Watching the Soul Train Music Awards show only one week after the American Music Awards show it was painfully obvious to see that Black folks have done absolutely nothing to bridge the production values chasm that has existed since before Soul Train and American Bandstand had their own awards shows.
The lack of staging and reduced amount of backup dancers was the most glaring shortcoming. The fact that these Soul Train awards couldn’t even be broadcast from a non-cable network was the next huge detraction. With all the teh ghey entertainers living in the Atlanta area you had to also ask yourself where was the Soul Train awards scene-stealing Adam Lambert. [ll] to asking yourself that question naturally.
But even that question cuts to the heart of why the Soul Train Music Awards was a major PU~. There were no white people. When the day comes that Black music has no white people earnestly doing it that shit falls the fux off. Classic R & B needs to get that blue-eyed soul back into its chamber. White is on some techno dance dance revolution now shit thanks to that race-trader Timbaland. If the Soul Train Music Awards is ever gonna stand on its own two again they need to get Adam Levine and Natasha Bedingfield on that shit.
What about Jon B and Joss Stone? Let’s break Remy Shand and Amy Winehouse out of rehab. White will get the production values back up to a viewable level where Soul Train can once again be watched with enjoyment. There was a time when white made some of the dopest R & B, ahem, urban contemporary music and I totally listened to that shit. I’m not just talking about that Teena Marie shit that never crossed over onto white’s iPod, I’m talking about that classic music that defies all racial boundaries…
The Police – ‘Spirits In The Material World’
Phil Collins – ‘Take A Look At Me Now’
Swing Out Sister – ‘Breakout’
Hall & Oates – ‘I Can’t Go For That’
Barry Gibb & Barbara Streisand – ‘Guilty’
Sting – ‘Englishman In New York’
Genesis – ‘Tonight’
