American Bandstand

I remember watching this show every Saturday afternoon when I was a child and I always had a lot of fun doing it. It featured a lot of awesome musical talent in the many years that it was on and Dick Clark was always an excellent and cordial host. The dancers always looked so alive on the dance floor and you could just tell that they were loving every minute of it. My memories of this show are very easily among my favorite memories of sitting in front of the television set when I was a child. It's very easy to understand why it lasted so many years.

I am very fortunate to have danced on American Bandstand during 1962 when it was live from WFIL studios at 46th & Market Streets in Philadelphia, PA. I was 18 at the time and used to go down there whenever I could get out of school early. I once got on the record review panel and remember rating 3 new releases, one of which was "Do You Wanna Dance". According to my high school newspaper which printed a story about my being on the panel, I rated that one the highest. I still have that school paper in my scrapbook along with a snapshot I took of Dick Clark interviewing Sandra Dee. To this day, I am amazed at how being on that show was something I almost took in stride. What great teenage memories I now am privileged to enjoy!

Super low budget dance party to pop hits that only lasted because it had no nationwide competition. I saw it since the early 70s. Once MTV began, it died a well deserved death.

If you liked anything but the most predictable comfortable safe bland suburban hits, you were out of luck. Soul Train had much better music and certainly better dancers. Bandstand had suburban kids who couldn't really dance. They just slightly bounced and moved their hands and never their hips.

All of it presided over by the clueless Dick Clark. Clark who never cared for pop and esp rock music by his own admission. Clark who even from the start peddled the blandest music, pushing Pat Boone instead of Little Richard.

Watch Soul Train, or Don Kirshner instead.

Although "Bandstand" apparently got its start in 1952, I first became familiar with it during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when Dick Clark was hosting the show. I became a teenager in 1958, and although I lived in a small southern town, I felt as much a part of Bandstand as those kids in Philadelphia. My mother and father both worked, so I was usually alone during the afternoon, after school. I remember my usual routine -- cook some frozen fish sticks in the oven, and settle down to watch Bandstand.

Part of the format involved playing several new songs, and having a small panel of teens rate then, to predict which ones had the best chance of becoming a hit. Of course, those of us who were watching often went over to the record store the next chance we had, to buy a copy of the winners, so the predictions became self-fulfilling. The biggest thrill was actually seeing on TV, the singers that we only knew through listening to the records. Brenda Lee. Leslie Gore. Paul and Paula. Bobby Vinton. Names that most of the younger generations would never recognize. And now, some of that is being brought to us in the Dick Clark sponsored TV series, "American Dreams." Bandstand, an important TV program in my formative teen years.

All the greatest songs ever recorded.

All the Number One Hits.

All the latest dances.

All the greatest musical guests of all time.

For three decades,Dick Clark brought you the best in entertainment.

From 1957 until 1989,this show was a Saturday afternoon staple for the teenage set.

That show was American BANDSTAND. It ran for 37 years on ABC-TV. For the three decades that it ran on the ABC network,it went on to become the third longest-running musical variety show of all time. During the last nine seasons of the show(1980-1989)the show saw a decline to some heavy competition,but due to the loyal support of the viewers,the show survived inspite to some newer viewers and a whole new generation.

It's easy to understand why it lasted three decades and was one of the top shows among the teenage set.It also paved the way for the next generation and the beginning of the "MTV" status that was to follow. Dick Clark was always the excellent and cordial host,who held his own,and remain so until the final episode of the series in 1989. Thank you,Dick Clark for making this possible.