After Don Cornelius, we’ve lost our second iconic music-related TV host and producer of 2012. ABC News reports that Clark died after suffering a heart attack today in Los Angeles. He was 82.
Clark started out in radio, getting a job in a radio-station mailroom as a teenager in 1945 and becoming a DJ a few years later. He began hosting the Philadelphia dance-part TV show Bob Horn’s Bandstand in 1956; a year later, it went national and changed its name to American Bandstand. The show went through various different incarnations, but it lasted until 1989, with Clark hosting the entire time.
In the late-’50s, Clark was one of the few music-industry figures to stand against the common practice of payola, and he’s one of the few who never faced criminal charges at the time. He began hosting the New Year’s special Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve in 1972; he continued for decades and made appearances up until this past year, even after suffering a stroke. He also created the American Music Awards, hosted game shows, and made a ton of appearances on TV and radio throughout his long career.
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R.I.P. to an icon.
Man, he seemed totally ageless.
Dick Clark was always a genuine and enthusiastic gentleman, and he seemed to always stand in stark contrast, as in the video clip linked above, to other people in the music industry that are intent on coming across as simply, well, dicks.
NYE Hologram Special?
or a gig @ Coachella
Very sad news. In memory, here’s a clip from when Dick Clark met Batman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CncxYxS-Ic0
At least we know he’ll be back in the future.
RIP, good sir.
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The cake is a lie.
look at me! i’m trying to get a big reaction! lame. Dick Clark is a historical icon did a lot in his time. dig it?
You know, I was fairly certain that you were a fake user concocted by one of the more prominent denizens of our fair comment section, conceived to set others up for a witty comeback that would surely garner a massive wave of upvotes. But ragging on Dick Clark? Really? Nothing makes sense to me anymore. Up is down. Cats are dogs. PBR is delicious. CHRIST ON A CRACKER, WHAT IS YOUR ENDGAME?!
No matter what ol’ Rubby says, PBR will never be delicious.
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keep it up rubjohn, and no one will care when you die, including lil punk prick teens.
If you ignore it, than it goes away.
Your mom is irrelevant…and fat.