Some of the smartest people in the world, according to one observer, have found themselves in the unlikely world of game shows. For most of its run, American Bandstand looked exactly the way producers wanted it to: clean, controlled, and completely predictable. Then, for a few minutes in May 1980, that carefully managed image fell apart on live television. The performance was so chaotic and so far off script that people behind the scenes reportedly wanted it gone for good.
It almost worked. But instead of disappearing,that moment became one of the most requested and most talked-about pieces of footage the show ever produced. . The story of American Bandstand began long before it became a national institution.
In 1945,a Philadelphia radio station called WPN launched a daily program called “the 950 Club. ”” A live studio audience would gather,, dance,, and react to records playing on the air. Aroundthe same time,, Philadelphia’s ABC television affiliate,, WFIL,, was running a Saturday night dance and talent show called TV Teen Club. But WFIL’s afternoon ratings were practically non-existent..
So the station came up with a simple idea: if teenagers were already willing to dance to records on the radio,, why not bring that same formula to television quarantines. ? On October 7,,1952,,Bandstand made its television debut in the 3:30 p. m..
time slot with WFIL radio personality Bob Horn as its host.. At first,, the station’s own managers and local TV critics weren’t convinced.. A television show built around teenagers dancing to records hardly sounded like a recipe for success.. The teenagers disagreed..
Local students started showing up in huge numbers,, many coming straight from Philadelphia’s working-class and ethnic neighborhoods.. They brought their energy,, their dancing,,and their love of rhythm and blues with them.. Before long,, the studio was packed almost every afternoon.. The 2-and ½-hour program was broadcast live from Studio B at WFIL’s building at ́
46th and Market Streets..
It aired across the Delaware Valley on WFIL TV channel 6,, reaching nearly 6 million viewers in what was then the country’s third-largest television market.. And the station made sure nobody forgot that this was a Philadelphia show.. The studio walls were covered with penants from local high schools,, giving teenagers watching at home a sense that the people dancing on their television screens could easily be their classmates,, neighbors,,or friends quarantines.. Originally,, the program was simply called Band Stand..
And on that first episode,, a young former radio announcer from New York named Dick Clark appeared as the record spinner.. At the time,, nobody could have known that the quiet young broadcaster would eventually become the face of American pop music.. Four years later,, everything changed.. On July ́
9,,1956,,Bob Horn was arrested for driving under the influence,, right in the middle of his station’s own campaign against drunk driving..
With Horn suddenly out of the picture,, Clark was brought in to take over the hosting duties.. But Clark wasn’t simply replacing a popular local host;; he was stepping into a television show at exactly the right moment.. By the summer of 1956,,rock and roll was exploding among American teenagers.. But hit records didn’t become national sensations overnight;; they usually had to build an audience one city at a time..
Record companies in New York,,Chicago,,and Los Angeles relied on local promotion men to get their songs played on small-town radio stations.. Independent labels had entire networks dedicated to spreading their records across the country.. Cincinnati’s King Records,,for example,,operated 33 branch offices to help push its music into different markets.. The labels paid close attention to which songs were breaking in individual cities..
Philadelphia was especially important;; it was considered a major breakout market capable of helping turn a regional hit into a national one.. That made Bandstand more important than it might have looked from the outside.. Then came Dick Clark.. Clark first appeared as the host of Bandstand in July 1956..
And over the following year,, the program remained a strong local success.. But Clark had much bigger ambitions;; he saw an opportunity to take a popular Philadelphia afternoon show and turn it into something that could reach teenagers across the entire country.. There was,,however,,a major difference between Clark and the man he had replaced.. At 40 years old and carrying some extra weight,,Bob Horn didn’t exactly fit the clean-cut image television executives were beginning to want..
He also had a reputation among his colleagues that was far less polished than Clark’s.. But the teenagers loved Horn,,and many of them remained fiercely loyal even after Clark took over.. Clark was almost the complete opposite:: young,,polished,,friendly,,and seemingly spotless.. He presented himself as the kind of person parents could trust..
And that image wasn’t accidental;; Clark understood exactly what television needed if rock-and-roll was going to become part of the mainstream.. Because while teenagers were falling in love with the new music,,plenty of their parents were terrified of it.. To many adults in the mid –1950s,,rock-and-roll wasn’t just another musical trend;; it represented rebellion,,bad behavior,,and a breakdown of the values they believed their children should be following.. Clark knew that if he wanted to put this new music on television every afternoon,,he couldn’t afford to look like part of the rebellion..
