Somehow it’s hard to believe that Dick Clark was only 82 years old when he died after suffering a “massive heart attack” Wednesday morning in Santa Monica, Calif. (Since I managed to survive one myself, I’ve noticed that anytime someone dies of a heart attack, it’s always “massive.”). Despite his youthful appearance and “eternal teenager” nickname, considering how long Clark had been in the public eye, I would have guessed he was even older.
It’s also hard to believe it’s been nearly 25 years since American Bandstand went off the air in 1989. With Soul Train and Casey Kasem’s America’s Top 10, those Saturday-afternoon shows were an important part of how I kept up with pop music in my non-MTV household.
Thursday morning, Rocks Off’s inbox already had several statements about Clark’s passing in our inbox.
Kenny Rogers: “I’m one of the lucky people who can say that I knew Dick Clark personally. Dick produced almost every awards show I was on during the 80’s, and he constantly encouraged me toward success. He will be missed by everyone – especially by those who knew him well.”
Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff, creators of Philadelphia International Records and “The Sound of Philadelphia”: “As fellow Philadelphians, we have admired Dick Clark and the ‘American Bandstand’ brand for many years, as it promoted Philadelphia music around the nation. Dick Clark was one of our inspirations for creating the ‘Sound of Philadelphia’ music brand. More importantly, we thank him for being one of the pioneers in promoting the Philly Dance and Music scene for the nation and world to enjoy.
Even Public Enemy weighed in, with a tribute in the group’s newsletter to the late Soul Train host Don Cornelius, who died in February at age 75. Cornelius started Soul Train in part because he was frustrated with not seeing more black artists on Bandstand (a state of affairs Soul Train helped to change), so even that, after a fashion, was a tribute to the impact and influence of Clark’s show.
To pay tribute today, I set out to find out exactly how wide American Bandstand cast its net. As a pop show, yes, it loosed a lot of crap on the airwaves. But in more than 30 years it also put a lot of performers on TV I would have never imagined. I did as much research as I possibly could on this, without watching every episode myself. Usually a Google search with “American Bandstand” and the artist was sufficient.
Many episodes are available to watch online at sidereel.com; that’s how I confirmed PiL and the Fleshtones were on the show. Others didn’t quite make the cut. For example, Austin punks The Huns are listed on Bandstand‘s wiki page but never played.
But X was on there. Seriously. Maybe even twice.
THE FIRST SEASON
Elvis Presley Jerry Lee Lewis
Chuck Berry
Sam Cooke
Johnny Mathis
The Del-Vikings
The Everly Brothers
Bill Haley & the Comets
Gene Vincent
Frankie Avalon
DIVAS
Brenda Lee
Sarah Vaughan
Wanda Jackson
Lulu
Etta James
Darlene Love
Dionne Warwick
Cher
Chaka Khan LaBelle
Grace Jones
DON’T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB
Richard Simmons
Cheech & Chong
Martin Mull
Merv Griffin
George Burns Rosey Grier (minister and ex-pro football player)
Leonard Nimoy
Lenny & the Squigtones (Laverne & Shirley‘s Michael McKean and David Lander)
James Darren (actor, Gidget, TJ Hooker)
CROONERS
Al Martino
Vic Damone
Bobby Darin
Jerry Vale Andy Williams
Tony Bennett
Neil Diamond
Cliff Richard
Marvin Gaye
Ravi Shankar (I had to put him somewhere)
ROCKERS & RAPPERS
Creedence Clearwater Revival
John Mellencamp
Greg Kihn Band
Billy Idol Huey Lewis & the News
The Sugarhill Gang
Kurtis Blow
Run-DMC
LL Cool J
Beastie Boys
’80s LADIES
Bananarama The Go-Go’s
Madonna
Cyndi Lauper
Roseanne Cash
Blondie
Pat Benatar
Debbie Gibson
Laura Branigan
Bonnie Tyler
COUNTRY
Roy Rogers & Dale Evans
Johnny Cash Patsy Cline
Roger Miller
Conway Twitty
Glen Campbell
Skeeter Davis
Eddie Rabbitt
Kenny Rogers
Alabama
BOOGIE SHOES
ABBA
The Village People
A Taste of Honey
Chic
Tavares
Hues Corporation Rufus
Shalamar
Donna Summer
Quarterflash
Note: The above video is long and not the best quality, but it’s too good not to share.
THE NEW WORLD
R.E.M.
Romeo Void
Sparks
Los Lobos
The Jam
X
Talking Heads
Oingo Boingo
Psychedelic Furs
Public Image Ltd. (above)
HEADBANGER’S BALL
Kiss
Aerosmith
Y&T
Night Ranger
Iron Butterfly
Def Leppard
Autograph Dokken
Stryper
Loverboy
SOUL MEN
B.B. King
Isaac Hayes
Rufus Thomas
Sam & Dave
Junior Walker & the All-Stars
Bill Withers
The Chi-Lites
The Spinners Lou Rawls
Prince
NUGGETS
Donovan
Pink Floyd
Jefferson Airplane
Love The Hollies
The Fleshtones
The Seeds
The Raspberries
Paul Revere & the Raiders
Cannibal & the Headhunters
TEN FROM TEXAS
Buddy Holly
Thirteenth Floor Elevators Johnny Nash
Sir Douglas Quintet
Roy Orbison
Mike Nesmith
Bubble Puppy
B.J. Thomas
Dobie Gray
Barry White
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This article appears in Apr 19-25, 2012.
