The Super Bowl had a majority of hype coming into the game and in the end lived up to the build. However, just like the game, these two car ads for Honda CR-V and Kia Optima left us with just as much memories from the game with their excellent commercials. 

Let’s take a look at how these two commercials were excellent in each of their own special ways.

Honda CR-V

Hollywood is continuously churning out remakes or sequels to classic movies from the 80’s. However, we haven’t seen one of these done in commercial form. Honda tried and killed it during the Super Bowl with their remake (or sequel) to the popular movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

However, don’t take it from me, according to Mashable Business: 

Honda’s CR-V ad featuring Bueller star Matthew Broderick taking a day off (above) was the most-buzzed Super Bowl ad, according to Zeta Interactive. Honda’s ad received 91% positive buzz, narrowly beating out M&M’s “Mrs. Brown” ad and Budweiser’s “Eternal Optimism,” spot, which both got 90%, according to Zeta, which analyzes more than 200 million blogs, tweets, message boards and other social media posts.

Let’s hope that they keep this to a small commercial and not a full-blown remake of the movie. 

Kia Optima

Kia’s checklist for their commercial must have went like this: hot models in a bathing suit, plus Victoria Secret Model Adriana Lima, a car whipping around a race track, two lumberjacks sawing a giant hero sandwich, a bull rider riding a giant rhino, heavy metal band Mötley Crüe playing one of their best hits plus explosions while UFC Fighter Chuck Liddell is trying to kick someone’s head off.  

Because, in their ad they made sure to hit on almost everything that males aged 18-34 can relate to, or like that would push them to want to buy a Kia. 

The commercial was so good that it was ranked fifth on Superbowl-Commercials.org’s Top 10 list saying:

5. A Dream Car. For Real Life – Kia Optima

We’re not sure anyone would call an Optima a “dream car,” but this was certainly a dream commercial. The only reason this doesn’t rank higher on our list is because there’s not enough Adriana Lima. 

Which car commercial did you like the best?

Which car commercial did you like the best?

Kia

Honda

Chevy

Acura

Chrysler

Toyota

Volkswagon

Total votes: 0

These two commercials were just two of the many automobile spots that ran during Super Bowl 46. The other ones were good, but they didn’t provide the entertainment that these two spots did. 

However, your opinion may differ than mine, so let me know. Which car commercials made you laugh, or that you enjoyed more during the game? 

Incoming search terms:

British artist MIA has caused outrage after making a rude gesture and swearing during Madonna’s half-time performance at the Super Bowl.

The London-born rapper and singer was a guest vocalist on the Queen of Pop’s new track Give Me All Your Luvin alongside Nicki Minaj .

During the show, watched by an estimated 100 million people, MIA flipped her middle finger and appeared to sing “I don’t give a ****” – although it was barely audible.

Broadcaster NBC said: “We apologise for the inappropriate gesture that aired during half-time. It was a spontaneous gesture that our delay system caught late.”

The screen blurred briefly after the incident, delayed by less than a second, to cut out the camera shot.

In a statement released by NFL, which produces the show, it blamed the TV network.

“There was a failure in NBC’s delay system,” the NFL said. “The obscene gesture in the performance was completely inappropriate, very disappointing, and we apologise to our fans.”

It is not the first time Super Bowl’s half-time show has caused controversy.

In 2004, Janet Jackson briefly exposed her nipple during a performance with Justin Timberlake.

Prior to the Super Bowl, Madonna had promised there would be no wardrobe malfunctions and admitted she was nervous about the performance.

But despite an elaborate show from the 53-year-old pop star, who is no stranger to controversy herself, it is her guest vocalist who stole the headlines.

Madonna opened the 12-minute show with her classic track Vogue and was carried across the football field on an extravagant throne by muscle-bound men.

Cee Lo Green and LMFAO also performed with Madonna, who briefly appeared to stumble while walking on the stage but recovered quickly.

There was much speculation on Twitter that her vocals were being lip-synched.

