Muhammad Ali was a regular guest on all sorts of talk shows throughout the sixties and seventies, although he was more or less blacklisted for a short while during the Vietnam controversy. Here's a heated appearance on an episode of The Mike Douglas Show in which Ali makes some very good points, only to be thwarted by the drug addled confusion of Sly Stone.
Part Two:
Here is another Muhammad Ali appearance on The Mike Douglas Show talking about fighting Joe Frazier.
Sparks fly in this 1975 appearance on Mike Douglas when Muhammad Ali shares the panel with fellow boxer (and eventual WWF wrestler) Chuck Wepner. The two would be fighting each other a few weeks after this encounter.
Part Two:
Make sure to check out my Saturday Morning Blog for footage of I'm The Greatest, the terrible Muhammad Ali cartoon, this episode of The Generation Exploitation Podcast which features the classic Muhammad Ali vs. Tooth Decay vinyl LP, and this article I wrote for Radio WFMU about all the assorted trash culture The Greatest involved himself in.
Oh, and I almost forgot, since I mentioned the rambling Sly Stone, here he is out of his mind on an episode of The Dick Cavett Show. Poor Dick. Poor Sly.
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2 comments:
I don't know why the writer has to make the comment that Sly was "drug-addled".
Mohammed Ali was being heavy-handed, and pompous, and refusing to listen to others points of view.
In no way did Sly appear to be "drug-addled", he was merely trying to get some balance in the discussion, and he brought up a valid point himself, in that he did change the design of the American Flag for his album, "Riot". Ali, however was so wrapped up in himself and his particular view of his message, that he had no time for Sly, no interest in hearing what he had to say.
Sly's whole career was based on the fact that he wanted all races to live together in harmony. In this interview Ali is militarizing black people, he was being very confrontational, and Sly was attempting to lighten up the atmosphere as well as to bring balance into the discussion.
Your comment that he was "drug addled" is to my mind racist in itself; because you really haven't examined either Sly Stone's particular kind of brilliance, and you're just categorizing him as so many other writers have done - just a stoned black musician.
Ali was an overbearing pain in the ass; and it shows in the reactions of the other people on the panel. Yes he did have valid points, but so did other people. He didn't strike me as particularly bright, but we already know that Sly Stone was and is particularly brilliant. At least give him more of a tribute than that.
I agree 110% with Susan. If you watch closely, Sly was guiding the conversation toward a solution. He jumped right on the congressman as well, and agreed mostly with Ali, as Ali had some valid points. Sly says "theres a way to say all of this without having any animosty...". Sly had always been about unity and fairness in his music.
Sly's cover of the classic "There's a Riot Goin' On" was an American flag: black background instead of blue and "suns" instead of "stars". The black = black folks, the white = white folks, and the red = the blood that is in all of us. The stars = their smash hit "Everybody is a Star". Unity folks. People need to learn about Sly and realize his influence, and the star power he had in the late 60's early 70's. Drugs brought him down, but that doesn't erase history.
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