Brief History Of The Mecca
Mecca. But it was also possible to buy amounts of records from him also and I remember several occasions doing so, one memorable time was buying 100 copies of the Carstairs ~ It really Hurts Me Girl and taking them back down to London where they wasn’t able to sell but a year or so later they were changing hands for much more money
Unfortunately for Ian and Colin they soon found themselves trying to compete with Wigan Casino which had opened its doors not many miles away. Wigan Casino always had one big advantage over the Mecca in that it had permission to remain open all night whilst the Mecca was restricted to normal club licensing hours. It was this attraction which probably wooed many punters away from the Mecca to its rival venue. They did attempt to fight the trend by holding 'all-dayers' which generally started at mid-day and continued through till midnight which, although moderately successful, never seemed to appeal in quite the same way that the 'All-Nighters' did. Alot of the Mecca Crew would turn up at the Casino straight after the Highland room finished and arrived en masse to dance the remainder of the night away. To say that Mecca and the Casino were direct rivals is in many ways true, but in others they were complementary. A major difference was the club's music policies. Whereas Wigan was firmly rooted in R&B and predominantly from the Sixties the Mecca tried to keep abreast of newer releases which often included funkier influences. The clientele was also different both in the way they dressed and the way they danced. Many of the early die hard Soulies considered Mecca to have 'sold out' because of its courtship of funk whereas Mecca considered the Wigan faithful to be soul dinosaurs still living in the past. These arguments led to the two camps becoming increasingly polarized and much subsequent bad feeling. . But there was also alot of us that appreciated both camps ~ true soulies!
Ian's courtship of funk might have been forgiven had he restricted himself to that activity, but his next step was to start producing records himself which were tailor-made for the Northern Soul Market. Some of his productions were pleasant enough but if we accept that 'Soul' music is a cultural expression of the hardships, the poverty, the discrimination that Black Americans have suffered then the question has to be asked, what credentials has a millionaire's son from Blackpool got to intrude? Ian began using the Mecca as breaking ground for his own material which caused many soul devotees to believe that what had once been hallowed territory was copping out to 'Disco Shite'. On the closure of Blackpool Mecca Ian Levine went on to produce 'Hi-Energy' music and even pop bands such as 'Take that'. He also made several cover versions of original Soul records with White Artists.
Unfortunately for Ian and Colin they soon found themselves trying to compete with Wigan Casino which had opened its doors not many miles away. Wigan Casino always had one big advantage over the Mecca in that it had permission to remain open all night whilst the Mecca was restricted to normal club licensing hours. It was this attraction which probably wooed many punters away from the Mecca to its rival venue. They did attempt to fight the trend by holding 'all-dayers' which generally started at mid-day and continued through till midnight which, although moderately successful, never seemed to appeal in quite the same way that the 'All-Nighters' did. Alot of the Mecca Crew would turn up at the Casino straight after the Highland room finished and arrived en masse to dance the remainder of the night away. To say that Mecca and the Casino were direct rivals is in many ways true, but in others they were complementary. A major difference was the club's music policies. Whereas Wigan was firmly rooted in R&B and predominantly from the Sixties the Mecca tried to keep abreast of newer releases which often included funkier influences. The clientele was also different both in the way they dressed and the way they danced. Many of the early die hard Soulies considered Mecca to have 'sold out' because of its courtship of funk whereas Mecca considered the Wigan faithful to be soul dinosaurs still living in the past. These arguments led to the two camps becoming increasingly polarized and much subsequent bad feeling. . But there was also alot of us that appreciated both camps ~ true soulies!
Ian's courtship of funk might have been forgiven had he restricted himself to that activity, but his next step was to start producing records himself which were tailor-made for the Northern Soul Market. Some of his productions were pleasant enough but if we accept that 'Soul' music is a cultural expression of the hardships, the poverty, the discrimination that Black Americans have suffered then the question has to be asked, what credentials has a millionaire's son from Blackpool got to intrude? Ian began using the Mecca as breaking ground for his own material which caused many soul devotees to believe that what had once been hallowed territory was copping out to 'Disco Shite'. On the closure of Blackpool Mecca Ian Levine went on to produce 'Hi-Energy' music and even pop bands such as 'Take that'. He also made several cover versions of original Soul records with White Artists.
Title. Northern Soul Clubs / Blackpool Mecca
When it opened it's doors in 1965, the Blackpool Mecca was at the forefront of the music scene. With a capacity of three and a half thousand people, it had a glitzy stage with a revolving bandstand and was a perfect venue for various forms of entertainment. It played host to The Chi-Lites, Miracles, Isaac Hayes also Edwin Starr. The club bent over backwards to bring in the punters from all over the region including a free bus service to pick people up. Unfortunately, smaller venues began to replace the massive dance halls and by the early seventies its main hall was populated by a fraction of the punters it used to see. It was also the case with many other Tiffanies/Mecca buildings throughout the country.