Madonna also performed Music and completed the show by singing Like A Prayer which ended with her disappearing in a puff of white smoke down a trap door in the stage, with lights on the field spelling out ‘World Peace’.

This year’s Super Bowl was won by the New York Giants over rivals the New England Patriots – but was hosted on neutral ground in Indianapolis.

Despite the all-American game on the pitch, it was the Brits who featured heavily during the ad breaks.

The sought-after advertising slots were this year selling for an average for £2.2m for just 30 seconds.

So anticipated are the adverts, viewing figures actually go up during the ad breaks.

David Beckham’s new range of underwear featured, as well as Elton John selling Pepsi, while comedian Ricky Gervais starred in an advert for Time Warner Cable.

Other performers at the event included Kelly Clarkson singing the American national anthem.

MIA, real name Maya Arulpragasam, was born to Sri Lankan parents in Hounslow, west London.

She moved back to Sri Lanka when she was six months old but returned to the UK during the country’s civil war and grew up in Morden, south London.

It was not the first time the musician has courted controversy.

In 2010, the video for the single Born Free was given an adults-only rating on YouTube after it showed graphic scenes of violence including red-haired people being rounded up and executed.

Madonna was joined on stage by LMFAO (above), Nicki Minaj, M.I.A. and Cee Lo during her halftime performance.

Robert Beck/SI

For all the pomp and excess of Madonna’s Super Bowl halftime extravaganza a single extended middle finger by guest singer M.I.A. is likely to be the most remembered piece of the show.

The gesture, accompanied by a barely disguised expletive, came during a performance of Madonna’s new single, “Give Me All Your Luvin.”‘ At the end of her lines, M.I.A. appeared to sing “I don’t give a (expletive),” although it was hard to hear clearly.

The incident was reminiscent of Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction” eight years ago — a surprise risque moment in front of tens of millions of unsuspecting viewers. The brief exposure of Jackson’s nipple during the 2004 halftime show raised a storm of controversy and put CBS in hot water with the Federal Communications Commission.

The Super Bowl, shown on NBC this year, is routinely viewed by more than 100 million people, the biggest TV event of the year. The screen briefly went blurred after M.I.A.’s gesture in what was a late attempt — by less than a second — to cut out the camera shot.

“The NFL hired the talent and produced the halftime show,” NBC spokesman Christopher McCloskey said. “Our system was late to obscure the inappropriate gesture and we apologize to our viewers,”

The NFL blamed a failure in NBC’s delay system for allowing the gesture to be seen. Spokesman Brian McCarthy said M.I.A. did not do anything similar during rehearsals and the league had no reason to believe she would pull something like that during the actual show.

“The obscene gesture in the performance was completely inappropriate, very disappointing, and we apologize to our fans,” McCarthy said.

The British singer M.I.A. is best known for her 2007 hit “Paper Planes,” a Grammy nominee for record of the year that memorably features a sample of the Clash song, “Straight to Hell.” It was featured on the soundtrack to the movie “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Madonna had admittedly been nervous about her performance, hoping to position herself as the queen of a new generation of pop stars with an opulent show and a sharp performance that mixed her new release with more familiar songs. She seemed like Roman royalty when muscle-bound men carried her extravagant throne across the football field to the stage for her opening song, “Vogue.”

Guests Cee Lo, Nicki Minaj and dance rockers LMFAO also appeared with Madonna. The singing and dancing on “Vogue” was smartly choreographed, as Madonna moved more deliberately — she is 53 — but still adroitly. She briefly appeared to stumble at one point while trying to make a step on the stage set, but recovered in time.

She let a tightrope walker make the more acrobatic moves during a performance of “Music.”

Madonna carried gold pompons for a performance of her new single. Twitter was alight with questions about the vocals being lip synched or augmented by tapes, particularly during this song.

The best guest was clearly Cee Lo, who joined Madonna for the final song, “Like a Prayer.” They were joined by a robed chorus in the show’s most soaring performance. With a puff of white smoke, Madonna disappeared down a trap door in the stage, and lights on the field spelled out “World Peace.”

