Future Shock

Future Shock is a television variety show produced and hosted by James Brown in the mid-1970s. Shot in Augusta and Atlanta, Georgia and broadcast late on Friday nights on the Ted Turner-owned UHF station WTCG, it featured local amateurs performing a variety of popular and emerging dance styles, including disco, locking and popping, and early breakdancing, to prerecorded music. Brown and his musical guests also performed briefly. Other regular features included dance contests, interviews, and segments on black history. “Future Shock”, a song written by Brown and recorded by Maceo Parker with The J.B.’s, served as the show’s nominal theme music, though it was not consistently used.

Following the example of Soul Train, Future Shock was syndicated nationwide in the United States, but it failed to attract sponsors and ceased production within three years. It has not been officially released on recorded media, and with the exception of a handful of episodes recordings of the show have long been presumed lost.