Soul Train
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
50 free Soul Train trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Soul Train brought soul, funk and R&B into living rooms every week for 35 years, and it made stars of the dancers as well as the singers. Its Scramble Board, where a couple raced the clock to turn a jumble of letters into a name, is still one of the most searched-for parts of the show. This quiz covers the Scramble Board and the dance line, creator Don Cornelius and the hosts who followed him, the theme songs, the sponsors, the guests who made history on the stage, and the spin-off awards shows. It is written for anyone who grew up watching on a weekend, and for newer fans who know the show from clips, samples and tributes. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What did Don Cornelius later admit about the dancers who solved Soul Train's Scramble Board each week?
They got the answers beforehand
They got the answers beforehand: Cornelius said the game was set up so everybody won, because he did not want young Black viewers to watch a couple fail on television.
Q 02Which Underground Railroad conductor was among the Black icons spelled out on Soul Train's Scramble Board?
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman suited a show named after a train: she made some 13 missions along the Underground Railroad and led about 70 people out of slavery.
Q 03Which dance did Michael Jackson turn into a craze by performing it during 'Dancing Machine' on Soul Train?
The Robot
The Robot finally reached viewers in full on Soul Train: a month earlier, a cameraman on a Bob Hope special had cut away from Michael just as he did the move.
Q 04Soul Train dancer Fred Berry became famous playing the beret-wearing Rerun on which 1970s sitcom?
What's Happening!!
What's Happening!! cast Berry as Freddie 'Rerun' Stubbs from 1976 to 1979, after he had shown off a step called the slo-mo on the Soul Train Line.
Q 05TSOP, the Soul Train theme that became the first TV theme to top the Hot 100, stands for The Sound of where?
Philadelphia
Philadelphia was where the single's studio band was based, and the track held the No. 1 spot for two weeks in 1974.
Q 06In which city did Soul Train begin as a live weekday afternoon show on local UHF station WCIU?
Chicago
Chicago teenagers went to the Board of Trade building after school to dance on the low-budget, black-and-white show before it went national a year later.
Q 07Which TV producer's short-lived rival show Soul Unlimited drew public protests from Don Cornelius and Jesse Jackson?
Dick Clark
Dick Clark saw ABC cancel Soul Unlimited within weeks, and he later teamed up with Cornelius on network specials featuring R&B and soul artists.
Q 08Which former Soul Train dancer won the Grammy for Best New Artist after her hit 'Looking for a New Love'?
Jody Watley
Jody Watley first danced on Soul Train at 15, when a fellow churchgoer asked her to stand in as his partner during her first week in her new city.
Q 09Which Johnson Products hair-care brand became famous through its commercials on Soul Train, the show it co-sponsored?
Afro Sheen
Afro Sheen's maker went public in 1971, becoming the first Black-owned company to trade on the American Stock Exchange.
Q 10Which 2024 movie sequel sends Netherworld spirits to a literal Soul Train bound for the Great Beyond?
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has the dead dancing on the station platform, and the train's conductor strongly resembles Don Cornelius.
Q 11Which first Black Supreme Court justice was among the names couples unscrambled on Soul Train's Scramble Board?
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall joined the Supreme Court in 1967, three years before Soul Train first aired, and served there until 1991.
Q 12On Soul Train's Scramble Board, what held the colorful jumbled letters to the round board?
Magnets
Magnets kept the letters in place, and one fan told NPR he still thinks of the game whenever he sees plastic alphabet letters on a refrigerator.
Q 13The Soul Train Line, with dancers strutting between two rows, was a variant of which 1950s dance fad?
The Stroll
Q 21Which comedian hosted a Soul Train season finale in 1975, the only national episode Don Cornelius missed in 22 seasons?
Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor took over for the final episode of the 1974–75 season, the single gap in Cornelius's long run in front of the camera.
