Bandstand

I am very fortunate to have danced on American Bandstand during 1962 when it was live from WFIL studios at 46th & Market Streets in Philadelphia, PA. I was 18 at the time and used to go down there whenever I could get out of school early. I once got on the record review panel and remember rating 3 new releases, one of which was "Do You Wanna Dance". According to my high school newspaper which printed a story about my being on the panel, I rated that one the highest. I still have that school paper in my scrapbook along with a snapshot I took of Dick Clark interviewing Sandra Dee. To this day, I am amazed at how being on that show was something I almost took in stride. What great teenage memories I now am privileged to enjoy!

Super low budget dance party to pop hits that only lasted because it had no nationwide competition. I saw it since the early 70s. Once MTV began, it died a well deserved death.

If you liked anything but the most predictable comfortable safe bland suburban hits, you were out of luck. Soul Train had much better music and certainly better dancers. Bandstand had suburban kids who couldn't really dance. They just slightly bounced and moved their hands and never their hips.

All of it presided over by the clueless Dick Clark. Clark who never cared for pop and esp rock music by his own admission. Clark who even from the start peddled the blandest music, pushing Pat Boone instead of Little Richard.

Watch Soul Train, or Don Kirshner instead.

Although "Bandstand" apparently got its start in 1952, I first became familiar with it during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when Dick Clark was hosting the show. I became a teenager in 1958, and although I lived in a small southern town, I felt as much a part of Bandstand as those kids in Philadelphia. My mother and father both worked, so I was usually alone during the afternoon, after school. I remember my usual routine -- cook some frozen fish sticks in the oven, and settle down to watch Bandstand.

Part of the format involved playing several new songs, and having a small panel of teens rate then, to predict which ones had the best chance of becoming a hit. Of course, those of us who were watching often went over to the record store the next chance we had, to buy a copy of the winners, so the predictions became self-fulfilling. The biggest thrill was actually seeing on TV, the singers that we only knew through listening to the records. Brenda Lee. Leslie Gore. Paul and Paula. Bobby Vinton. Names that most of the younger generations would never recognize. And now, some of that is being brought to us in the Dick Clark sponsored TV series, "American Dreams." Bandstand, an important TV program in my formative teen years.

This was MTV before MTV. No one ever heard of Dick Clark until American Bandstand. If you were an up and coming Music Group, you fought to get on one of two shows, Ed Sullivan and American Bandstand. All the oldsters watched Ed while all the teens of the time watched American Bandstand. When I was growing up EVERYONE watched American Bandstand. Even on the small screen with tiny speakers, it was the only place you could actually see the bands you loved without going to their concerts. Then along came Soul Train. That was just a sad copy. I have no idea who hosted that show, but, EVERYONE knew who Dick Clark was. Am I right?

Those words were sung by Barry Manilow. It was a theme song used for a show that made Rock and Roll what is is today. that show was called American Bandstand hosted by Dick Clark. Bandstand was THE show for all the hottest music, dances and preformers. But the show didn't start that way. On October 6th 1952 Bandstand went on the air as a local show brodcast out of my hometown of Philadelphia from the WFIL studios of Channel 6 on 46th and Market Street. Bandstand started out showing the forerunners of Music Videos called Snader Musical Films. The host of Bandstand then was a WFIL DJ named Bob Horn. The Sanders were boring so the WFIL Bandstand staff decided to bring kids in and have them dance to the hottest records of the day. Bandstand was a local hit. in 1956 Bob Horn was fired from the show and 26 year old Dick Clark took over the Bandstand lectern. on August 5th 1957 Bandstand became American Bandstand and the ABC Network broadcast the show nationally and American Bandstand changed Rock and Roll forever. American Bandstand had a 37 year run giving many preformers their national debut and launching their stardom. After 37 years of Dancing American Bandstand came to an end in 1989. Dick stepped down and handed the show over to 26 year old David Hirsch AB vanished from TV but the impact of American Bandstand will live on forever. In the words of Barry Manilow."We'll Rock and Roll and Stroll on American, Lindy hop and slop it's American tune in turn on i'm in I'm on Today... Bandstand!