David Soul R.I.P.

David Soul, R.I.P.
1943 - 2024

David Soul passed away on January 4 at age 80.

He was a seventies pop culture icon, surfacing first in the TV show Starsky and Hutch. I was a fan of the show, and its at-times wild storylines (which arguably reached an apogee with the 'light bulb killer' episode from November, 1976).

In 1976, Soul released an LP, titled David Soul, that had the hit song 'Don't Give Up On Us Baby'. I remember how that song dominated the FM top 40 playlist in the Spring of 1977, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in April of that year.

A followup single, and another good track, was 'Silver Lady'.

For fans of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, Soul perhaps is best remembered for his lead role in the 1979 television production of Stephen King's Salem's Lot.

Salem's Lot was not the best film or television incarnation of that novel, but given the constraints of network TV at that time, it was a significant acknowledgement that there was an audience for horror content among American viewers. This was some 31 years before the debut of The Walking Dead, mind you. Soul's performance was a decent one despite the at-times awkward plotting, and to this day I retain a fondness for the quirkiness of 'Salem's Lot.

1979 also saw David Soul immortalized in the pages of the Warren magazine Eerie. He was the lead character in 'Gotterdammerung', a Budd Lewis sci-fi story published, in issue 100, about a post-apocalyptic, near-future Earth. 

Soul's character, 'Juda', specialized in taking out cannibal zombies with a scoped laser gun - ! How fuckin' cool is that ?!

Rest in Peace, David Soul !