He had to make rock-and-roll feel safe,,and that became one of his greatest strengths.. So when Bandstand was revamped and taken to national television in 1957 under the new name American Bandstand,,Clark had carefully positioned himself as the perfect guide into this strange new world.. Dick Clark officially took over as Bandstand’s host on July ́
9,,1956.. And he had one big problem to solve first:: the audience already loved Bob Horn..
For the most part,,Clark managed to win them over,,though there were a few holdouts,, including a young radio personality named Jerry Blavatwho wasn’t ready to give up on Horn that easily.. Clark also inherited one of Horn’s most important ideas,,letting teenagers help run the floor. Horn had created a committee of 12 teens to keep their fellow dancers under control.. Clark expanded the group and introduced an even stricter code of conduct..
The rules were serious::Boys had to wear a suit jacket,,dress shirt,,and tie;; girls weren’t allowed to wear tight sweaters,,low-cut dresses,,or pants;; smoking,,chewing gum,,and swearing were banned;; and nobody under 14 or over 18 was allowed through the doors.. Behind all those rules,,however,,Clark and producer Tony Mamarella didn’t mess with the formula that had already worked.. Local teenagers still filled Studio B,,dancing to the latest records while visiting singers,andgroups came in to lip-sync their newest songs,,and that combination turned out to be incredibly valuable.. Clark looked exactly like the kind of television personality advertisers could trust..
Philadelphia was also the third-largest city in America at the time,,giving ABC access to a huge youth market.. Teenagers were becoming a massive consumer force with an estimated market worth around $9 billion.. If ABC could take Bandstand beyond Philadelphia,,it wouldn’t just have a hit television show;; it would have a direct line into America’s growing teenage audience.. So,,when ABC asked its affiliates in 1957 for ideas to fill its afternoon schedule,,Clark pushed hard for Bandstand..
The network listened.. A national premiere was set for August 5,,1957.. The show was renamed American Bandstand,,and with the new name came several features that would eventually become part of television history.. The familiar high-school-gym-style bleachers became part of the set,,while therecord-rating segment gave teenagers a chance to judge the newest songs..
The formula was simple:: Clark would play a record,,and the teenagers would rate it on a scale from 25 to 98 based on how much they liked it.. It was a small feature,,but it gave viewers something they could easily understand,,and more importantly,,it let teenagers themselves decide what was cool.. On August ́
5,,1957,,American Bandstand went on the air in its new afternoon slot,,running from 3 to 4:30 p. m..
Clark spun records,,while the cameras followed local teenagers as they chose partners,andfilled the dance floor.. Several times during each episode,,singers,andgroups would appear to lip-sync their latest hits.. The response was almost immediate.. Just two days after the national launch,,a young Paul Anka made his national television debut on the show with“ Diana..
” And that was only the beginning.. Within 6 months,,American Bandstand had been picked up by 101 stations,,around 20 million people were watching,,and surprisingly,,roughly half of those viewers were adults.. The fan mail was just as impressive:: the show was receiving somewhere between 20,000 and45,000 letters every week.. Teenagers were traveling to Philadelphia from across the country,,hoping for a chance to step onto the famous dance floor..
During those Philadelphia years,,American Bandstand had become so popular that ordinary teenagers could suddenly become national celebrities.. Every afternoon,,a line of hopeful dancers stretched around the block outside the studio,,but the studio could only hold so many people,,and many teenagers never made it past the door.. And for those who did get in,,there was still one more hurdle:: they had to look right.. Boys were expected to wear ties with suit jackets or sweaters;; girls were supposed to dress conservatively,,usually in high-cut blouses with skirts or dresses..
Clark wasn’t enforcing those rules just because he wanted the studio to look neat;; he understood that rock-and-roll had a serious image problem.. In the 1950s,,older Americans often viewed the music as loud,,rebellious,,and dangerous;; to many parents,,it represented a generation of teenagers they were struggling to understand.. Clark’s answer was to make the whole thing look respectable:: the music could be wild,,but the teenagers on television would look clean-cut;; the dancing could be energetic,,but Clark would remain calm and reassuring in the middle of it all.. That helped American Bandstand do something few television shows had managed before:: bring rock-and-roll and teenage culture directly into American homes without making parents feel like their children were being pulled into something completely out of control..
