Northern Soul: A brief history

Northern Soul is a particular brand of fast paced, amphetamine-fuelled, black American soul music which rose to prominence in the North of England in the late 1960s and early ‘70s. The music, a sub-section of the output of record labels such as Motown, Chess and Stax, was particularly popular with the Mod scene and its wide ranging appeal continues to this day.

The term was coined in June 1970 by the late Dave Godin, a journalist writing for Blues and Soul magazine. Godin owned a record shop in London’s Covent Garden at the time and explained to Mojo magazine in 2002 that the phrase was initially little more than a marketing tool:

“I had started to notice that Northern football fans who were in London to follow their team were coming into the store to buy records, but they weren't interested in the latest developments in the black American chart. I devised the name as a shorthand sales term. It was just to say 'if you've got customers from the North, don't waste time playing them records currently in the U.S. black chart, just play them what they like - 'Northern Soul'.”

The Twisted Wheel nightclub in Manchester was the unofficial home of Northern Soul during the early development of the scene. The club began mainly as a live music venue before its owners began to promote Northern Soul all-nighters on a Saturday night mixing live bands and DJs. The nighters were a roaring success and the club quickly established itself as the place to go for American R&B music in the North.

As a result of this, The Twisted Wheel also gained an unwanted reputation as a drug haven and eventually closed in 1971. At the same time, Northern Soul’s popularity was reaching its peak and club nights began to spring up across the country at venues such as The Golden Torch in Stoke, the Blackpool Mecca and the most famous of all, Wigan Casino.

Wigan Casino began hosting weekly Northern Soul all-nighters in September 1973. The club had a much bigger capacity than anywhere else in the country and by 1976 boasted a membership of 100,000 people. A regular lineup of DJs, including promoter Russ Winstanley, gave the club global fame, and in 1978 American magazine Billboard voted it the world’s number one discotheque.

However, the Casino also came under heavy criticism from Soul purists. As contemporary black American music began to shift towards areas such as funk and disco the supply of records with the same pace and style as Northern Soul began to dry up. As a result of this, DJs at the Wigan Casino began to improvise with any kind of record that matched the Northern Soul tempo resulting in much derision from the club’s devoted following.

Wigan Casino closed in 1981, leading many to believe that the scene was on its last legs. However, the Mod revival era and the subsequent Scooterboy subculture, as well as a wave of Northern Soul record re-issues by small, British independent labels, created a new breed of fans. Over 100 new venues sprung up across the country throughout the 1980s, despite the decade being dismissed as Northern Soul’s lowest ebb.

One of the things most commonly associated with the scene is the peculiar icons and fashions. Inspired by the classic Mod styles, such as button down Ben Sherman shirts and shrink-to-fit Levi’s jeans, the preferred clothing was both stylish and practical. The clenched fist symbol which often adorns Northern Soul memorabilia was derived from the 1960’s Black Power civil rights movement in the U.S. Referring to his visit to the Twisted Wheel in 1971, Dave Godin recalled: “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 above the tops of the heads of the dancers.”

If black American music is the foundation of modern popular music, then it stands to reason that the Northern Soul legacy must also have a presence. Artists such as Duffy, Moloko, The Coral and Paul Weller have all been clearly influenced by the genre and the tempo of Northern Soul is prevalent in Dance music and club culture.

The Twisted Wheel recently re-opened its doors in Manchester, inspiring other club nights in the city such as the Beat Boutique at The Ruby Lounge. Although Northern Soul records and their labels are long since defunct, the faith in the music will never die.