The Hitman and Her (especially once house music hit big). I especially liked the camera crew's love of sweeping up-skirt dancing girls. Peter Waterman's out of place suit looked great during the later years of the show (as everyone else in the various clubs were off their tits on E).

mjscarousal said:

There it is!

Countdown (1974-1987) was the best music show on Oz tv. Ian "Molly' Meldrum was a hoot, and always got the great exclusive interviews back in the 80s eg. Madonna, David Bowie etc

Countdown: Madonna (1984)

Countdown (Australia)- Molly Meldrum Interviews David Bowie- Humdrum- November 6, 1983

[Edited 3/15/17 21:36pm]

1. Soul Train

2. Video Soul

3. Solid Gold

4. American Bandstand

5. Midnight Special

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Hollywood Palace. I watch clips on YouTube from time to time and it seemed really good. They had a guest host eveey week, usually a comic. So no bland guys like Ed Sullivan or Don Cornelius.

I don't know, Don was kinda hyper and dressed flashy in the very early episodes. I think the shorter his hair got, the more low key he became. But maybe a loud Richard Simmons type of host is not what the average viewer wants. 2 of the longest running shows were hosted by Ed Sullivan & Lawrence Welk. I'd say Dick Clark & Casey Kasem were calm type of guys too. Wolfman Jack was maybe more lively and he spoke in jive talk. I remember Nia Peeples had a show, don't remember what it was called though. I also remember that old lady that always sat in the front row on Showtime At The Apollo. One time Whodini was on the show and she got up and rubbed on Ecstasy, I never forgot the expression on his face.

sexton said:

I used to watch Soul Train and American Bandstand every Saturday. It was exciting whenever a Minneapolis-related act performed like André Cymone or Ta Mara and The Seen.

As for music video shows, I used to live for 120 Minutes in college.

But from what I have heard, the U.K. had the best music shows.

[Edited 3/8/17 19:02pm]

I still have Ta Mara and the Seen's "Affection" in my iTunes. That joint STILL bumps hard after 30 years, too. In fact, I just might have to listen to that before I hit the sack. Beyond that, I literally forgot that 120 Minutes ever existed . I need to look for some youtube clips to see if I can catch any favorite memories from that..

Soul Train

The Midnight Special

Motown Live

It's Showtime At THe Apollo

American Bandstand

Don Kirshner's(probably spelled wrong) In Concert

Shingdig

Hullabaloo

Video Soul

kitbradley said:

1. Soul Train

2. Video Soul

3. Solid Gold

4. American Bandstand

5. Midnight Special

I don't think it aired in the USA, but I've watched some DVDs of a show called Old Grey Whistle Test. The discs only had performances from a few acts, not the entire episodes. So I don't know how the show was itself.

MickyDolenz said:

I don't think it aired in the USA, but I've watched some DVDs of a show called Old Grey Whistle Test. The discs only had performances from a few acts, not the entire episodes. So I don't know how the show was itself.

.

OGWT was great! For live in studio footage, one of the best sources for 70s bands. It was pretty much one clip after another with commentary from Whispering Bob Harris in between, so the "actual show" was probably very similar to what you have seen. Not every act is great but there ARE great ones in almost every episode.

.

The German program Beat Club and the Dutch show Musikladen were also great, and have some of the only pro-shot footage ever seen of some of those early 70s bands from Europe. From the late 70s through 90s there was Rockpalast from Germany, I don't think it aired regularly but they would periodically have big shows that were broadcast on TV & radio throughout Europe. You'd get to see a full concert - 45 minutes by the opener and two hours by the headliner. I have several bootleg tapes from the show.

.

ABC's In Concert and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert were big deal viewing for me as a kid. I wish that kind of program had continued, where you could watch live music by 3 or 4 acts for an hour, get a good sense of what all of them were about.

.

All of those were geared to white rock bands. Soul Train was the best place to see black artists on the tube in my youth... still remember James Brown blowing my mind on there.

Yup!

mjscarousal said:

bobzilla77 said:

OGWT was great! For live in studio footage, one of the best sources for 70s bands. It was pretty much one clip after another with commentary from Whispering Bob Harris in between, so the "actual show" was probably very similar to what you have seen. Not every act is great but there ARE great ones in almost every episode.

.

The German program Beat Club and the Dutch show Musikladen were also great, and have some of the only pro-shot footage ever seen of some of those early 70s bands from Europe. From the late 70s through 90s there was Rockpalast from Germany, I don't think it aired regularly but they would periodically have big shows that were broadcast on TV & radio throughout Europe. You'd get to see a full concert - 45 minutes by the opener and two hours by the headliner. I have several bootleg tapes from the show.

.

ABC's In Concert and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert were big deal viewing for me as a kid. I wish that kind of program had continued, where you could watch live music by 3 or 4 acts for an hour, get a good sense of what all of them were about.

.

All of those were geared to white rock bands. Soul Train was the best place to see black artists on the tube in my youth... still remember James Brown blowing my mind on there.

Do you know anything about a show called TopPop (not Top Of The Pops)? They have 2 channels on Youtube ( 1 & 2 ) with a lot of acts from the 1970s & 1980s, with a few from the 1960s. The 2nd one is inactive, as it is the older channel.

Dance Fever

In the UK it was probably The Tube or The Old Grey Whistle Test: