tell me which one is more attractive. Here, I'll do it for you:


Now, my question in looking at this jarring difference was "how did it get from tame and conservative to freaky and sexy?" My theory is this: Don Cornelius, after airing the show for almost a decade, was probably beginning to lose viewers going into the 80's. In terms of how sex was presented, the 80's was a huge turning point in entertainment and Soul Train would be no different if it wanted to stay on top of it's game. The performances were no longer enough. It needed more. It also needed to take out Dick Clark's American Bandstand as they were going head to head competing for viewers. Dick Clark would never degenerate AB's squeeky clean image and it suffered a sad fate because of it, being cancelled in 1989 after some 25 years on the tube. But Soul Train, being "the hippest trip in America" didn't need to hold to those rules. It was time to adapt to this new age of music videos and more sexually dominated music. They transformed the female dancers into images closer to Hollywood hookers and a legend was born again. The point I'm making here is simply...when in doubt...pimp your female drug to it's maximum effect. It will never fail you. Don Cornelius always came across more like a pimp than a TV host anyway so it would be easy to see how he would go from this:

To this:

You're either a pimp or a hoe and Don Cornelius knew he had to start being a pimp if he wanted to stay on top. I honestly feel Soul Train started to go downhill in steady decline once Don got tired of doing it and stepped away from his hosting duties. Like society's decline in general, once the real pimps left the game, it was replaced by little punk faggot ass "boys" who had no pimping skills whatsoever.

Like this goofball who hosted the show in it's final years:

What the hell kind of name is Shemar anyway?

(SHE)-MARK is more like it.

Get the hell out of here fag boy!
The game just ain't what they used to be...many long years ago.