I think it's funny that dude is getting slammed for asking such a "naive,little dude" question , yet nobody can seem to agree on a specific definition or history of the genre.
I think it's funny that dude is getting slammed for asking such a "naive,little dude" question , yet nobody can seem to agree on a specific definition or history of the genre.
If only the thread had been titled.... "what *IS* northern soul"
I think it's funny that dude is getting slammed for asking such a "naive,little dude" question , yet nobody can seem to agree on a specific definition or history of the genre.
Did you click on the wikipedia link, search AMG, Google? It's all there. Nothing about not being bothered typing an essay on a message board when that essay will only cover a topic where the info is readily available somewhere else through a couple of mouse clicks.
Northern Soul exported a massive percentage of the raer soul 45's from the USA into England in the early 70's, therefore doing major damage to the future digging fortunes of the next generations of Americans, as in you & me...entire warehouses methodically shipped across the ocean...it always seems so odd to me that England is filled with 45's made in batches of 500 in small cities around America, with just a couple stray copies and the long-forgotten artist left behind in the nation that spawned them.
I can't find the "ain't mad doggie" graemlin, but no, I can't be mad, cause just like all the blues artists and jazz artists and writers who happened to be Black and American before them, many of the original artists of "Northern Soul" found success in another country, able to tour and even keep recording, celebrated decades after their own neighbors had stopped caring. I just wish those records were still out there...
I think it's funny that dude is getting slammed for asking such a "naive,little dude" question , yet nobody can seem to agree on a specific definition or history of the genre.
Did you click on the wikipedia link, search AMG, Google? It's all there. Nothing
about not being bothered typing an essay on a message board when that essay will only cover a topic where the info is readily available somewhere else through a couple of mouse clicks.
N...entire warehouses methodically shipped across the ocean...it always seems so odd to me that England is filled with 45's made in batches of 500 in small cities around America, with just a couple stray copies and the long-forgotten artist left behind in the nation that spawned them.
They maybe over here, but the only way you're ever going to see them is if you've got some serious money. As far as 45 digging goes, you should be pretty happy that you live in the US and not the UK.
They maybe over here, but the only way you're ever going to see them is if you've got some serious money. As far as 45 digging goes, you should be pretty happy that you live in the US and not the UK.
much learned. respect to the forum. will try not to suck in the future. aiming to actually contribute more worthwhile next time. lotta good stuff came outta the thread nevertheless i feel. little dude signing off.
I must add that before the term was coined the genre was there but more like mods phenomenon in clubs like twisted wheel and such, late 60s venues who mostly played RnB (like, blues RnB) and had blues artists performing live and played those few soul records they had, i think it was mostly atlantic, motown and stax back then except for the RnB and jazz records of course.. a lot of those original mods i think didn't like the transition to the more speed fuelled, dance-centered culture that was coined as northern soul..
I must say as easy it is to irritate yourself sometimes over the northern soul culture today we all should pay respect to people who have digged this music for a very long time and did it regardless of it was trendy, commercial or before all the prices moved up with like 3000%
Dave Godin owned a record shop, & when football fans came down from the north to games, they would stop in to buy records; but instead of the funky stuff that was fashionable in London at the time, they wanted the older sounding soul records; so he had a section in the racks which, for want of a better word, he called Northern Soul. And so it stuck.
I must add that before the term was coined the genre was there but more like mods phenomenon in clubs like twisted wheel and such, late 60s venues who mostly played RnB (like, blues RnB) and had blues artists performing live and played those few soul records they had, i think it was mostly atlantic, motown and stax back then except for the RnB and jazz records of course.. a lot of those original mods i think didn't like the transition to the more speed fuelled, dance-centered culture that was coined as northern soul..
