Hello does anyone know of any upbeat Northern Soul songs? Im 19 and not to familuar with Northern Soul but rescently found it on youtube accidently. I love 60s and 70s music its to bad they still dont have clubs in the U.S like they had back than. Does anyone know if this type of music is still popular in Britian?
@TheNorthernSoulKing Hi there, you should find everything you want and more on You Tube under Northern Soul.
As for this type of music still being popular, it's perhaps as popular now or even more so than it was back in it's hey day, you can pick and choose what venues you want to go to without much of a problem and tune in to a weekly radio show even on the BBC to hear genuine Northern Soul being played on air something that would have never happened back then.
The real reason why a lot of American Black and white music Specally the demos was not played because The Us Goverment passed a law called paylota if spelled that right means a Dj play any Music If he? she accept payment or Gifts from record Companies
Funny that one - what would all those Soulies at the Wheel and the Torch thinking back to 68/69 through to 72 when they were enjoying cutting edge and new Soul !!!
Never went to wigan dont know why .but went to most other venue`s eg: The Torch ,mecca, Ritz pendulem ect and enjoyed every minute of it,In my opinion it started going downhill when New york disco shit was being played as the new Northern soul ..funny you dont hear this progressive shit anywhere now but you still hear Traditional Northern ..... still going strong ....
Yeah funny that : your traditional Northern turned what was left of a great scene, once "Wi-gun" had finished with it, into an antique and preservation society -didn't know that was what Northern Soul was about back in the late 60s at the Wheel or early 70s at the Torch -thats when it was cutting edge Black American Soul -just like at the Ritz and Mecca ; and later at Rafters and Berlin in Manchester
what happened to New York Disco !!! Like the rest of the progressive Northern Scene we moved on to Jazz Funk - onward to Rafters and Rufus and then the whole Manchester Black Music Scene of the 80s : Colin Curtis and Co and the Manchester Perry Boys -reaching Berlin on Deansgate by 84 !! Tell me what happened to "Traditional Northern- oh yes -hang on , it turned into a preservation society.
thought all the mincing was done at the Casino - to all your white pop and your oldies :turning a forward thinking cutting edge scene into a preservation society .
Can always remember the Wigan crowd at the Ritz in 76/77 -like the scene going backwards -trapped in time in both fashions and their music. You could easily distinguish Mecca boys from the Antique and Vintage brigade; all the Mecca Shufflers in the Adidas tracksuits and Gazelles; the Wigan lot in their baggy trousers and underpant top two colour vests - trapped in time .
And to think at the Wheel and Torch it was about being sharp and well dressed - up to date . And the music well no contest there - know which venue played the authentic Soul -proper black music !!! The Wigan boys mincing around to their white pop music -like cavemen from another age
Couldn't agree with you more with regards to The Torch and The Wheel, and yes, youcould easily distinguish the mecca boys dressed in plastic sandals or some other tacky craze, looking down their noses at everybody. As for "pop music "whooopp, whooopp, blow your whistles and chuck a smoke bomb.
Oh oh are we talking mid 1970s here !! When sandals and what you call tacky crazes were in fashion ; perish the thought people at the Mecca and the Ritz would dress fashionably just like they were doing at the Wheel and the Torch.
If anybody was out of touch it was the mecca mob who thought they were elite, and a class above anybody else on the " scene " it was only ever going to be a warm up venue before the main event.
Out of touch - the Mecca - na mate - we were the ones keeping the Faith - you lot were just the preservation society . Warm up venue - who was that Wigan - average crowds declining from 77 to 79 because people were fed up of pop music and oldies !!! Whilst the Ritz Alldayers was pulling in massive numbers;and the Mecca sessions and Dayers were pulling in similar numbers
Of COURSE Blackpool Mecca was "elite" - It had the best music around! The Mecca was playing contemporary Black American music first PLUS most of the rare 60s sounds picked up by Wigan several months later! - and did not rely on covered up pop crap as at Wigan either. (Tony Blackburn aka "Lenny Gamble" dear God!) If anything Wigan appeared to go backwards into a world inhabited by ludicrous clowns wearing fashions already 5 years out of date! (How significant, that they're still wearing 'em!)
