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Northern Soul is a music and dance movement that originated among the working-class communities of Northern England and the Midlands during the early 1970s. It is centered on uptempo African-American soul music, typically rare and obscure records (nicknamed "rare grooves"), which would be played in all-night dance parties. It was influenced by the Mod subculture of the previous decade.
History[]
Early Origins (1960s)[]
The term "Northern Soul" itself has its roots record shop called Soul City, located in London. Dave Godin, the owner and a dedicated soul music collector, coined the phrase in 1968 to differentiate the upbeat, fast-tempo soul music favored by young people from Northern England from the smoother, more mainstream soul popular in London and the other southern regions. As Godin put it:
"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'"" ― Dave Godin
This "Northern Soul" sound, characterized by a heavy, syncopated beat and fast tempo, perfectly complemented the energetic and athletic dance style that was developing in clubs and dance halls across the North. These records, relatively rare and hard-to-find, became known as "stompers" and were essential in parties. It evolved into a more solidified scene thanks to clubs like the Twisted Wheel Club in Manchester, which was originally founded in the 1950s as a Beatnik coffee bar.
Related Movements[]
Popcorn[]
An example of a typical Popcorn party.
Popcorn (also known as Oldies Popcorn or Belgian Popcorn) was a completely underground musical movement in Belgium estabilished during the 1960s and 1970s, in many ways similar to Britain's Northern Soul movement. It was a youth subculture characterized by its music preferences involving soul, disco, swing, jazz, and funk music, particularly obscure tracks recorded in Britain or the United States during the previous two decades. These "rare grooves" were played in dance halls and clubs, in which people would dance in a formal and old-fashioned way to underground records while socializing, dating, having fun, and consuming alcohol. The most commonly used instrument was the organ. This movement's origins are rooted in the region of Antwerp.
Compared to Northern Soul, the music associated with the Popcorn movement is significantly slower in its tempo. As strange as it sounds, this movement was named after "popcorn" due to its connections to R&B and Soul music originating from the United States. However, the name directly originated from the phrase "Dancing the Popcorn in Vrasene", referring to a town in East Flanders. In this town, people would attend dance competitions on Sunday afternoons, hosted in a café called De Oude Hoeve.[1]
Bob Stanley, a musician and journalist from The Guardian, described Popcorn as the last truly underground scene in Europe.[2] This is because it has largely gone unnoticed outside its home country, and unlike many other movements and subcultures of the time, the trend was never widely commercialized. It is often considered to be the predecessor to Belgium's New Beat movement, which was influenced by Acid House and had a distinct music and fashion, contributing to the emergence of Hardcore Techno music. Both New Beat and Popcorn are included in a popular documentary called The Sound of Belgium (2012), which documents the history of Belgian music genres and its related subcultures.
Visuals[]
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Fashion[]
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Dance[]
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Music[]
Record Labels[]
- Brunswick Records
- Chess
- Golden World Records
- Goldmine Soul Supply
- Gordy Records
- Mirwood Records
- Motown
- Okeh Records
- Ric-Tic Records
- Shout Records
- VeeJay
Albums[]
- Casino Classics: Chapter One
- Follow Me to the Popcorn: The Untold History of the Belgium Popcorn Scene
Songs[]
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Media[]
Film[]
- Northern Soul (2014)
- Quadrophenia (1979)
- Soulboy (2010)
Documentaries[]
- Northern Soul: Keeping the Faith (2013)
- Living for the Weekend: The Story of Northern Soul (2014)
- Once Upon a Time in Wigan (2003)
- Soul Survivors: The Wigan Casino Story (1996)
- The Sound of Belgium (2012)
- This England (1977)
Resources[]
Playlists[]
- Best of Northern Soul by George Morgan
- Northern Soul Classics by Spotify
Pinterest Boards[]
- 70s - Northern Soul by Dutch Guy
- Northern Soul by David Wilson
- Northern Soul Passion by Jean Fleury
- The Northern Soul Scene - Keep The Faith by Retro-fan
Gallery[]
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