When Soul Train first broadcast in 1970 out of a small studio in Chicago it became an overnight sensation. Black America finally had its own version of Dick Clarke’s American Bandstand and with Don Cornelius, an indomitable visionary at the helm, Soul Train broke musical and political ground, projecting a positive representation of black culture into the homes of regular Americans, breaking new styles, outrageous dance moves and the hottest black acts in the process.

Within a year Soul Train had become a national phenomenon. Gladys Knight and the Pips headlined its first nationwide broadcast, and performances by the likes of Curtis Mayfield and The O’Jays helped cement its reputation as the hottest show on air. Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America, a new documentary for VH1 Rock Docs, looks back on the incredible success of the most widely syndicated, influential and innovative music series of all time.

It features, of course, some of the unforgettable performers who graced the stage during its heyday: Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Sly and the Family Stone, The Jacksons, to name but a few. And it pays recognition to the show’s real stars, the dancers, who turned out week after week (or one weekend each month as we learn, as four shows would be taped over the course of a weekend), coming up with moves that would be imitated in playgrounds and on dance-floors across America, and giving rise to the Soul Train Line, for which dancers would save their wildest new moves, and which was arguably the forerunner to the now ubiquitous b-boy circle.

The documentary charts the show through the rise of disco, and into hip hop’s early years, with breakthrough acts The Sugar Hill Gang, Eric B and Rakim, LL Cool J and Public Enemy reaching a national audience. And even though this new sound was anathema to Cornelius, he recognized the importance of providing black artists with the platform, and the exposure it gave them took hip hop from New York and introduced it to America, some would say no less than breaking the genre in the process.

Soul Train’s legacy should not be underestimated. At the preview screening in New York last night ?uestlove revealed it was the only show on television his parents allowed him to watch, even though it aired at 12:30am in Philly. Sugar Hill Gang’s Big Bank Hank described the Soul Train stage as “sacred ground”, and Tyrone Proctor, a lead dancer and choreographer on the show, revealed the competition and unity which inspired the kids lucky enough to be selected to dance, and the reverence of all who were involved for its creator, Don Cornelius: “To do what he did, … was genius.”

Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America airs on VH1 in February 2010. The Los Angeles premiere screening is tomorrow (Friday night) where Don Cornelius himself will be on the panel.

A deluxe set of memorable Soul Train episodes is set for a release this Spring.

Exemplary Soul Train episodes will be screening from now until the end of the month at The Paley Center for Media in New York as part of its Black History Month celebrations. Details here.