As rock historian Hank Bordowitz later noted,,the show’s national arrival in 1957 changed the way popular music was perceived and spread across the country.. But the teenagers who actually filled the dance floor were becoming stars,,too.. Clark and Mamarella created an expanded version of the teenage committee to help control the studio floor;; these young tastemakers helped enforce the dress code,andhad a say in who was allowed inside.. Most of these regular dancers were white teenagers from South Philadelphia or neighborhoods close to the West Philadelphia studio..
Because viewers saw the same faces week after week,,they slowly became celebrities in their own right,,appearing in the media,,dealing with mountains of fan mail,,andinfluencing the way teenagers across America dressed.. Sometimes the smallest details became trends;; several of the female dancers wore Peter Pan collars simply because they were part of their Catholic school uniforms,,but viewers noticed them,,and before long,,the style had spread far beyond Philadelphia.. The show’s role in race was far more complicated.. American Bandstand helped bring black music,andblack performers into millions of American homes,,butat the same time,,its studio audience reflected the racial segregation of the era..
Producers were accused of restricting black teenagers from dancing on the show,,reportedly in an effort to avoid upsetting conservative advertisers.. During the early years,,black teenagers were rarely seen in the studio audience.. Yet,,black artists were increasingly appearing on the national broadcast;; Chuck Berry,,Bo Diddley,,and Sam Cooke all performed on American Bandstand in the late 1950s,,exposing millions of mostly white American viewers to some of the most important black musicians of the era.. That contradiction became one of the show’s defining features:: behind the scenes,,the program could reinforce the racial barriers of the time;; in front of the cameras,,it was helping black artists reach an enormous national audience..
And Dick Clark was sitting right in the middle of it.. As America’s most prominent national television DJ,,he had enormous influence over which artists,and songs reached young viewers,,and that influence extended across racial lines,,helping launch,andstrengthen the careers of both white and black performers.. By October ́
1957,,American Bandstand had become such a success that ABC decided to experiment with it,,adding another half-hour-and-moving-the-show-into-Monday-night-prime-time.. Clark tried to warn them,,understanding his audience:: teenagers-and-housewives,,the two groups who made up much of the show’s daytime following,,were busy during those evening hours..
But ABC went ahead anyway,,andthe result was exactly what Clark had feared:: the nighttime version struggled badly,,andthe network quickly returned American Bandstand to its successful daytime slot.. The setback barely mattered;; by February 1958,,the daytime show was attracting around 8.. 4 4 million viewers every day,,making it ABC’s highest-rated program.. By the end of the 1950s,,American Bandstand wasn’t simply the biggest show on ABC;;it had become the most popular daytime program on any American network..
But just as Clark’s television empire was reaching its peak,,the music industry around him was heading toward a scandal that would threaten the entire system.. In 1960,,the payola scandal exploded:: suddenly,,the public was learning that some of the most powerful radio DJs in America had been accepting secret payments,andfavors to give certain songs more airtime.. The investigations ended up destroying the careers of several major disc jockeys,,butmany of them didn’t have the same protection or influence that Dick Clark had built over the years.. American Bandstand had turned Clark into something almost unheard of::a DJ with a truly national audience..
That enormous profile also made him an obvious target when the congressional payola investigation came knocking.. Butthere was another side to that fame:: Clark’s national status gave him far more leverage with ABC than most local DJs had with their own stations.. While other radio personalities were fighting to protect their careers,,Clark had a powerful television network,andone of its biggest shows behind him.. In the end,,Clark and American Bandstand managed to survive the payola scandal with their popularity largely intact..
Throughout the early 1960s,,American Bandstand continued to introduce viewers to performers who would eventually become music legends.. In 1960 alone,,the show gave audiences early television appearances by Ike-and-Tina Turner,,Gary U.. S.. Bonds,,and Smokey Robinson-and-the Miracles;; the following year,,Gladys Knight-and-the Pips stepped onto the stage,,adding another major name to the show’s growing list of future stars..
American Bandstand had become a musical launching pad:: new sounds were constantly finding their way onto the show,and some of the biggest artists of the era appeared before they became household names.. Aretha Franklin performed in August 1962,,followed less than a year later by a remarkable 12-year-old Stevie Wonder in July1963.. But just as the show seemed unstoppable,,its biggest challenge came from somewhere completely outside the music:: the television business was changing.. On September ́
7,,1963,,American Bandstand officially stopped airing every weekday,andmoved to a weekly Saturday schedule..