The " ludicrous clowns " you mentioned were in full attendance at the mecca, since when did permed hair do's, starwars sticks, whistles and smokebombs have anything to do with the northern scene. The " elite " have conveniently forgot about this pathetic era.What was happening those Sunday afternoons were surreal beyond belief.
You're right! The time YOU are discussing (1977/78) was well POST-Northern at the Mecca! No doubt this exciting period WOULD appear strange to anyone still flapping around the dancefloor in "Spencers baggies" with a soggy bar towel tucked into his waistband, stripped to the waist and covered in tattoos, bouncing up and down to the likes of Murial Day and (erk!) Helen Shapiro! "Heart of Soul" ???!! (Har-bloody-har!)
lol - 30 years later and they still (Wigan's Antique and Vintage Soul Club ) couldn't catch up with the Northern Soul Scene : are you people for real . Since when did baggy trousers ; my dad polyester vests and white pop have anything to do with Northern Soul !!
Lets try to get through to your Wigan skull - Northern Soul was Black Music ; in 76 -78 we (thats the Northern Soul Scene) were doing exactly what they(the originals ) were doing 8/6 years earlier at the Wheel /Torch -- playing current and cutting edge black American soul - new releases -wearing the latest fashions and combining audience participation . The Ritz showed you pathetic cave men of a bygone and false scene , what Northern Soul was really about .
Simple equation for you ya numb skull , if the Wheel and the Torch later , had applied your logic of playing old material, we'd be getting late 50s R&B played on the scene in the late 1960s and early 70s .Since when was Northern Soul a retro scene or for that matter a haven for white pop !!
I've heard all the " baggy trousers " remarks so many times now, it's water off a ducks back, can't you find any " cutting edge " comments ?. The top and bottom of it is you're happy to remember the early mecca day's but,don't like being reminded about the " whoopp, whoopp" era. Take your medicine...... with a star wars stick !!
You have a selective memory when you talk about the Mecca and the Ritz . You say about star wars sticks and the whistles - all part of the fashions of the day -back then . What about the Mecca tracksuits boys and the early "perry boys" - next to "your" 3 star jumpers from god knows when - yeah sure you were really keeping the faith !!! Or the Manchester Soulie look -again all part of the current , at that time , look on the Northern Scene .
The whole "Mecca era "encompassed natural progression which is something you obviously know nothing about in your style or your music. You take your medicine with a doze of your white pop music and your nasty poly- vests -lol . Long live the Wigan Classics like Holly St James !!! A venue which managed to seal itself off in antiquity and that was then !!!! You were the laughing stock .
Hang on - you switching back now to a different period : thought we were talking about 76 onwards - you know the period where the Wigan faithful just wanted to call it "Northern" - just to avoid the embarrassment of explaining that there was very little soul being played - and so that they could play anything that sounded like a typical Wi-gun sound
Yes the tracks you mentioned were general Northern plays - so ? -the two big Jackie Beavers tracks being old Colin Curtis plays at the mecca and then Colin selling them on to Searling as "oldies"
Are we not talking about the glory years of Wig-un : when the likes of Toni Basil ; Joe 90 and anything that fitted the Wig-un formula was played. Never insult a scene with such a rich "progressive" heritage as Northern Soul ,by labeling what was played at Wig-un as Northern Soul- you seem to jump around this period like a dog at a fair !!
It is you who "jump round like a dog at a fair" first mecca then Ritz,then Berlin's.You have tarred everybody with the same "Baggy Trouser's Brigade " brush.And as for playing dross, was it not Tony Jebb who openly admitted, he tried to "get away with playing anything " at the mecca.And hang on, I thought we were talking about the Casino full stop.