Q 22Which R&B group behind 'A Night to Remember' was rebuilt around two popular Soul Train dancers in the late 1970s?
Shalamar
Shalamar started as session singers on a disco medley of Motown hits; when it sold, Don Cornelius and his label partner put real faces from the dance floor in the group.
Q 23Which Soul Train dancer did the backslide on Top of the Pops in 1982, before Michael Jackson made it the moonwalk?
Jeffrey Daniel
The Stroll put men in one row and women in the other, as early Soul Train did; in later years the show gave men and women lineups of their own.
Q 14Which actor hosted Soul Train before playing FBI agent Derek Morgan on Criminal Minds?
Shemar Moore
Shemar Moore was the third permanent host, and he fronted the show while still starring as Malcolm Winters on The Young and the Restless.
Q 15Which Oscar-nominated star of Do the Right Thing started out in the 1980s as a dancer on Soul Train?
Rosie Perez
Rosie Perez joined at 19 after a talent scout asked her to appear, and she later recalled that Don Cornelius disliked the suggestive East Coast dance moves.
Q 16Which future Bears running back, nicknamed Sweetness, was among the dancers who got noticed on Soul Train?
Walter Payton
Walter Payton danced on the show before his NFL career took off; he had picked up the nickname Sweetness back in college.
Q 17Which basketball legend led the group that bought the Soul Train brand and library in 2011?
Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson's group talked of a film, stage adaptations and a cruise, and his Aspire TV channel began airing reruns of the series.
Q 18Before radio, Soul Train creator Don Cornelius sold tires and insurance and held which uniformed job in his hometown?
Police officer
Police officer was one of the day jobs he gave up in 1966 for a three-month broadcasting course, despite having two sons and only $400 in the bank.
Q 19Don Cornelius admitted modelling Soul Train on which older teen dance show, though he later bristled at the comparison?
American Bandstand
American Bandstand was the acknowledged model, but once Soul Train became a tradition in its own right Cornelius tired of hearing the two compared.
Q 20The Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards for female artists named their Entertainer of the Year prize after whom?
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin gave her name to the top prize, while the award for outstanding career achievements honored Lena Horne.
Jeffrey Daniel went on to co-choreograph Jackson's 'Bad' and 'Smooth Criminal' videos, and he hosted a British edition of Soul Train in 1985.
Q 24Which female vocal trio sang on TSOP, the chart-topping Soul Train theme recorded with the studio band MFSB?
The Three Degrees
The Three Degrees sang the few words on the mostly instrumental track, which won the Grammy for Best R&B Instrumental Performance.
Q 25Soul Train was America's longest-running first-run syndicated show until which program passed it in 2016?
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight took the record by completing its 35th season; Soul Train's later opening titles had boasted of the distinction.
Q 26Which Tonight Show bandleader and lifelong Soul Train fan wrote a 2013 book on the show's music, dance and style?
Questlove
Questlove titled it Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation, and in it he names the 1983 theme by O'Bryan as his favorite.
Q 27Which Elton John song's success on R&B radio helped land him a guest spot on Soul Train in 1975?
Bennie and the Jets
Bennie and the Jets crossed over to R&B stations, and John, a huge soul music fan, played it on the show's 17 May 1975 edition.
Q 28In which branch of the US military did Soul Train creator Don Cornelius serve for 18 months in Korea?
US Marines
The US Marines took him after he graduated from DuSable High School in 1954, more than a decade before he first worked in radio.
Q 29Which drama series cast Sinqua Walls as Don Cornelius, building his famous music and dance show in 1970s Hollywood?
American Soul
American Soul ran for two seasons from 2019, with R&B singer Kelly Price among its ensemble cast.
Q 30Which actress danced on Soul Train in the early 1980s before roles in Independence Day and Kill Bill?
Vivica A. Fox
Vivica A. Fox also turned up in the video for Klymaxx's 'Meeting in the Ladies Room' during her time as a Soul Train dancer.