The decline had actually started a month earlier when ABC moved the program out of its regular weekday afternoon slot,andpushed it into Saturday afternoons.. That change was largely driven by the local stations carrying the show;; American Bandstand depended heavily on local affiliates,,butmany of those stations were becoming frustrated with the daily format,,realizing they could make more money by taking back the valuable afternoon airtime,andfilling it with their own programming.. Dick Clark later explained that once a few stations began dropping the show,,the problem quickly snowballed:: fewer stations meant fewer viewers,,lower ratings,,andeven more stations deciding that American Bandstand wasn’t worth the airtime.. The show was caught in a vicious cycle..
But Clark wasn’t the kind of person who waited around for things to improve.. With ABC reducing American Bandstand’s schedule,,he started looking for other opportunities,,andby late 1963,,that ambition took him across the country to California,,where he became the host of a new game show called“ The Object Is.. ”” The game show didn’t last very long,,but Clark’s move west would have a much bigger impact than anyone expected:: by February1964,,American Bandstand had followed him from Philadelphia to Los Angeles.. The timing couldn’t have been better;; California was becoming one of the most important centers of American pop music,,especially with the rise of surf rock,,with The Beach Boys already helping define the sound,and plenty of other young acts emerging from the West Coast..
For American Bandstand,,moving closer to that scene made perfect sense.. Clark was also entering one of the strongest periods of his career;; for years,,American Bandstand had relied heavily on artists lip-syncing their latest records,,butClark began moving toward more live performances,,giving musicians a chance to perform in front of the cameras rather than simply act out a recording.. And despite the criticism that followed him,,Clark remained remarkably difficult to knock off course.. American Bandstand wasn’t the only variety show on television,,but it occupied a unique position..
While other programs were cautious about rock music,,Clark continued giving rock-and-pop artists a national platform,,bringing plenty of criticism:: religious groups attacked the music;; politicians complained about the influence of rock-and-roll on young people;; even established entertainers such as Frank Sinatra weren’t always impressed with the direction popular music was taking.. But Clark kept going,,andhistory eventually proved just how important that platform had become.. Many of the artists who appeared on American Bandstand during its long run would eventually find themselves honored in the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame.. The show’s success also helped Clark build something much bigger than a television career:: American Bandstand became the foundation for a growing media empire that included other television programs,,major award shows,,andeven a themed restaurant chain..
Clark eventually became the head of Dick Clark Productions,,turning his television fame into a powerful entertainment business.. By 1965,,he was only35 years old,andreportedly earning around $1 million a year,,andAmerican Bandstand still had plenty of life left in it.. Over the next several years,,the show continued bringing rising stars into American homes just before they reached the very top:: Sonny-and-Cher appeared in June1965;; Neil Diamond followed in June1966;; the Fifth Dimension appeared in 1966 as pop-and-soul continued blending together;; andThe Doors brought a darker edge to the program in July1967.. Then just two months later,,American Bandstand entered another new era:: the show was broadcast in color for the first time..
Television itself was changing,,andAmerican Bandstand was changing with it,,andthat ability to adapt would keep the program alive for decades.. By the 1970s,,the show was still using its enormous platform to introduce new performers while celebrating the artists who had helped build the music industry.. On February ́
24,,1970,,the Jackson5 appeared on the show,andperformed“ I Want You Back” and“ ABC.. ”” The appearance also gave a very young Michael Jackson his first television interview;; Michael returned the following year,,this time for his first solo television performance singing“ Rockin’Robin..
”” Then came the show’s 20th anniversary in 1973,,celebrated with a huge special that brought together generations of performers:: Little Richard,,Paul Revere-and-the Raiders,,Johnny Mathis,,Three Dog Night,,Annette Funicello,,andCheech-and-Chong were among the names taking part.. It was a fitting celebration of what the show had become:: a place where the stars who built one era could stand alongside the performers shaping the next.. Four years later,,the 25th anniversary special raised the bar again;; the lineup included Chuck Berry,,Seals-and-Crofts,,Gregg Allman,,Junior Walker,,Johnny Rivers,,the Pointer Sisters,,Charlie Daniels,,andmany more.. Butthe biggest moment came at the end:: Clark brought the night’s performers together for an enormous all-star jam with artists from across different generations sharing the stage,,ending with everyone joining in on Chuck Berry’s“ Roll Over Beethoven..
”” By the late 1970s,,American music was moving into the disco era,andAmerican Bandstand once again followed the trend,,airing a major disco special co-hosted by Donna Summer to promote her new film,,Thank God It’s Friday.. Then came one of the show’s most unexpected cultural contributions:: in1979,,Clark created a simple set of dance moves for the audience during the debut of The Village People’s“ Y.. M.. C..
