Dick Clark Dead at 82*

If there was no Dick Clark,there'd be No "Music Television",No VH-1 nor VH-1 Classic,No Monkees! Think about it..Without Dick,Rock would've never even got on the air! Thank God for Dick Clark! A true visionary man!RIP,Dick.

 

Interestingly enough, I knew Dick Clark more from those Pyramid game shows than either the New Year's Eve specials or American Bandstand (I was much more in to Soul Train as it was generally considered the "hipper" program during the 70s). How sadly ironic that both he and Don Cornelius would pass on during the same year; as others have said, "it's the end of an era" for sure.

While it appears that some of his behind the scenes dealings were a bit shady, to say the least (but then so, apparently, were those of fellow TV show host and producer Chuck Barris), and that American Bandstand perhaps "played it safe" as also noted above (not sure whether being a forerunner to MTV, VH1, et. al. is entirely great), his contributions to American popular culture were indeed undeniable. At least on camera, Dick Clark always came across as a congenial host, and I think that his presence there for whatever program he appeared on is what I will best remember him for.

So long, Dick Clark. RIP

 

I understand.Folks here love music passionately and Clark was a door opener for some and at least a force to be reckoned with for most.Knowing more,not less,about him is something I would think many here would appreciate.Strip away his personality,his roles and businesses outside of music and one sees that,for a time, he was a tastemaker,a kingmaker. Radio at the time,especially radio geared towards teens, was pretty much a local phenom. American Bandstand was a national gathering where a song was heard virtually at the same time to hundreds of thousands of teens.In 1955,that was no mean feat.A song played on American Bandstand was more important than Ed Sullivan or any prime time TV show.A personal appearance?Things heated up. A repeat performance?Almost guaranteed stardom.How the kids looked,talked,danced played an important part of how teens viewed themselves.What happened one day on AB became a trend the next.And Clark & Co. made those decisions. This instead of that.Maybe you found out later that the "that" was better than the "this" but at the time, all you got was "this".Duane Eddy along with Fabian(Clark had monetary stakes in the success of both).It's a question of power and use of that power,the results affected many.

 

Nice backhand!

 

I would never bash Dick Clark, but in a way I do wish he would have stopped appearing on New Year's Eve after he had his stroke. Granted it took a lot of courage, and I'm sure it was helpful to many who suffer from strokes, but unfortunately I will always remember him that way.

I guess that's just the way it is, but I had a very hard time watching him in that state. I'd prefer to remember him when he was more vibrant, but this is the case with many. Then again, the only way for most to escape that fate is to die young and that's no good either.

 

Poor George Harrison, what a hardship to suffer.

 

What's wrong with remembering him as someone who got old, experienced an illness, recovered, and went on, with some impairments? God forbid anyone less than 100% young, fit, thin, beautiful, or able should ever appear on camera to pollute our fantasy entertainment.

Good on Dick for continuing to work as long as he felt up to it.

 

+1, George could be wickedly bitter at times.

 

IMO, RIP threads are not the place for negative comments. Kinda comes off like showing up at a wake and telling the mourners what a jerk off the deceased was.

Another thread? Sure, let it fly. But it doesn't seem right in an RIP thread. Just two cents from a guy who is no fan of Dick Clark.

 

Agreed,100%! I really don't think people have the right to bash him after his passing..How would YOU feel if after you pass,someone wrote this kind of dirt about you? Have some respect to Dick and his family,Guys! The Family lost a great Father and Husband! Show a little restraint,Please!

 

RIP, Mr. Clark...

 

Remembering Dick Clark
"Even though I told him in 1984 that I wanted to rule the world, it's Dick Clark who ruled the world. He loved what he did and his energy and enthusiasm were boundless. A great man. I bow to his memory and everything he did with his life." - Madonna

 

Same feeling here and same problems, Take Care, John M.

