Moonwalk vs The Robot---The Roots drummer inspired by the King of Pop!

[Ankita]

Questlove, drummer for the Hip Hop group The Roots, was asked by the boombox.com what his defining musical moment was. His answer? Young Michael Jackson performing the robot on Soul Train.
Questlove's most significant music moment came at the age of 2 when, as a huge fan of 'Soul Train,' the Don Cornelius-created show that brought R&B music into the homes of Americans every Saturday morning, he watched a young Michael Jackson do the robot in 1973 during a performance of 'Dancing Machine' on the show.
"I know that a lot of people say that Mike's defining career moment was doing the moonwalk at 'Motown 25,' but for those that really really know Michael Jackson, 10 years before he did the moonwalk, he debuted the robot. 'Soul Train' was the only show that we had; that was our MTV, our BET, our YouTube. Everybody watched Soul Train, in every black household in the ghetto. When they saw that, it was just everybody was just doing the robot ... forever."
Questlove's recollection of that event at such a young age says a great deal about Michael Jackson's influence.
"I was 2 years old. So the fact that I could actually process that information and remember, speaks volumes," Quest recalled. "But I remember that being one of the first significant musical moments in my life."

Source-MJFC/theboombox.com
http://www.theboombox.com/

 

[suzynyc]

That's true. Us older folks can attest to that. My older sisters used to watch Soul Train (we are not black though but that wasn't a requirement, heh). So I watched it by default (I was 10 in 1973). I do remember watching Michael do the Robot, not just on Soul Train but many other TV appearances.