There was a time, many years ago now, where if you turned to VH1, BET, or MTV, no matter what time of day or night, you’d see a music video.  You just to have to take me for my word on this one.  One of, if not the pioneer of all video countdown shows (including Total Request Live and 106 and Park) Video Soul was the only place to go to see music videos by black artists (eventually spawning the two shows that would highlight rap videos, Rap City and Yo! MTV Raps).  The Dick Clark of the 80s urban generation was Donnie Simpson, whose high pitched cackle and Cliff Huxtable-esque style made him the perfect host for the East Coast based show.

On to the tale of the tape…

Relevance:  It sounds strange to look back now, but outside of Michael Jackson there was a noticeable ‘line in the sand’ when it came to seeing videos of certain artists.  Prince eventually got his own well deserved MTV play, but if you turned to Video Soul, you knew you’d see some Prince.  Major, and in this case, relevant difference.

Legacy:  As mentioned in the intro, TRL, 106 and Park, Rap City, and Yo! MTV Raps all owe a huge debt to Video Soul.  And those are just the television shows.  If I listed every artist who got their initial (and in many cases only) video play on Video Soul, I’d run out of space. 

Craft: Low score here, but I think context is important.  A couch, a giant monitor, Donnie Simpson and sometimes Sherry Carter.  Not much more needed.  Won’t hold the ‘craft’ of 80s videos against the show.

Crossover:  As opposed to 106, Video Soul was very much a product of its time.  I won’t go as far as to say it was ‘proud’ to be so Afro-centric, but I will say (among other reasons), you’d never even dream of Tom Cruise stopping by Video Soul to promote one of his films back in the day.

Apollo:  Again, the nature of the show was more of a ‘showcase’ for other artists.  I don’t know if anything Donnie did as an ‘oh snap!’ type of moment.

#19 should be up next week…