Yes theres a logical link between the Highland Room - The Ritz and Berlin and the Whole Manchester mid 80s scene - so theres no jumping around . As for Tony Jebb , respect due , I think he was from the pre 73/74 Mecca era so I dont know where he figures in this discussion
I left the Casino one morning a very disillusioned young man before the Joe 90 era you speak of, not because of the music , but the other stuff that was happening their. Yes I did attend on the odd occasion, but the other stuff still hung in the air. So we're not all baggy trousered morons like you try and make out.
I don't have any disrespect for the large amount of Wigan followers who went to the venue - me included- who by 77/78 had had enough of the downward spiral of events. Its not about Mecca vs Wigan ; but about the fact that this venue seem to take the name Northern Soul post 77/78 as though it was the leading beacon of the scene !!!
At last, I can see your point of view, respect that. In a nutshell ,what I was trying to point out,was " people in glasshouse's " etc.Come 77/78, there was a bad intimidating atmosphere about the place.
You talk fashion or music -what did Wigan Casino have in common with the Torch or the Wheel - nothing !! The Mecca Scallies in their Adidas clobber and trainers became the Perry Boys of Manchester and the North West -just like the Smoothies and the Suede's were doing it at the Wheel and the Torch
As for Pop Music -yeah we'll leave it to Wigan on that one : what a roll call of honour - Holly St James ; Judy Street;Ruth Swann; Rain with Charity - the list is endless . What fantastic Soul sides they were - really keeping in tradition with what Northern Soul was about !! I dont think so
You obviously dont understand what Northern Soul was ;Cutting edge "new" release Black Soul . Wigan Casino turned their backs on that , not Blackpool or Manchester . Idris Mohammed and P Funk had more in common with NF Porter ; James Coit; Mel Britt , than any white pop record that your venue played.
Maybe thats why when the big and final split happened at the Ritz in Jan 78 the Mecca/Manchester scene moved forward taking all the old Torch and Wheel boys and the new Manc soul Scallies and built the great Manchester Jazz Funk Scene a wonderful follow on to the foundation period at the Wheel and the Torch from 68 through to 72. What did Wigan end as : that sad ,endless preservation society , trapped in time -playing more white pop
Well remember by 84/85 at places like Berlin in Manchester , Colin Curtis continuing to build on that Northern heritage , with the smooth cutting edge soul movers of the day . Also remember the odd Wheel/Torch "old timers "coming down to the Berlin sessions and congratulating Colin on what he had done , how places like Berlin had kept alive what Northern Soul was meant to be , not some retro backward looking thing !!
dont get me wrong but it all started going downhill when
the media locked on ,and those that encouraged the media
this film, and others do not show the real casino, in no way would you have danced in front of cameras, posing, the lights are on in these films, for gods sake. the real place was mr M,s
Hello does anyone know of any upbeat Northern Soul songs? Im 19 and not to familuar with Northern Soul but rescently found it on youtube accidently. I love 60s and 70s music its to bad they still dont have clubs in the U.S like they had back than. Does anyone know if this type of music is still popular in Britian?
TheNorthernSoulKing 3 months ago
@TheNorthernSoulKing Hi there, you should find everything you want and more on You Tube under Northern Soul.
As for this type of music still being popular, it's perhaps as popular now or even more so than it was back in it's hey day, you can pick and choose what venues you want to go to without much of a problem and tune in to a weekly radio show even on the BBC to hear genuine Northern Soul being played on air something that would have never happened back then.
theluckybookie 2 months ago
@theluckybookie Thank you I have an ipod and was wondering if there are any apps for Northern soul Radio
TheNorthernSoulKing 2 months ago
The real reason why a lot of American Black and white music Specally the demos was not played because The Us Goverment passed a law called paylota if spelled that right means a Dj play any Music If he? she accept payment or Gifts from record Companies
zon1965 2 years ago
Funny that one - what would all those Soulies at the Wheel and the Torch thinking back to 68/69 through to 72 when they were enjoying cutting edge and new Soul !!!
Blackpool77 4 years ago
Never went to wigan dont know why .but went to most other venue`s eg: The Torch ,mecca, Ritz pendulem ect and enjoyed every minute of it,In my opinion it started going downhill when New york disco shit was being played as the new Northern soul ..funny you dont hear this progressive shit anywhere now but you still hear Traditional Northern ..... still going strong ....