The Mecca had a smaller dance hall known as the 'Highland Room' above its main arena. This room was set up as a location to play rare soul, which meant the club could still carry on despite a declining main hall. From 1971 to 1979 the smaller room continued as a Rare Soul Venue but in 1981 the Mecca closed completely having fallen into a state of disrepair due to lack of investment. The legacy of the club has been secured by the people who played the music as certain DJ's played the rarest tunes fresh from the US. Anyone who love the rare tracks would be only able to hear them within the hallowed walls of the Mecca
Audio Player::- Lydia Marcelle / It`s Not Like You
When it opened it's doors in 1965, the Blackpool Mecca was at the forefront of the music scene. With a capacity of three and a half thousand people, it had a glitzy stage with a revolving bandstand and was a perfect venue for various forms of entertainment. It played host to The Chi-Lites, Miracles, Isaac Hayes also Edwin Starr. The club bent over backwards to bring in the punters from all over the region including a free bus service to pick people up. Unfortunately, smaller venues began to replace the massive dance halls and by the early seventies its main hall was populated by a fraction of the punters it used to see. It was also the case with many other Tiffanies/Mecca buildings throughout the country.
The Mecca had a smaller dance hall known as the 'Highland Room' above its main arena. This room was set up as a location to play rare soul, which meant the club could still carry on despite a declining main hall. From 1971 to 1979 the smaller room continued as a Rare Soul Venue but in 1981 the Mecca closed completely having fallen into a state of disrepair due to lack of investment. The legacy of the club has been secured by the people who played the music as certain DJ's played the rarest tunes fresh from the US. Anyone who love the rare tracks would be only able to hear them within the hallowed walls of the Mecca
Audio Player::- Lydia Marcelle / It`s Not Like You
The Blackpool Mecca was a large entertainment venue on Central Drive in the seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire in the North West of England, first opened in 1965. In the 1970s, it was particularly known for 'The Highland Room', which was a major Northern Soul music venue. The building was closed down in 1980s and was finally demolished in January 2009 to make way for a new education facility
The Highland Room was used as a rare soul venue from 1971 to 1979 and it became one of the most popular venues on the Northern Soul scene, unlike similar clubs such as the Wigan Casino and the Golden Torch these events were not all-nighters and ran from 8pm until 2pm on Saturday evenings.
The two main DJs for the Highland Room soul nights were Ian Levine and Colin Curtis. Several classic 1960s Northern soul records were discovered and broken by the aforementioned DJs at the venue, including Tony Clarke's Landslide, Morris Chestnut’s Too Darn Soulful, Frankie Beverly & the Butler’s If That's What You Wanted and R. Dean Taylor's There's a Ghost in My House.
Later in the 1970s, the Highland Room became synonymous with a more contemporary and less frenetic style of Northern soul music, typified by records such as the Carstairs' It Really Hurts Me Girl, Voices Of East Harlem's Cashin' In and the Charisma Band's Ain't Nothing Like Your Love. Because of the change in tempo, a slightly different shuffling dance style developed at the venue. This newer sound and dance style caused some controversy and led to the formation of the parallel Modern soul sub-genre, which still exists today within and alongside the mainstream Northern soul movement.
The Highland Room was used as a rare soul venue from 1971 to 1979 and it became one of the most popular venues on the Northern Soul scene, unlike similar clubs such as the Wigan Casino and the Golden Torch these events were not all-nighters and ran from 8pm until 2pm on Saturday evenings.
The two main DJs for the Highland Room soul nights were Ian Levine and Colin Curtis. Several classic 1960s Northern soul records were discovered and broken by the aforementioned DJs at the venue, including Tony Clarke's Landslide, Morris Chestnut’s Too Darn Soulful, Frankie Beverly & the Butler’s If That's What You Wanted and R. Dean Taylor's There's a Ghost in My House.
Later in the 1970s, the Highland Room became synonymous with a more contemporary and less frenetic style of Northern soul music, typified by records such as the Carstairs' It Really Hurts Me Girl, Voices Of East Harlem's Cashin' In and the Charisma Band's Ain't Nothing Like Your Love. Because of the change in tempo, a slightly different shuffling dance style developed at the venue. This newer sound and dance style caused some controversy and led to the formation of the parallel Modern soul sub-genre, which still exists today within and alongside the mainstream Northern soul movement.