Don Cornelius, the man behind Soul Train, took his life recently. The show had been off the air for awhile but his stature in the music world was such that the news still came as a shock. I occasionally watched Soul Train back in the day, but the dancers invariably made me painfully white and arhythmic so the whole experience didn’t help my self-esteem.

But it’s time to honor the legacy of Mr. Cornelius by listening to a very small sampling of music from the vast number of artists who appeared on Soul Train.

Michael Bolton “(Sittin’ On The) Dock Of The Bay” (Otis Redding)
I’ve never been shy about posting bad covers here at Cover Freak. In fact I relish a cover that’s so bad that it’s revelatory. As Arlo Guthrie famously said, “You can’t have a light without a dark to stick it in.” And you can’t appreciate a good cover until you’ve heard an awful one.

But there are still a few covers so heinous that I try to keep them locked away, beyond the ability to harm the unsuspecting. Covers of mass destruction, so to speak. But this week I’m unleashing one on all of you and I can only hope that you find it in your hearts to forgive me.

I was reading Wikipedia’s list of people who appeared on Soul Train and was shocked to find Michael Bolton listed. I know that all kinds of acts appeared on the show over the years but it’s really no exaggeration to describe this guy as a no-talent ass-clown. He sings like he’s constipated as he butchers this song.

Johnny Aloha “Gangsta’s Paradise” (Coolio)
Don Cornelius wasn’t afraid to have edgier acts on Soul Train. It’s easy to look back on Coolio as a one-hit wonder but at the time this was quite the urban anthem. Here it gets loungified by Richard Cheese protege Johnny Aloha.

The Groovegrass Boyz “Wabash Cannonball” (The Carter Family)
Bootsy Collins appeared on Soul Train many times over the years. I don’t think he ever appeared on the show with this band. This song is one of the few that you’ll ever hear that features both Bootsy and Doc Watson. It’s from an album called Groovegrass 101 and was part of an effort to expose a young urban audience to country music. I don’t think it was very successful on that front but it’s a fantastic album.

Alton Ellis “La-La Means I Love You” (The Delfonics)
I was a little surprised to learn that this song was released in 1968. I just always assumed from the sound of it that it came out around 1953. I’m guessing that they were on Soul Train around the time the song came out. It holds up well as a reggae song.

Deep Purple “River Deep, Mountain High” (Ike And Tina Turner)
When I was in high school the Holy Trinity of Rock among my friends was the Stones, the Who, and Led Zeppelin. Even in those days my musical tastes were a bit different, my Holy Trinity consisted of Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, and Queen. As a result this version of the song is the one I first became familiar with. I had heard Ike and Tina, mainly their version of Proud Mary. But it was years before I heard Ike and Tina do their version.

This is from the early days of Deep Purple, before they released the Machine Head album and became proto-metal gods. They were much more experimental and much more open to recording creative covers of other people’s music.