KTF......
keepingthefaith72 4 years ago
Yeah funny that : your traditional Northern turned what was left of a great scene, once "Wi-gun" had finished with it, into an antique and preservation society -didn't know that was what Northern Soul was about back in the late 60s at the Wheel or early 70s at the Torch -thats when it was cutting edge Black American Soul -just like at the Ritz and Mecca ; and later at Rafters and Berlin in Manchester
Blackpool77 4 years ago
Used to go to Rafters when it was called Suprt Takis .. great memories there ...
tell me... would luv to know what happened to the new york disco scene ..
KTF...
keepingthefaith72 4 years ago
what happened to New York Disco !!! Like the rest of the progressive Northern Scene we moved on to Jazz Funk - onward to Rafters and Rufus and then the whole Manchester Black Music Scene of the 80s : Colin Curtis and Co and the Manchester Perry Boys -reaching Berlin on Deansgate by 84 !! Tell me what happened to "Traditional Northern- oh yes -hang on , it turned into a preservation society.
Blackpool77 4 years ago
Thank fuck punk happend!!!!!
concretepaddynavvy 4 years ago
I'm in this clip too, 2.44, red waist coat in the background (deliberately). Still keeping the faith from across the world.
anotherblonde 4 years ago
wasnt the real place Blackpool Mecca - if you wanted to hear real black soul -and new too - just like the Wheel or the Torch !!!
Blackpool77 4 years ago
don't think so, the mecca was where you ponced about with star wars sticks, whistles and smoke bombs!!
herringthorpe 4 years ago
thought all the mincing was done at the Casino - to all your white pop and your oldies :turning a forward thinking cutting edge scene into a preservation society .
Blackpool77 4 years ago
Can always remember the Wigan crowd at the Ritz in 76/77 -like the scene going backwards -trapped in time in both fashions and their music. You could easily distinguish Mecca boys from the Antique and Vintage brigade; all the Mecca Shufflers in the Adidas tracksuits and Gazelles; the Wigan lot in their baggy trousers and underpant top two colour vests - trapped in time .
Blackpool77 4 years ago
And to think at the Wheel and Torch it was about being sharp and well dressed - up to date . And the music well no contest there - know which venue played the authentic Soul -proper black music !!! The Wigan boys mincing around to their white pop music -like cavemen from another age
Blackpool77 4 years ago
Couldn't agree with you more with regards to The Torch and The Wheel, and yes, youcould easily distinguish the mecca boys dressed in plastic sandals or some other tacky craze, looking down their noses at everybody. As for "pop music "whooopp, whooopp, blow your whistles and chuck a smoke bomb.
herringthorpe 4 years ago
Oh oh are we talking mid 1970s here !! When sandals and what you call tacky crazes were in fashion ; perish the thought people at the Mecca and the Ritz would dress fashionably just like they were doing at the Wheel and the Torch.
Blackpool77 4 years ago
Just because the Casino crowd had become out of touch with the rest of the "Scene" didn't mean everyone else would.
Blackpool77 4 years ago
If anybody was out of touch it was the mecca mob who thought they were elite, and a class above anybody else on the " scene " it was only ever going to be a warm up venue before the main event.
herringthorpe 4 years ago
Out of touch - the Mecca - na mate - we were the ones keeping the Faith - you lot were just the preservation society . Warm up venue - who was that Wigan - average crowds declining from 77 to 79 because people were fed up of pop music and oldies !!! Whilst the Ritz Alldayers was pulling in massive numbers;and the Mecca sessions and Dayers were pulling in similar numbers
Blackpool77 4 years ago
Of COURSE Blackpool Mecca was "elite" - It had the best music around! The Mecca was playing contemporary Black American music first PLUS most of the rare 60s sounds picked up by Wigan several months later! - and did not rely on covered up pop crap as at Wigan either. (Tony Blackburn aka "Lenny Gamble" dear God!) If anything Wigan appeared to go backwards into a world inhabited by ludicrous clowns wearing fashions already 5 years out of date! (How significant, that they're still wearing 'em!)