The performance was also carried live on SiriusXM Radio, giving Madonna the biggest single audience of her career. For all the elaborate choreography and flashy effects, the finger incident is the more likely headline from the event.

Earlier, Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert offered some pregame patriotism. Shelton and Lambert did a twangy duet on “America the Beautiful” and Clarkson, in a simple black dress, sang “The Star Spangled Banner” without a hitch after last year’s performer, Christina Aguilera, flubbed a line.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Acura hit it out of the park, or should I say scored a TD, with its new Super Bowl ad. The only thing sharper than Jerry Seinfeld’s performance in this ad is the Acura NSX the spot is made to advertise. 

I’m buying both. 

Well, not literally. For one, I’m 6’5″ 265 pounds, and I don’t think guys my size will fit comfortably in the NSX. But it sure is nice to look at.

And no, I’m not actually going to buy Jerry. I’m sure that would be illegal, but you get my point.

Check out the commercial:

Seinfeld’s performance was a really cool hybrid between his character on the show and his true stand-up persona, which is slightly different and more risqué than the sitcom character.

How bad do you miss Seinfeld episodes?

How bad do you miss Seinfeld episodes?

Tons

A little bit

Never watched it

Not at all, never liked the show

Total votes: 15

In the commercial, Jerry wants the NSX bad, but he’s told he’s second on the waiting list for it. Jerry decides that he’ll try to finagle his way into the top spot, in classic Seinfeld fashion.

He attempts several hilarious stunts to try to convince the guy holding the top spot into trading with him.

The most hilarious was when he shows up to the guy’s house with a small, smoky body bag containing an alien (think Roswell).

He quickly zips it back up, saying “bad idea.” The guy’s reaction to the stunt is priceless.

Seinfeld finally wins the man over, only to have Jay Leno thwart his attempts with a crazy bribe of his own.

Leno looks so old, I barely recognized him at first, but the chin and nose gave it away.

Nonetheless, the spot is hilarious and the car is awesome. This will be one of the more memorable Super Bowl ads of the year.

Friends of Don Cornelius say the legendary creator of the long-running television show Soul Train was dealing with significant “demons,’’ and while they are saddened by his death, they say they aren’t surprised he took his own life with a gunshot to the head.

“Don was always a smart man, but in recent years he’d made a lot of poor choices in business and in his relationships with women,’’ said one friend of 30 years. “He was swayed by a few people to invest in projects that didn’t pan out and the last marriage in many ways destroyed his mind, heart and his soul. He was never the same after that marriage.’’

Some close to the smooth-voiced television host described a man hurt and distraught by bad business decisions, poor health, and an ugly divorce that took hundreds of thousands of dollars from his children and other family members.

Long-time friends such as Clarence Avant, the former chairman of Motown Records, said that no matter the reasons for his death, the music industry owes Cornelius a great debt. “His legacy to music, especially black music, will be forever cemented in history,” he said. “He was one of my dearest friends and I will miss him deeply.’’

Los Angeles police said they arrived at Cornelius’ Mulholland Drive home around 4 a.m. on February 1 after receiving a call from one of his sons, who became worried after Cornelius called him. “He and his son had a conversation earlier and the son came over and found his father in that state,” said Officer Sara Faden, of the Los Angeles Police Department. “It looks like the two of them had spoken within the hour.”

Cornelius, who was found on the floor, was rushed to Cedars Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:57 a.m. There was no suicide note. Police, who spent most of the day at the house talking to friends and family members, have ruled out foul play.

News of the music pioneer’s death prompted an outpouring from some of the pop world’s biggest stars. Aretha Franklin, who performed on Soul Train, released a statement calling Cornelius’ death “sad, stunning, and downright shocking … a huge and momentous loss to the African-American community and the world at large.” Smokey Robinson said Cornelius “brought exposure to black talent and a positive image to young black teenagers that had never been done before.”

