On February 1, 2012, when it was announced that 75-year-old Don Cornelius had committed suicide, Planet Pop went into collective mourning for the man with the musical plan whose groundbreaking show Soul Train shaped American culture.

“The two biggest influences of the '70s were Don Cornelius and Bruce Lee,” says Beastie Boys member Ad-Rock from his home in New York City. Earlier that day the 45-year-old rapper born Adam Horovitz was at the supermarket when he got a call from his brother telling him that Cornelius was dead. “I told the lady behind the counter and we were both in shock for a few minutes.”

For most kids who grew up in the '70s, Saturday mornings were all about cartoons and Soul Train. Growing from humble beginnings as a weekday dance program in Chicago, Soul Train was hosted by dapper Don Cornelius—who was also the creator and producer of the landmark Black-owned-and-operated show that later moved to Los Angeles and became the longest running syndicated program in TV history.Yet, while new episodes of Soul Train aired until 2006, influencing more than three decades of soul babies, culture watchers, and music lovers, there were something about those bell-bottomed and blow-out-kit '70s shows that were exta-special.

For me, most Saturday mornings were spent inside a Harlem beauty parlor with my mom. I was bored until 11 o’clock, when Jackie the beautician always turned the television to channel 11 to watch Soul Train. As a budding urban cult-nat aficionado, I was blown away by the musical guests (Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Marvin Gaye), the blackadelic Afro-Sheen commercials, the wildly dressed dancers, and the iceberg-cool Chicago-bred former disc jockey talking low into the mic.

Growing up in Manhattan—many blocks south of Harlem and thousands of miles away from the land of bright sun and twinkling starlets—Ad-Rock would also tune to “the hippest trip in America” when he was a kid. “Of course, man,” he says with a laugh. “I remember seeing the Jackson 5 on there doing 'Dancing Machine' and me dancing the Robot in front of the television set.”

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