drwhatson 4 years ago
The " ludicrous clowns " you mentioned were in full attendance at the mecca, since when did permed hair do's, starwars sticks, whistles and smokebombs have anything to do with the northern scene. The " elite " have conveniently forgot about this pathetic era.What was happening those Sunday afternoons were surreal beyond belief.
herringthorpe 4 years ago
You're right! The time YOU are discussing (1977/78) was well POST-Northern at the Mecca! No doubt this exciting period WOULD appear strange to anyone still flapping around the dancefloor in "Spencers baggies" with a soggy bar towel tucked into his waistband, stripped to the waist and covered in tattoos, bouncing up and down to the likes of Murial Day and (erk!) Helen Shapiro! "Heart of Soul" ???!! (Har-bloody-har!)
drwhatson 4 years ago
lol - 30 years later and they still (Wigan's Antique and Vintage Soul Club ) couldn't catch up with the Northern Soul Scene : are you people for real . Since when did baggy trousers ; my dad polyester vests and white pop have anything to do with Northern Soul !!
Blackpool77 4 years ago
Lets try to get through to your Wigan skull - Northern Soul was Black Music ; in 76 -78 we (thats the Northern Soul Scene) were doing exactly what they(the originals ) were doing 8/6 years earlier at the Wheel /Torch -- playing current and cutting edge black American soul - new releases -wearing the latest fashions and combining audience participation . The Ritz showed you pathetic cave men of a bygone and false scene , what Northern Soul was really about .
Blackpool77 4 years ago
Simple equation for you ya numb skull , if the Wheel and the Torch later , had applied your logic of playing old material, we'd be getting late 50s R&B played on the scene in the late 1960s and early 70s .Since when was Northern Soul a retro scene or for that matter a haven for white pop !!
Blackpool77 4 years ago
I've heard all the " baggy trousers " remarks so many times now, it's water off a ducks back, can't you find any " cutting edge " comments ?. The top and bottom of it is you're happy to remember the early mecca day's but,don't like being reminded about the " whoopp, whoopp" era. Take your medicine...... with a star wars stick !!
herringthorpe 4 years ago
You have a selective memory when you talk about the Mecca and the Ritz . You say about star wars sticks and the whistles - all part of the fashions of the day -back then . What about the Mecca tracksuits boys and the early "perry boys" - next to "your" 3 star jumpers from god knows when - yeah sure you were really keeping the faith !!! Or the Manchester Soulie look -again all part of the current , at that time , look on the Northern Scene .
Blackpool77 4 years ago
The whole "Mecca era "encompassed natural progression which is something you obviously know nothing about in your style or your music. You take your medicine with a doze of your white pop music and your nasty poly- vests -lol . Long live the Wigan Classics like Holly St James !!! A venue which managed to seal itself off in antiquity and that was then !!!! You were the laughing stock .
Blackpool77 4 years ago
I'm sure the likes of ,Jackie Beavers,Jeanette Williams,Curtis Mayfield, Clyde Mcphatter, etc would like to know they were " white pop" artists.
herringthorpe 4 years ago
Hang on - you switching back now to a different period : thought we were talking about 76 onwards - you know the period where the Wigan faithful just wanted to call it "Northern" - just to avoid the embarrassment of explaining that there was very little soul being played - and so that they could play anything that sounded like a typical Wi-gun sound
Blackpool77 4 years ago
Yes the tracks you mentioned were general Northern plays - so ? -the two big Jackie Beavers tracks being old Colin Curtis plays at the mecca and then Colin selling them on to Searling as "oldies"
Blackpool77 4 years ago
Are we not talking about the glory years of Wig-un : when the likes of Toni Basil ; Joe 90 and anything that fitted the Wig-un formula was played. Never insult a scene with such a rich "progressive" heritage as Northern Soul ,by labeling what was played at Wig-un as Northern Soul- you seem to jump around this period like a dog at a fair !!