Photos: ‘Soul Train’ Style

Cornelius was born on Sept. 27, 1936, and grew up on Chicago’s South Side. He was a Chicago police officer in the mid-1960s, when he met radio personality Ed Cobb. Cobb liked his distinctive voice and Cornelius was soon hired as an announcer on WVON. In the early 70s, Cornelius became a household name after he launched Soul Train. The iconic dance show, which gave many African-Americans a forum to display their talents, became one of television’s longest-running syndicated programs. The suave Cornelius was known for the catchphrase that he used to end the show: “I’m Don Cornelius, and as always in parting, we wish you love, peace and soul.”

The show made Cornelius a television icon, and featured top black artists including Gladys Knight, Lou Rawls, and Barry White. In 1987, Cornelius started the Soul Train Music Awards, which showcased performers such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Run DMC.

Director J. Kevin Swain said he met Cornelius in 1988, when Swain was a production coordinator on the Soul Train Music Awards. “Our roots are pretty deep,” he said. “He took me in and showed me the ropes. Don was very serious about his work, and if you didn’t pull your weight you would be out. He was a shrewd businessman.”

Cornelius gave up his hosting gig in 1993, and sold Soul Train to MadVision Entertainment in 2008.

But over the years he was plagued by a number of health issues. In 1982, he underwent a 21-hour operation to fix a congenital malformation in blood vessels in his brain. “You choose your brain surgeons for their stamina,” he later told the Washington Post. “You’re never quite the same afterward. Travel is always a real test.”

He also suffered a stroke in the last decade. His health was not the only thing to deteriorate. By the mid-2000s his personal life began to unravel. After a failed first marriage that produced two sons, Anthony and Raymond, Cornelius married a much younger Russian model named Viktoria Chapman in 2001. But, it wasn’t long before the relationship soured because they were from vastly different worlds, friends said.

Court records show that the couple separated in 2007. The following year, Cornelius was arrested for felony domestic violence following a fight at their home in the gated community of Sherman Oaks. Cornelius admitted in court records that he could not return to their house because he had a domestic violence restraining order against him. He said the order was placed on him because of a “physical confrontation that we had in December of 2008 which involved a series of four unwanted pepper spray attacks against me.”

“Although she instigated the confrontation by shouting insults and profanities very close to my face, and even though the incident itself involved mutual acts of aggression against Viktoria,” he said. “Her injuries were very apparent. My injuries were to my eyes and face and not apparent because of the darkness of my skin.”

In 2009, he pleaded no contest to one count of “corporal injury resulting in traumatic condition of a spouse,’’ and was put on probation for 36 months. His probation was scheduled to end at the end of this month.

In his declaration to end his five-year marriage, Cornelius seemed frustrated when he wrote: “I am 72-years-old. I have significant health issues. I want to finalize this divorce before I die.”

He complained to a judge that he was paying temporary spousal support that “far exceeds guideline levels.”

At the time of the divorce proceedings, Cornelius reported that his total assets included a number of properties in Chicago and Los Angeles, a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, two Rolls-Royce automobiles, and a 1992 Mercedes Benz SEL.

The divorce finally was settled in May of 2009. Cornelius was required to pay $10,000 a month in spousal support, and among other things buy his ex-wife a home not exceeding $1,095, 000, and pay college tuition fees for his adopted daughter, also named Viktoria.

“He didn’t want to give [his wife] a dime,’’ said a family member. “She caused him a lot of heartache and hadn’t been there for the majority of his success and hard work. But he had to and that burned through his skin. So many people told him not to marry her and he did. I think he was haunted by mistakes he could have avoided.’’

However, by 2010, things seemed to be picking up for the former host. He spoke to the Los Angeles Times about the release of a double-CD collection of Soul Train highlights, and announced he was developing a feature film inspired by the TV show for Warner Bros.

“It wouldn’t be the Soul Train dance show, it would be more of a biographical look at the project,” he said. “It’s going to be about some of the things that really happened on the show. I had a discussion with Eddie Murphy not long ago, and he liked the documentary so much that he suggested that he might want to do something in terms of the show’s relationship with James Brown — if not play him, then just do a kind of vignette.”