I must say as easy it is to irritate yourself sometimes over the northern soul culture today we all should pay respect to people who have digged this music for a very long time and did it regardless of it was trendy, commercial or before all the prices moved up with like 3000%
/L
i have a very good friend who is now 60 and was one of the original mods ala whisky and the 'mingo allnight clubs in 63, involved in the first riot, etc and there is pictorial evidence of him and his mates in mod books at these times. they spent all their money on sharp suits and shirts, etc and they got those fashions from going to the soho clubs. at the time there was no r'n'b played and soul didn't exist as a term, the soho clubs were gay jazz clubs frequented by jewish boys who got their suits made by their fathers, etc. in between the bands they started playing r'n'b and blues off records, these clubs were also frequented by black US servicemen who provided many of the tunes they bought, as there was nowhere else either of these peoples could go without being hassled. over a period of several months the records became more popular and a seperate room opened just for the records and got more popular. as time went on the jewish boys moved on and the london boys took over and mod was born. the twisted wheel in manchester started doing the r'n'b thing and some of those london mods went up on their scooters and the soul/r'n'b scene came to fruition in the north. the wheel was previously a folk and trad jazz all nighter and the beards moved out when it went r'n'b. this lasted through the mid sixties but by the late 60's the london mods had formed bands and gone psychedelic and the people moved on to other things. the northern r'n'b/soul scene stayed with the black sound. funk also started happening and many of the southern fans got into that in a big way. this left a sound being played in the north which was different to the south. as already stated Dave Godin travelled to the wheel, and wrote in B&S about 'northern soul' meaning that the records were a different sound to the ones played in southern clubs. Things changed club wise and expanded in the north as more and more undiscovered 60's tunes came over from the US, UK hunters returned with them by the bucketload (Ian Levine, etc) and so on, a different story. Basically the sound never changed and still lives on, so although the music style is now played globally, the term 'northern soul' still exists to describe rare 60's dance soul of a particular style. If you don't know what sound i mean then you don't know what northern soul is, you have to listen to the music, or even better go out to a northern soul night, or ideally an allnighter to get the drift. amphetamines were a common factor through all of this from 63 onwards and still are,and the irony is that the northern soul scene actually started in the south, but nobody up north will ever admit that. But the north made it big and kept it pure, and it is one of the purest music scenes to this day - P
Comments
Nightshift : Pete Mckenna
" Personal recollections of growing up in and around The Casino Soul Club, Empress Hall, Wigan Sept.1973 to Dec.1981 "
ISBN 1 898927 40 5
If only the thread had been titled.... "what *IS* northern soul"
from the USA into England in the early 70's, therefore doing major damage
to the future digging fortunes of the next generations of Americans,
as in you & me...entire warehouses methodically shipped across the
ocean...it always seems so odd to me that England is filled with 45's
made in batches of 500 in small cities around America, with just a couple
stray copies and the long-forgotten artist left behind in the nation that
spawned them.
I can't find the "ain't mad doggie" graemlin, but no, I can't be mad,
cause just like all the blues artists and jazz artists and writers
who happened to be Black and American before them, many of the
original artists of "Northern Soul" found success in another country,
able to tour and even keep recording, celebrated decades after their own
neighbors had stopped caring. I just wish those records were still
out there...
dude that barely made sense.
They maybe over here, but the only way you're ever going to see them is if you've got some serious money.
As far as 45 digging goes, you should be pretty happy that you live in the US and not the UK.
Point taken.
I must say as easy it is to irritate yourself sometimes over the northern soul culture today we all should pay respect to people who have digged this music for a very long time and did it regardless of it was trendy, commercial or before all the prices moved up with like 3000%
/L
i have a very good friend who is now 60 and was one of the original mods ala whisky and the 'mingo allnight clubs in 63, involved in the first riot, etc and there is pictorial evidence of him and his mates in mod books at these times. they spent all their money on sharp suits and shirts, etc and they got those fashions from going to the soho clubs. at the time there was no r'n'b played and soul didn't exist as a term, the soho clubs were gay jazz clubs frequented by jewish boys who got their suits made by their fathers, etc. in between the bands they started playing r'n'b and blues off records, these clubs were also frequented by black US servicemen who provided many of the tunes they bought, as there was nowhere else either of these peoples could go without being hassled. over a period of several months the records became more popular and a seperate room opened just for the records and got more popular. as time went on the jewish boys moved on and the london boys took over and mod was born. the twisted wheel in manchester started doing the r'n'b thing and some of those london mods went up on their scooters and the soul/r'n'b scene came to fruition in the north. the wheel was previously a folk and trad jazz all nighter and the beards moved out when it went r'n'b. this lasted through the mid sixties but by the late 60's the london mods had formed bands and gone psychedelic and the people moved on to other things. the northern r'n'b/soul scene stayed with the black sound. funk also started happening and many of the southern fans got into that in a big way. this left a sound being played in the north which was different to the south. as already stated Dave Godin travelled to the wheel, and wrote in B&S about 'northern soul' meaning that the records were a different sound to the ones played in southern clubs. Things changed club wise and expanded in the north as more and more undiscovered 60's tunes came over from the US, UK hunters returned with them by the bucketload (Ian Levine, etc) and so on, a different story. Basically the sound never changed and still lives on, so although the music style is now played globally, the term 'northern soul' still exists to describe rare 60's dance soul of a particular style. If you don't know what sound i mean then you don't know what northern soul is, you have to listen to the music, or even better go out to a northern soul night, or ideally an allnighter to get the drift. amphetamines were a common factor through all of this from 63 onwards and still are,and the irony is that the northern soul scene actually started in the south, but nobody up north will ever admit that. But the north made it big and kept it pure, and it is one of the purest music scenes to this day - P