Blackpool77 4 years ago
It is you who "jump round like a dog at a fair" first mecca then Ritz,then Berlin's.You have tarred everybody with the same "Baggy Trouser's Brigade " brush.And as for playing dross, was it not Tony Jebb who openly admitted, he tried to "get away with playing anything " at the mecca.And hang on, I thought we were talking about the Casino full stop.
herringthorpe 4 years ago
Yes theres a logical link between the Highland Room - The Ritz and Berlin and the Whole Manchester mid 80s scene - so theres no jumping around . As for Tony Jebb , respect due , I think he was from the pre 73/74 Mecca era so I dont know where he figures in this discussion
Blackpool77 4 years ago
I left the Casino one morning a very disillusioned young man before the Joe 90 era you speak of, not because of the music , but the other stuff that was happening their. Yes I did attend on the odd occasion, but the other stuff still hung in the air. So we're not all baggy trousered morons like you try and make out.
herringthorpe 4 years ago
I don't have any disrespect for the large amount of Wigan followers who went to the venue - me included- who by 77/78 had had enough of the downward spiral of events. Its not about Mecca vs Wigan ; but about the fact that this venue seem to take the name Northern Soul post 77/78 as though it was the leading beacon of the scene !!!
Blackpool77 4 years ago
At last, I can see your point of view, respect that. In a nutshell ,what I was trying to point out,was " people in glasshouse's " etc.Come 77/78, there was a bad intimidating atmosphere about the place.
herringthorpe 4 years ago
You talk fashion or music -what did Wigan Casino have in common with the Torch or the Wheel - nothing !! The Mecca Scallies in their Adidas clobber and trainers became the Perry Boys of Manchester and the North West -just like the Smoothies and the Suede's were doing it at the Wheel and the Torch
Blackpool77 4 years ago
As for Pop Music -yeah we'll leave it to Wigan on that one : what a roll call of honour - Holly St James ; Judy Street;Ruth Swann; Rain with Charity - the list is endless . What fantastic Soul sides they were - really keeping in tradition with what Northern Soul was about !! I dont think so
Blackpool77 4 years ago
How can you mention tradition when the mecca turned into a funk venue !! michael zagar band,p-funk,idris mohamed, the list is endless.
herringthorpe 4 years ago
You obviously dont understand what Northern Soul was ;Cutting edge "new" release Black Soul . Wigan Casino turned their backs on that , not Blackpool or Manchester . Idris Mohammed and P Funk had more in common with NF Porter ; James Coit; Mel Britt , than any white pop record that your venue played.
Blackpool77 4 years ago
Maybe thats why when the big and final split happened at the Ritz in Jan 78 the Mecca/Manchester scene moved forward taking all the old Torch and Wheel boys and the new Manc soul Scallies and built the great Manchester Jazz Funk Scene a wonderful follow on to the foundation period at the Wheel and the Torch from 68 through to 72. What did Wigan end as : that sad ,endless preservation society , trapped in time -playing more white pop
Blackpool77 4 years ago
Well remember by 84/85 at places like Berlin in Manchester , Colin Curtis continuing to build on that Northern heritage , with the smooth cutting edge soul movers of the day . Also remember the odd Wheel/Torch "old timers "coming down to the Berlin sessions and congratulating Colin on what he had done , how places like Berlin had kept alive what Northern Soul was meant to be , not some retro backward looking thing !!
Blackpool77 4 years ago
dont get me wrong but it all started going downhill when
the media locked on ,and those that encouraged the media
this film, and others do not show the real casino, in no way would you have danced in front of cameras, posing, the lights are on in these films, for gods sake. the real place was mr M,s
wiganjoe 4 years ago
good vid
Sandinista81 5 years ago
Everybody and their mother "went to Wigan". What's "underground" about that!!?
drwhatson 5 years ago
pretty certain he just gave the exact reasons for it
EverImproving 4 years ago
Great Memories!
rps7062 5 years ago
Shivers down my spine!
soulmancyclist 5 years ago