 

Dick Clark's record room

 

Clark wasn't charged per se because, at the time, it wasn't illegal to take money for playing records on the air. The trick was: you had to declare the money on your income tax return. Clark always did that, but Alan Freed did not... plus, Clark was willing to cooperate and testify, and Freed was a lot more combative.

The whole payola thing was very complicated. What's interesting is how deeply Clark was involved: he owned record pressing plants, record labels, printing companies, publishing companies, you name it. Definitely a conflict-of-interest situation, but his defense has always been, "I never promoted a song I didn't personally think was a hit, whether or not I owned it." He also maintained it was impossible to take a bad song and force it to become a hit.

This is all covered in the 1999 book American Bandstand: Dick Clark and the Making of a Rock 'n' Roll Empire.

 

but his defense has always been, "I never promoted a song I didn't personally think was a hit, whether or not I owned it." He also maintained it was impossible to take a bad song and force it to become a hit.

Normally, I'd say this seems dishonest . . . but he promoted an incredible amount of total dreck . . . many, many terrible songs - and some of the ones Clark was closest to have been more or less forgotten. (As I wrote earlier, he was openly proud of "breaking" Fabian, years and years after Fabian had disappeared except as a sly joke on "Laverne And Shirley" episodes.)

Someone posted me part of an interview with him from 1975, when he was asked who might still be "hot" in 15 years (1990.)

His response was (paraphrasing slightly) "Elvis Presley and the Osmonds. And you can't count out Engelbert Humperdinck."

It's hard for anyone to imagine being that out of touch - these weren't very convincingly hot artists even in the year he was asked, but they show a remarkable lack of prescience for someone who'd been in the business for as long as he had, and with remarkable access.

So it may be so that he "never promoted" a song that he didn't personally think was a hit. But does this mean anything? It's not the same as saying that he promoted the best and most worthy music - for the most part he didn't do that. He did (it seems) promote the music he thought would sell the most, and often in the early days he was financially connected to those songs.

I do think he's less-than-honest here:

He also maintained it was impossible to take a bad song and force it to become a hit.

Anyone on this forum with an even cursory knowledge of pop music can cite loads of examples of (almost universally acknowledged) total dreck that topped the charts. Dick Clark couldn't figure that out?

 

Truly unbelievable, the vitriol that people spew in these RIP threads.

If you want to start a thread about how awful payola or Fabian were, go for it, but is this really the time or place?

 

KNOCK IT OFF! THIS IS RIP!!!!!

 

He was an indelible par of my youth. RIP

 

Is anybody else surprised at the revelation that Dick had Parkinson's disease? I never would have guessed that.

 

I had forgotten about this one. Dick was a concert promoter too.

 

Ask Jeff Beck about "Dick Clark's Caravan Of The Stars". Two shows a night, every night, sometimes in different towns. Beck lasted about a week before throwing his guitar at Keith Relf and quitting The Yardbirds for good.

 

Read the book.



I found it remarkable and illuminating, and actually shed a lot of light on how Dick Clark came to fame, what happened with the original host of American Bandstand (lot of dirt), how involved Clark was in Payola, who got on the show, who didn't get on the show, and how he managed to stay squeaky-clean over the years. I was surprised that Clark was as cooperative as he was with the book, and he was pretty open and honest about his mistakes and regrets over the years.

As far as negative comments about Dick, I don't think he was a bad guy, and he might have been better than most mega-millionaire businessmen of that era. Trust me, every major American businessman has skeletons in their past. Dick Clark is no exception, and I think in showbiz, he's actually better than most. But he definitely was not a saint.

 

As someone who watched the show in the afternoons when it was broadcast live from WFIL studios in Philadelphia, I can't tell you how important Dick Clark and Bandstand was.

 

Cameo Parkway also benefitted from Dick's AB,too while both were in Philadelphia,premeiring their acts on his show,like,i.e.,Chubby Checker,Bobby Rydell,The Dovells,Dee Dee Sharp,to name only a few...Truly a match made in Rock Heaven!