Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Solid Gold Memories

After hearing the song "Solid Gold" (by the Golden Filter) I have not been able to get the television program Solid Gold out of my head.

Big through most of the 80's, Solid Gold was a dance show where a crew of dancers performed choreographed dances to the top ten hits of the day, usually in rather skimpy outfits. The artists would stop by to lip sync their hits.

My television viewing was limited as a child, but for some reason we were allowed to watch this program. I remember absolutely loving it and being fascinated by the abilities of the dancers. On reviewing some of the scads of clips on YouTube, I noticed that most of the numbers are performed with a lot of emotion, which I'm sure also appealed. The camera angles are great. Pulling out wide and coming in intimately. They danced to everything from R&B to nascent rap and hip hop, new wave and pop.

Looking at it now it is amazing to think about the WORK that must have gone into those shows, and quickly it must have needed to be done. Those were some talented dancers!

With the reality TV wasteland out there today I'm surprised that no one has thought to revive this concept. With shows like Dancing With the Stars and America's Next Dance Crew etc. there definitely seems like a renewed interest in dance as televised entertainment and I think people would be interested to see a program that doesn't have a competitive element but is more about the music and moves of the day.

3 Things:

- Family Dance parties
- Lose It! app for the iphone (free!)
- yummy EatingWell recipes

Also: Kegz posted this and I had to share! Why Facebook is for Old Fogies

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love family dance parties!!

Anonymous said...

If there were skimpy costumes I guess that would explain why I let you watch it.

Lakeview Coffee Joe said...

Couldn't believe the topic. A few years ago, I was flying Southwest, for which my good buddy Naperville Greg's wife, Kleveland Kim, is a flight attendant. She got wind that I was flying her airline and called some people up. So I'm sitting on the plane at the gate and they announce,"we're looking for passenger Joe Sutton. Can you raise your hand for us?" So I do. "Ladies and gentlemen we'd like to welcome on board today one of the 1984 Solid Gold Dancers!!! Let's have a big round of applause."
Unbelievable. The gay guy sitting across the aisle from me actually believed it was true. "What kind of dance did you study?" He asked several minutes later.

stef said...

Joe- that is an awesome story.

alexis said...

LOL that is a brilliant story Joe! Stef, I love dance on TV, I hope there is more of it :)

Anonymous said...

Joe - I don't in a million years ever being able to picture you as a Solid Gold dancer.