"Northern Soul” is a term that was originally coined to describe 'rare soul of the type enjoyed in the North of England' - From 'Soul Survivors' book by Russ Winstanley & David Nowell, that explanation is very true but it the music also had to be danceable. Northern soul is a style of music with associated dance styles and fashions that developed in the north of England in the late 1960s. The records had to be up-tempo 100 mph in order to get people dancing! In the beginning the dancing was athletic, featuring spins, flips, and drops. The music originally consisted of obscure American soul recordings with an uptempo beat, very similar to and including Tamla Motown, plus more obscure labels (e.g. Okeh) from cities like Detroit and Chicago. By 1970 British performers were recording numbers for this market, and the scarcity of soul records with the required beat led to the playing of stompers, or records by any artist which featured the right beat.
The name Northern Soul was attributed to Blues & Soul writer Dave Godin who in an article for the magazine in the early 70's claimed that the soul music that the kids in the North of England were dancing to was different to soul music elsewhere in the country, it was he said 'a form of northern soul music' & the scenes name was born!
A large proportion of Northern Soul's original audience came from the mod movement with their love of obscure soul. As some mods turned away from these sounds to embrace the psychedelic movement of the late sixties, many mods - especially those in northern England - elected to keep faith with the original soundtrack of soul and ska; some becoming what would eventually be known as skinheads and others forming the basis of what would be known as northern soul.
Early Northern Soul fashion included bowling shirts, button-down collar shirts, blazers with centre vents and unusual numbers of buttons, and baggy trousers. Many dancers belonged to clubs organized by dance halls and wore club badges issued at each dance.
The trend began in the mid-Sixties, growing out of the Mod scene, as clubbers danced to rare, upbeat Detroit-style soul that was often entirely unaffiliated with Tamla-Motown. But as the London clubs went psychedelic, the discotheques in the North of England stayed the course, which is how their favorite music came to be called "Northern Soul." That means that the phenomenon has always been less about a style of music than a geek subculture (in the best possible sense) who just couldn't get enough of their favorite music, even as time passed it by. The rest of the world eventually moved towards funk, but these dance-club denizens preferred the stomp of an earlier age.
In the early days of the scene Northern Soul was very much a part of the youth culture of the day, a youth movement in many ways. Northern Soul was a way of losing some of the weekly stresses of low paid work, for a few hours each week at an all nighter you could forget everything and just enjoy yourself out on the dance floor! Northern Soul music was your release.
Foremost among the original clubs were those at the Torch in Stoke, Wigan Casino, the Blackpool Mecca, the Mojo in Sheffield, and the Twisted Wheel in Manchester.
Considered a bit of a 'passing fad' of the time during the early 70's the Northern Soul scene has lasted over 35 years and today in the 21st Century Northern Soul is currently going through one if its most popular phases in Northern Souls history, with massively popular all nighters in London, Manchester, Stoke On Trent and many more. Weekenders in Prestatyn, Fleetwood Nr Blackpool, & Skegness that are attracting many of the legends of Northern Soul to appear live all add to the thriving scene.
In later years, Northern Soul became synonymous with the Motown Sound.
Examples:
- "My Girl" by The Temptations
- "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" by The Four Tops
- "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" by Marvin Gaye
- "Rescue Me" by Fontella Bass
- "You Can't Hurry Love" by The Supremes
- "Cool Jerk" by The Capitols
- "Build Me Up Buttercup" by The Foundations
- “Tainted Love” by Gloria Jones
- “The Night” by Frankie Vall & The Four Seasons
- “There’s a ghost in my house” R Dean Taylor
Led (now I know what Doves flyers mean by Northern Soul)