A.. ”” The moves caught on;; what started as a little routine on American Bandstand became an international dance craze that would eventually find its way into weddings,,sporting events,,parties,,andcountless school gymnasiums.. But by the 1980s,,the television landscape was changing too quickly for American Bandstand to keep its old dominance.. MTV launched in1981,andcompletely changed the way young people discovered music;; suddenly,,viewers could watch music videos all day rather than waiting for a weekly television program to bring artists into the studio..
Then another problem hit:: in1984,,televised college football was deregulated,,giving ABC affiliates more freedom to choose their programming,,andmany stations decidedthat live college football was more valuable than American Bandstand,,andmore of them began dropping the show.. After three decades on ABC,,the original run finally came to an end in1987.. But even then,,American Bandstand wasn’t finished;; the show continued in syndication for another two seasons after leaving ABC.. Clark eventually stepped away as host,,andthe program moved to the USA network for one final season with a new host,,with the last episode airing on October7,,1989..
These days,,American Bandstand is hardly remembered for what it was originally built to do:: put safe,,clean-cut pop stars in front of a studio audience,andhelp sell their records.. What people remember are the moments when the show collided with a culture that was changing faster than television could keep up.. There had already been the Summer of Love with Jefferson Airplane bringing a very different kind of energy to the stage while an overly cheerful Dick Clark struggled to understand why hippies had no interest in cutting their hair;; then came Talking Heads,,leaving Clark visibly baffled as he tried to make small talk with David Byrne.. But none of those moments prepared American Bandstand for what happened when Public Image Ltd..
showed up.. That appearance was so strange,,so completely out of step with the show’s polished formula,,that Dick Clark later called it the single worst moment in the entire history of American Bandstand.. It happened on May17,,1980,,just one month before John Lydon,andKeith Levene would sit down for their infamous interview on Tom Snyder’s show,,during which Lydon famously refused to even describe Public Image Ltd.. as a normal band,,insisting that it was more like a company..
But before that interview ever happened,,PiL had already made their feelings about mainstream television pretty clear.. The band was on American Bandstand to promote Second Edition,,their dark-and-moody album that pushed deep into dub,,experimental rock,,andpost-punk;; even though one of the songs was called“ Poptones,,there was very little about the track that sounded remotely like conventional pop.. According to author Cole Kunin his book,,Sex and Travel::Investigations of Metallic Fragments,,Lydon approached Dick Clark before the performance,andwarned him that he had a cold;; he then made it clear that because he was not feeling well,,he planned to mock the whole situation,andessentially take the performance apart from the inside.. Clark apparently gave him permission to do exactly that,,andLydon took full advantage of it..
His own version of the story,,however,,was somewhat different;; Lydon later explained thatthe producers had cut PiL’s original 13-minute performance of“ Poptones” and“ Careering” down to fit the television broadcast,,leavingthe band witha heavily edited track,andvery little idea of where the vocals were supposed to come in.. Instead of trying to force the performance into the usual American Bandstand mold,,Lydon simply went with the chaos.. When“ Poptones” began,,he sat on the edge of the stage,,looking completely disconnected from the music;; then he grabbed the microphone,andwalked straight into the audience.. There was no attempt to lip-sync,,no polished choreography,,no carefully planned television performance;; the audience had no idea what was happening,,andLydon seemed perfectly comfortable with that..
He wandered through the crowd,,pulling people onto the stage,andencouraging them to dance,,andslowly,,the carefully controlled studio environment began to disappear.. The audience stopped behaving like an audience,andbecame part of the performance itself;; by the end of the first song,,the stage was filling with people,,while Lydon continued moving through the crowd,,andthe usual boundaries between performer-and-viewer were starting to collapse.. Dick Clark barely had time to introduce the band before“ Careering” came crashing in,,andthat was what made the performance so unsettling.. The real threat of punk-and-post-punk that night was not a violent crowd or some outrageous stage stunt;; it was the fact that PiL exposed how artificial television could be..
American Bandstand was designed to make pop music look controlled,,polished,,andpredictable;; Public Image Ltd.. walked in,andmade it look completely out of control.. For a few minutes,,the cameras could no longer hide the machinery behind the show:: the audience was on stage,,the performer was in the crowd,,andnobody seemed entirely sure what was supposed to happen next..
The performance did not simply break the rules of American Bandstand;; it made the rules look pointless..