Last September, Cornelius was back in Chicago at a concert to honor the 40th anniversary of Soul Train. There, Cornelius was presented with an honorary street sign with his name and the Soul Train logo on it. “This is the biggest thing that ever happened to me,” he said.

That same night, Swain, who is now a Los Angeles-based director, screened his documentary, Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America.

“I had never seen him more happy and full of joy,” said Swain. “I felt like his love and respect particularly after the documentary. That meant the world to me. He was my hero. My life wouldn’t be what is if it wasn’t for Don Cornelius.”

Los Angeles Sentinel editor Danny Bakewell said he had lunch at Spago with Cornelius and his son, Anthony, in late December, and never suspected his longtime friend was struggling.

“We were talking about family and friends,” he said. “His granddaughter is a big-time volleyball player. It wasn’t about how terrible everything is. I didn’t get the impression he had any major health problems or concerns. He moved slower and talked slower but he was happy and alert.”

But, according to a family member, Cornelius had several cancer scares in recent months.

“He wasn’t a well man, but he was a true man’s man,” said a friend. “He didn’t like being sick and not being able to do for himself. His health had taken a downturn the last few months and he wouldn’t tell me what it was. He didn’t want to complain about his woes.’’

In the end, family members say, losing money to his ex-wife in his last divorce was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“He lost it over that situation and that marriage,’’ says a friend. “He’d been in poor health for years for several reasons but that marriage really took him down. It drained his energy and his way of thinking. He was sinking deeper and deeper into depression and there wasn’t much anyone could do. He wanted that marriage to work so badly and then it just fell apart and became very ugly along the way.’’

“He’d accomplished so much, and to have it fall apart like it did with so many negative stories about his actions in his marriage,” he added. “That stuff hurt him and he felt it hurt his reputation as a serious businessman who’d changed the music industry.”

Don Cornelius pulled $400 from his own pocket to launch the dance show on a local Chicago TV station in 1970. As host and executive producer of “Soul Train,” he was soon at the throttle of a nationally syndicated television institution that was the first dance show to cater to the musical tastes of black teenagers and also helped bring black music, dance, fashion and style to mainstream America.

In the process of presenting the soul, funk and R&B of the day, the Afro-haired, dapper Cornelius became a TV icon, his sonorous baritone welcoming viewers to “the hippest trip in America.”

Cornelius, 75, was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles Wednesday after a family member found him in his home in Encino with a gunshot wound to his head, according to law enforcement sources. The wound appeared to be self-inflicted, but the death was being investigated by police. Friends say he had been in poor health.

On Wednesday, those who knew Cornelius recalled his impact on American culture.

“Don was a visionary and giant in our business,” producer and composer Quincy Jones said in a statement. “Before MTV there was ‘Soul Train’; that will be the great legacy of Don Cornelius. His contributions to television, music and our culture as a whole will never be matched.”

Aretha Franklin said Cornelius “united the young adult community single-handedly and globally.”

“With the inception of ‘Soul Train,’ a young, progressive brother set the pace and worldwide standard for young aspiring African American men and entrepreneurs in TV — out of Chicago,” Franklin, who appeared on the show, said in a statement. “He transcended barriers among young adults. They became one.”

“Soul Train,” which moved to Los Angeles and entered national syndication in 1971, featured other legendary artists, including James Brown, Marvin Gaye, the Jackson 5 and Barry White.

With its catchy introduction featuring an animated, psychedelic smoke-spewing locomotive, “Soul Train” became destination TV for teenagers across America in the ’70s.

Magic Johnson was one of them. “Every Saturday morning I looked forward to watching ‘Soul Train,’ as did millions of other people,” Johnson, chairman of Soul Train Holdings, said in a statement. “‘Soul Train’ taught the world how to dance! Don’s contribution to us all is immeasurable.”

Beyond the music and the artists featured on “Soul Train,” much of its popularity was attributed to the young dancers on the show.

