NORTHERN SOUL IN THE 60'S
NORTHERN SOUL IN THE 60'S:
During the late 60s and early 70s, a new generation of young men and women across the north of England felt that the move from the American recording studios away from the fast and exciting soul of the mid 60s towards newer genres such as funk and disco wasn't for them, and they went out in search of lost gems of rapid, danceable music to party away to on a Saturday night.
Northern Soul was the birth of the crate-digger, the start of modern clubbing as well know it and a fully-formed drug subculture some 20 years before ecstasy arrived in the UK. Some time in the mid-60s there was sharp divergence between soul lovers in the North and South. The original London mods dissolved into the new dream of LSD and Jefferson Airplane, swapping Italian suits for kaftans, while in the North they kept the faith driven by a hunger for unearthing new and old soul sounds from labels in the African-American underground like Ric-Tic and Golden World (Detroit), Mirwood (Los Angeles) and Shout and Okeh (New York and Chicago).
References:
1. https://www.bensherman.co.uk/the-last-word/one/a-patchy-history-of-northern-soul
2. https://open.spotify.com/user/g0u1d1e1/playlist/394JjOS7veV0u5tIuLtiBI
3. https://mixmag.net/feature/the-clubs-of-northern-soul
During the late 60s and early 70s, a new generation of young men and women across the north of England felt that the move from the American recording studios away from the fast and exciting soul of the mid 60s towards newer genres such as funk and disco wasn't for them, and they went out in search of lost gems of rapid, danceable music to party away to on a Saturday night.
Northern Soul was the birth of the crate-digger, the start of modern clubbing as well know it and a fully-formed drug subculture some 20 years before ecstasy arrived in the UK. Some time in the mid-60s there was sharp divergence between soul lovers in the North and South. The original London mods dissolved into the new dream of LSD and Jefferson Airplane, swapping Italian suits for kaftans, while in the North they kept the faith driven by a hunger for unearthing new and old soul sounds from labels in the African-American underground like Ric-Tic and Golden World (Detroit), Mirwood (Los Angeles) and Shout and Okeh (New York and Chicago).
THE TWISTED WHEEL, MANCHESTER - 1963-1971:
The birthplace of Northern Soul, Manchester’s Twisted Wheel was the premier spot to dance all night to black soul music (along with others, like Peter Stringfellow’s Mojo club in Sheffield), it soon developed a reputation not only for its musical influence, but also in establishing Northern Soul’s drug culture; with events often lasting until 10am on Sunday mornings, amphetamines were commonplace among clubbers wanting to last the distance.
1. https://www.bensherman.co.uk/the-last-word/one/a-patchy-history-of-northern-soul
2. https://open.spotify.com/user/g0u1d1e1/playlist/394JjOS7veV0u5tIuLtiBI
3. https://mixmag.net/feature/the-clubs-of-northern-soul
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