Among the two shows (https://prince.org/msg/8/20054?navto=n) in their respective hey days, which one (https://connierosserriddle.com/2021/11/28/bandstand-or-soul-train/) was better (https://www.facebook.com/groups/951998221479788/posts/24323156283937319/) overall, has more long term cultural impact, and could translate beyond its time period better? As it stands, it's pretty fascinating that Soul Train (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031125314/http://www.jumptheshark.com/s/soultrain.htm) lasted all the way until 2006 (https://www.facebook.com/Retrovision/posts/19-years-ago-today-march-27-2006-the-final-episode-of-soul-train-aired-it-is-an-/1108261018002123/). That's a good 17 years after American Bandstand (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031125335/http://www.jumptheshark.com/a/americanbandstand.htm) ended in 1989 (https://www.facebook.com/RetroClassicHits/posts/oct-7th-1989-the-final-episode-of-american-bandstand-aired-ran-37-seasons-with-3/796469582486230/). It also lasted 13 years after Don Cornelius retired as host.

Def Soul Train :)

Def Soul Train :)

I agree. Soul Train was much more groovier and had better dancers with very colorful cloths and fashion wary. Specially liked the segment called "Soul Train Line" in which all the dancers form two lines with a space in the middle for dancers to showcase their dance skills in consecutive order. Some of the dances were hilarious :D

https://thenashvillebridge.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/soultrain-04.jpg

Why did American Bandstand lose its popularity even before MTV came along? (https://www.quora.com/Why-did-American-Bandstand-lose-its-popularity-even-before-MTV-came-along/answer/FeverIndex)

For years, teenagers rushed home every afternoon to watch their favorite artists lip-sync. But by the 1970s, the undisputed king of teenage television was already dying.

Hosted by the perpetually youthful Dick Clark, American Bandstand was a cultural juggernaut in the 1950s and early 1960s. Yet, its decline was already underway, driven by a perfect storm of changing musical formats, shifting demographics, and aggressive television competition.

Several key factors knocked the show off its pedestal long before the first music video aired on MTV:


The Rise of Album-Oriented Rock: In the 1950s and early 1960s, the music industry was driven by two-minute, 45-rpm pop singles that were perfect for dancing. By the late 1960s, the counterculture had arrived. Rock music transitioned to complex, album-oriented formats. Heavyweight rock bands like Led Zeppelin, The Doors, or Pink Floyd simply did not fit a format where clean-cut teenagers did synchronized dances in a brightly lit television studio. The show's famously wholesome image suddenly felt hopelessly square.

The Demand for Live Performances: American Bandstand relied entirely on artists lip-syncing to their studio tracks. In the early 1970s, late-night programs like The Midnight Special and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert began broadcasting actual live performances. Seeing bands play their instruments and sing live made the lip-sync format of Bandstand feel cheap and artificial to serious music fans.

Fierce and Authentic Competition: In 1971, Don Cornelius launched Soul Train. It featured better dancing, authentic street fashion, and cutting-edge R&B, funk, and soul music. Soul Train quickly captured the urban youth market and became the actual authority on dance trends, siphoning away the audience that cared most about discovering new moves.

Scheduling Shifts: ABC moved the show from its prominent daily weekday afternoon slot to a once-a-week Saturday broadcast in 1963. While it maintained popularity for a few years after the move, breaking the daily "after-school" viewing habit ultimately weakened the show's cultural footprint as the decade progressed and Saturday afternoon competition grew.


By the time MTV launched in 1981, American Bandstand was already viewed as a nostalgic relic. It managed to limp along until 1989 on Dick Clark’s sheer industry clout, but its era as the ultimate arbiter of American musical taste had quietly ended a decade earlier.