Cornelius’ teen dance party featured the talents of some of the best young dancers in the area, and one of the show’s most popular features was the “Soul Train” line, with dancers going down the line and showing off their best moves.

Among those who went on to later fame are actress Rosie Perez, singer Jody Watley, rapper MC Hammer and Jeffrey Daniel, who taught Michael Jackson how to moonwalk.

In his 1996 book “Funk: The Music, the People and the Rhythm of the One,” Rickey Vincent called “Soul Train” the “most undiluted showcase of black sexuality in the country” and “a cultural mecca for the entire decade of the ’70s.”

That there was a need for such a show was obvious to Cornelius, who had launched his career in radio only a few years before the show’s debut.

“It was a period when television was a very white medium, and that didn’t make sense to me,” he told Billboard magazine in 2005, the year he received the Trustees Award from the Recording Academy for lasting contributions to culture as the creator of “Soul Train.”

“I wanted to bring more of our African American entertainment to not only the black [niche] viewers but to the crossover viewers as well,” he said.

Robert Santelli, executive producer of the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, told The Times on Wednesday that “‘Soul Train’ was to soul music what ‘American Bandstand’ was to early rock ‘n’ roll, and Don Cornelius was like a black Dick Clark.

For the man who brought the soul to mainstream America every Saturday morning, the “hippest trip” is over.

The mellifluous-voiced and effortlessly charismatic Don Cornelius, originator and host of “Soul Train” was found dead in his Sherman Oaks, Calif. home this morning, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Department. His death was apparently a suicide by gunshot. Cornelius was 75 years old.

It was a violent end to a life that was once dedicated to peace, sweet music and the transformative power of television. Before the national syndication of “Soul Train” in 1971, it was virtually impossible to find mainstream programming dedicated to broadcasting African-American music, dance and culture. “Soul Train” brought R&B, funk, jazz, disco and hip-hop into the living rooms of millions of Americans and, in so doing, got them to move, think and examine preconceptions about racial politics, the barriers between genres and the whitewashing of popular entertainment.

Cornelius’ deep, smooth voice, his congenial demeanor, his ease with guests and his colorful vernacular made him a star in his own right. (“It’s all gonna be a stone gas, honey,” his weekly sign-off, became a catchphrase.)

“He united the young adult community single-handedly and globally,” wrote Aretha Franklin in a statement. “With the inception of ‘Soul Train,’ a young, progressive brother set the pace and worldwide standard for young aspiring African American men and entrepreneurs in TV. He transcended cultural barriers among young adults.”

That wasn’t just the residue of the show’s popularity. It was what “Soul Train” was designed to do. Cornelius, born and raised in the Windy City, began his public career as a deejay and news reporter on WVON, a radio station serving Chicago’s enormous African-American population. He always saw “Soul Train” as more than a dance show: To him, it was also a vehicle for educating the public about the astounding creativity of African-American artists.

“I’d like to say it was a struggle,” Cornelius told Billboard Magazine in 2002 about the show’s success, “but it really wasn’t; it just was a thing that was so long overdue that it caught on instantaneously. The point is that there should be far more than just that one hour of Black-oriented entertainment. Anybody could see that there was a market there, but it’s so difficult to get something like that started unless you get money and some kind of reputation.”

Once the “Train” started rolling, that reputation grew rapidly. Almost every significant soul musician of the 1970s and 1980s appeared on the program, including Franklin, Michael Jackson, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye and Dionne Warwick.

The show emphasized performers and dancers, but there was almost always a segment dedicated to unscrambling the name of a figure in African-American history. Cornelius, the host of the program from its inception until his departure in 1993, was often outspoken about the broadcast media’s shoddy, neglectful treatment of African-Americans. His flamboyant afro, tamed in later years to a hairdo more reflective of his conservative taste in music, felt like a political statement itself. Everybody was welcome to dance at Mr. Cornelius’ party, but no concessions were made to the expectations of white viewers.

