Research - Northern Soul

Northern Soul:

Definition - Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England in the late 1960s from the British Mod scene, based on a particular style of black American soul music, especially from the mid-1960s, with a heavy beat and fast tempo. - Wikipedia

> Northern Soul is associated with particular dance styles and fashions that grew out of the underground rhythm and souls scene of the late 1960s at venues such as the Twisted Wheel in Manchester. This scene and the associated dances and fashions quickly spread to other UK dancehalls and nightclubs like the Golden Torch in Stoke-on-Trent and the Wigan Casino.

> As the favoured beat became more uptempo and frantic in the early 1970s, northern soul dancing became more athletic, somewhat resembling the later dance style of disco and break dancing. Featuring spins, flips, karate kicks and backdrops, club dancing styles were often inspired by the stage performances of touring American soul acts such as Little Anthony & the Imperials and Jackie Wilson.

History:

> The phrase "Northern soul" emanated from the record shop Soul City in Covent Garden London, which was run by journalist Dave Godin. It was firstly publicly used in Godin's weekly column in Blues & Soul magazine in June 1970. In a 2002 interview with Chris Hunt of Mojo magazine, Godin said he had first come up with the term in 1968, to help employees at Soul City differentiate the more modern funkier sounds from the smoother, Motown-influenced soul of a few years earlier. With contemporary black music evolving into what would eventually become known as funk, the die-hard soul lovers of Northern England still preferred the mid 1960s era of Motown-sounding black American dance music. Godin referred to the latter's requests as "Northern Soul".

Music, Artist and Records:

> The Northern soul movement spawned an active market in reissuing older soul recordings in the UK, several of which became popular enough to actually make the UK charts several years after their original issue. Dave Godin is generally credited with being the first UK entrepreneur to start this trend, setting up the Soul City label in 1968, and striking a deal with EMI to licence Gene Chandler's 1965 recording "Nothing Can Stop Me", which had been popular for several years at the Twisted Wheel. Issued as a 45 on Soul City, the track peaked at UK No. 41 in August 1968, becoming the first Northern Soul-derived chart hit.

> Artist and songs:

- Dobie Gray - Out on the Floor

- Yvonne Baker - You Didn't Say a Word

- The Tomangoes - I Really Love You

- The Fascinations - Girls Are Out to Get You

- Mike Post Coalition - Afternoon of the Rhino

- Terry Callier - Ordinary Joe

- Wayne Gibson - Under My Thumb

- Eloise Laws - Love Factory

- 7 Dwarfs - Stop Girl

Fashion:

> Early Northern soul fashion included strong elements of the classic mod style, such as button-down Ben Sherman shirts, blazers with centre vents and unusual numbers of buttons, trickers and brogue shoes and shrink-to-fit Levi's jeans. Some non-mod items, such as bowling shirts, were also popular. 

> Later, Northern soul dancers started to wear light and loose fitting clothing for reasons of practicality. This included high-waisted, baggy Oxford trousers and sports vests. These were often covered with sew-on badges representing soul club memberships.

> The clenched raised fist symbol that has become associated with the Northern soul movement emanates from the 1960s Black Power movement of the United States. On his visit to the Twisted Wheel in 1971, Dave Godin recalled that "...very many young fellows wore black "right on now" racing gloves ... between records one would hear the occasional cry of "right on now!" or see a clenched gloved fist rise over the tops of the heads of the dancers."