coming out of Philadelphia became as essential to the 1970s as the Godfather movies and the Watergate break-in.
When Don ran into Gamble in New York in 1973, both men were on the cusp of big things. Don wanted a new theme, one that was unique to the show and more contemporary than the funky jazz song heâd been using. So he traveled to Philadelphia and sat down with Gamble, Huff, and arranger Bobby Martin. A basic rhythm track was developed with a strutting rhythm, later augmented by a cool horn-and-string arrangement that was smooth enough for dancing, yet had a memorable melody.
Don loved the track and asked that his showâs title be included in the primarily instrumental track. The female vocal group the Three Degrees sang âSoul Train, Soul Trainâ over four notes. The record branded the show and reflected a sound that would soon be labeled disco. He wanted the song held off any recordings until Soul Train âs next season. But as Gamble and Huff played the track for CBS executives and other PIR staffers, it became clear this Soul Train theme could be more than the opening of a TV show. So Gamble called Cornelius and said he wanted to use the song as a single off an MFSB album.
This is where Don made a strategic mistake. Instead of going along with the idea as a tool to further expose the show, he felt that the release of it as a single would infringe on his copyright and wasnât in the spirit of the agreement heâd made with PIR. So he asked Gamble and Huff to remove his showâs title from the single version. The reworked song had the Three Degrees singing âPeople all over the worldâ as a hook and had a second vocal section that was simply âLetâs get it on / Itâs time to get down.â Otherwise it was the same track Cornelius would use on Soul Train .
Released in the spring of 1974, the song, now titled âTSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),â went to No. 1 on both the pop and R&B charts. Instead of being a commercial for Soul Train that announced the showâs name all over America, it worked to brand Philadelphiaâs new musical movement. While thereâs no question the original version was great for the show, Donâs decision cost him a marketing opportunity for the ages.
It wasnât the last time Don wouldnât fully benefit from one of his great recording ideas.
Chapter 6
Right On
ONE OF the unintended consequences of the civil rights movement would be, starting in the 1970s, the targeting of black teenagers as a consumer market. White teens were already a significant cultural and consumer force through the rise of rock ânâ roll in the 1950s, with AM Top 40 radio and American Bandstand as direct beneficiaries. Soft drinks and acne-relief creams like Clearasil filled the coffers of radio stations and the ABC network for decades as each generation moved in and out of that angst-ridden demographic. The white teen idols Clark promoted and, in some cases, controlled also fed an appetite for fanzines like Tiger Beat , which titillated teens with public-relations-created tales of pinup boys and girls.
Black students of the 1960s were identified with sit-ins and protest, with noble struggle and the raised fists. But this visibility also alerted many to the massive buying these ambitious young people represented. Once they could legally sit at lunch counters, black teens became a hot new consumer market. And Soul Train emerged as the perfect venue to exploit this new reality. Soul Train was deeply intertwined with various kinds of marketers, whether advertising agencies or pulp-magazine publishers seizing the new opportunity. UniWorld and Burrell Advertising and Right On! magazine had very different relationships to Soul Train , yet all spoke to ways in which the show expanded the impact of black consumers in general and black youths in particular.
As noted earlier, 1971 was a benchmark year in black entrepreneurship, with Soul
When Don ran into Gamble in New York in 1973, both men were on the cusp of big things. Don wanted a new theme, one that was unique to the show and more contemporary than the funky jazz song heâd been using. So he traveled to Philadelphia and sat down with Gamble, Huff, and arranger Bobby Martin. A basic rhythm track was developed with a strutting rhythm, later augmented by a cool horn-and-string arrangement that was smooth enough for dancing, yet had a memorable melody.
Don loved the track and asked that his showâs title be included in the primarily instrumental track. The female vocal group the Three Degrees sang âSoul Train, Soul Trainâ over four notes. The record branded the show and reflected a sound that would soon be labeled disco. He wanted the song held off any recordings until Soul Train âs next season. But as Gamble and Huff played the track for CBS executives and other PIR staffers, it became clear this Soul Train theme could be more than the opening of a TV show. So Gamble called Cornelius and said he wanted to use the song as a single off an MFSB album.
This is where Don made a strategic mistake. Instead of going along with the idea as a tool to further expose the show, he felt that the release of it as a single would infringe on his copyright and wasnât in the spirit of the agreement heâd made with PIR. So he asked Gamble and Huff to remove his showâs title from the single version. The reworked song had the Three Degrees singing âPeople all over the worldâ as a hook and had a second vocal section that was simply âLetâs get it on / Itâs time to get down.â Otherwise it was the same track Cornelius would use on Soul Train .
Released in the spring of 1974, the song, now titled âTSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),â went to No. 1 on both the pop and R&B charts. Instead of being a commercial for Soul Train that announced the showâs name all over America, it worked to brand Philadelphiaâs new musical movement. While thereâs no question the original version was great for the show, Donâs decision cost him a marketing opportunity for the ages.
It wasnât the last time Don wouldnât fully benefit from one of his great recording ideas.
Chapter 6
Right On
ONE OF the unintended consequences of the civil rights movement would be, starting in the 1970s, the targeting of black teenagers as a consumer market. White teens were already a significant cultural and consumer force through the rise of rock ânâ roll in the 1950s, with AM Top 40 radio and American Bandstand as direct beneficiaries. Soft drinks and acne-relief creams like Clearasil filled the coffers of radio stations and the ABC network for decades as each generation moved in and out of that angst-ridden demographic. The white teen idols Clark promoted and, in some cases, controlled also fed an appetite for fanzines like Tiger Beat , which titillated teens with public-relations-created tales of pinup boys and girls.
Black students of the 1960s were identified with sit-ins and protest, with noble struggle and the raised fists. But this visibility also alerted many to the massive buying these ambitious young people represented. Once they could legally sit at lunch counters, black teens became a hot new consumer market. And Soul Train emerged as the perfect venue to exploit this new reality. Soul Train was deeply intertwined with various kinds of marketers, whether advertising agencies or pulp-magazine publishers seizing the new opportunity. UniWorld and Burrell Advertising and Right On! magazine had very different relationships to Soul Train , yet all spoke to ways in which the show expanded the impact of black consumers in general and black youths in particular.
As noted earlier, 1971 was a benchmark year in black entrepreneurship, with Soul
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