While its historical significance is unquestionable, “Soul Train” was built on a time-honored, predictable format. Before MTV, programs featuring sharp-dressed teens dancing to their favorite artists were staples of regional and national television. “Soul Train” was funkier than “American Bandstand,” but the idea was the same: Attract popular musicians to the studio and allow the stylish and attention-hungry to gyrate for the cameras. Cornelius recognized that there wasn’t a show of this kind dedicated to soul music. In 1970, he convinced independent Chicago station WCIU to take a chance on “Soul Train.” Getting advertisers to back the venture proved trickier, but the persuasive Cornelius landed Chicago cornerstone Sears, Roebuck as an initial primary sponsor.

“When I went in I expected (Sears, Roebuck executive George O’Hare) to tell me what so many others had said about programming for blacks,” Cornelius told Billboard. “The theory that blacks ‘need’ cultural or historical programs and not necessarily entertainment. George was a guy who was receptive to new concepts.”

By 1974, “Soul Train” was syndicated in almost 100 markets across America, and Cornelius was one of the reasons for the show’s wide appeal. Especially during the beginning of the show’s run, he looked the part of the entertainment impresario: handsome, welcoming and possessing reserve that always seemed to be on the verge of falling away under the imperative to boogie. He was as believable as a businessman as he was as a dancer. Don Cornelius Productions, the company that he started, was the rarest thing in show business — a black-owned entertainment business with a national hit on its register.

But Cornelius adjusted awkwardly to changing times. He did not enjoy disco and incorporated it into “Soul Train” only because of its popularity. And while he gave his stage to rappers and deejays, hip-hop mystified him. The smoothness that always characterized his interactions with soul artists dissolved when he had to interview emcees: After Public Enemy’s tremendous, energetic performance of “Rebel Without a Pause,” a befuddled Cornelius famously said “that was frightening.” To a generation of rappers who grew up on “Soul Train,” Cornelius’ distaste came as a crashing disappointment. “Don don’t like rap/So that won’t happen,” groused hip-hop pioneers De La Soul about their prospects of getting on the show.

Cornelius suffered severe personal setbacks, too. In 1982, he underwent brain surgery to correct a life-threatening congenital defect. He was back on “Soul Train” six months later, but never completely recovered. He stepped down from the hosting position in 1993; the “Train” would roll on for 12 more years without regaining its momentum. Cornelius’ first marriage — to high school sweetheart Delores Harrison — ended in divorce (the couple had two children, Anthony and Raymond). His second marriage, to Victoria Avila-Cornelius in 2001, fared worse. Cornelius was arrested for domestic violence in 2008; Victoria filed two restraining orders against him. He plead no contest, and was sentenced to 36 months probation.

Yet a year ago, Cornelius’ prospects seemed to be looking up. VH1 ran a 90-minute “Soul Train” tribute called “The Hippest Trip.” Cornelius told the Los Angeles Times he was working on a film version of “Soul Train.” It was not unreasonable to ask whether he might enjoy a modest revival of his fortunes. But this morning he answered that question himself, in the worst way possible.

On the air, in parting, he always wished us love, peace and soul. Today, we should stop to take a moment and wish the same for him.

Here’s Don dancing on the famous “Soul Train” line (everybody else is pretty amazing, too!):

‘Soul Train’ creator dead

Did you meet Don Cornelius? Did ‘Soul Train’ influence your life? Share your photos, videos and memories.

Los Angeles (CNN) — Don Cornelius, the founder of the “Soul Train” television show, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head Wednesday, authorities said. He was 75.

Cornelius died of a gunshot wound at a house on Mulholland Drive, said Los Angeles police Officer Tenesha Dodine. Police responded to the call about 4 a.m. (7 a.m. ET), Dodine said.

Cornelius was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, according to Lt. Larry Dietz of the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office.

Los Angeles police investigators reported to the coroner that Cornelius died from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head,” coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter said. The coroner’s office will perform an autopsy to confirm the cause of death.

‘Soul Train’ creator dead

Did you meet Don Cornelius? Did ‘Soul Train’ influence your life? Share your photos, videos and memories.

Los Angeles (CNN) — Don Cornelius, the founder of the “Soul Train” television show, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head Wednesday, authorities said. He was 75.

Cornelius died of a gunshot wound at a house on Mulholland Drive, said Los Angeles police Officer Tenesha Dodine. Police responded to the call about 4 a.m. (7 a.m. ET), Dodine said.

Cornelius was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, according to Lt. Larry Dietz of the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office.

Los Angeles police investigators reported to the coroner that Cornelius died from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head,” coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter said. The coroner’s office will perform an autopsy to confirm the cause of death.

NEW YORK (AP) – In an era when Beyonce and Jay-Z are music royalty, when Barack Obama is the nation’s chief executive, and when black stars in the cast of a TV show are commonplace, it may be hard to grasp the magnitude of what Don Cornelius created once he got his “Soul Train” rolling.

Yes, the syndicated series delivered the music of Earth Wind & Fire, the Jacksons, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder into America’s households, infusing them with soul in weekly doses. Yes, it gave viewers groovy dances and Afro-envy, helping get them hip to a funky world that many had never experienced, or maybe even suspected.

But it was more than that. Before BET would give African-Americans their own channel, and before black music and faces found their way to MTV videos as well as network dramas and comedies, “Soul Train” became a pioneering outlet for a culture whose access to television was strictly limited.

“Most of what we get credit for is people saying, ‘I learned how to dance from watching “Soul Train” back in the day,’” Cornelius told Vibe magazine in 2006. “But what I take credit for is that there were no black television commercials to speak of before ‘Soul Train.’ There were few black faces in those ads before ‘Soul Train.’

“And what I am most proud of,” he added, “is that we made television history.”

“Soul Train” (which went on for 35 seasons) didn’t make history just by influencing the music charts. It served as a pop-culture preview and barometer of fashion, hairstyles and urban patois.

By some measure, “Soul Train” was the equivalent of Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand,” although belatedly. Arriving on the wave of the Civil Rights Era, it premiered 13 years after “Bandstand” went national, then took a while longer to attract local stations to air it and advertisers to support it.

From there, it became a Saturday afternoon ritual as soul and rap artists (and white artists, too, including Elton John and David Bowie) showed off their latest releases while kids responded on the dance floor.

“When you come up with a good idea, you don’t have to do a whole lot,” Cornelius told The New York Times in 1996 in describing his show’s formula. “The idea does it for you.”

On “Soul Train” (“the hippest trip in America,” the announcer proclaimed, “across the tracks of your mind”) the host, of course, was Cornelius, but to describe him as the black Dick Clark is somewhat misleading. (A bit like calling Pat Boone the white Little Richard, as David Bianculli noted in his “Dictionary of Teleliteracy.”)

For Cornelius, the difference was all in the execution, as he told The Associated Press in 1995.

“If I saw ‘American Bandstand’ and I saw dancing and I knew black kids can dance better; and I saw white artists and I knew black artists make better music; and if I saw a white host and I knew a black host could project a hipper line of speech – and I DID know all these things,” then it was reasonable to try, he said.

On his show, Cornelius was the epitome of cool, with a baritone rumble that recalled seductive soul maestro Barry White, and an unflappable manner.

He laced his show with pro-social messages directed at his black audience.

On a 1974 program, he interviewed James Brown about the tragedy of violence in black communities (“black-on-black crime looks very bad in the sight of The Man,” Brown said sorrowfully). Then he brought on a 19-year-old Al Sharpton, already a civil rights activist, who presented Brown with an award for his music.

But Cornelius never let preaching get in the way of “Soul Train’s” hipness – or of his own.

Standing by Mary Wilson of the Supremes on another edition, he displayed a slim black suit that flared into bellbottoms, a grey shirt with white polka dots, and a huge afro.

“What do you do for kicks?” he asked Wilson, who mentioned bowling as one hobby, but said how much she wanted to dance with Cornelius on “Soul Train.”

“You can dance with me,” Cornelius replied. “But not on television.”

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Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody and Television Writer David Bauder contributed to this report.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.