Road To The Casion
This article explains how an unlikely youth culture in the north west of England gave rise to an influential but underrated genre of music - and the world's most expensive 7" vinyl record. 'Northern Soul' was the musical genre epitomised by the track on this record, and its style would prove a great stimulus and underlying source of inspiration behind various careers, including that, for example, of the now legendary producer, Pete Waterman.
MUCH common ground exists between the development of the rave scene of the late 1980's, and the first strongly identifiable phenomenon deriving from UK club culture in the 1960's - namely, Northern Soul. Northern Soul, and its accompanying subculture (with its motto, 'Keep The Faith'), represents the hallowing of a specific genre of music, a love of musical rarity, and an extraordinary geographical transplantation of a style of music far removed from its original 'New World' marketplace. In this instance, authentic soul music from the industrial heart of America had matured and reached deep into the cultural consciousness of many young people in the north west of England.
The Northern Soul scene (which still remains vibrant today) can be traced back to 1967, and The Twisted Wheel Club, which was popular with Mods in the Manchester area. As DJ, John Knight, explains, Mods set out to have 'a good time, every time, in style'. They became particularly well known for the reverence they felt towards what they perceived to be the most fashionable kind of music, to which they danced during long amphetamine-filled nights (in Nowell 1999: 28).
The Mods wished to embrace the modern - hence their abbreviated moniker, Mod(ern). They fully exploited the new-found opportunities thrown up by the ending of National Service, which coincided with more relaxed social attitudes and an increase in leisure time. Greater disposable income was also available to help them channel their youthful exuberance and energies. By the early 1960s, more money than ever before was being spent on consumer goods such as recorded music, clothes, Italian scooters and, of course, drugs - mainly amphetamines in pill form such as 'Mother's Little Helper' - about which The Rolling Stones so memorably sang. Many so-called Mods spent their time hanging out in the basement clubs that were springing up in major cities, where they could show off their sharp, tailored suits, and groove to the latest sounds. Image was central to the Mod movement, and they aspired to a high level of discernment on the subject of fashion and clothes.
The other essential factor of avant-garde style to the true Mod was, of course, music. Many of them wanted something more meaningful than the current chart-bound sounds, and so they looked west to 'The Sound of Young America' - i.e., that of early Motown from Detroit, USA. Here was a style of music that Mods felt comfortable identifying with. Meanwhile, their contemporary nemesis, the Teds (and later the Rockers), tried to stay true to a perceived golden age in the musical past.
As the '60's progressed and the Motown sound became a worldwide success, hundreds of independent labels in America began to spring up, all making similar sounding records. Most of these small outfits were commercially unsuccessful - mainly due to poor distribution, lower sonic quality, and the avalanche of quality soul records that were already being released by the more established labels, such as Stax, Atlantic, RCA and Chess.
To retain the exclusivity that the Mods craved, they looked on this soul music not only as something to dance to, but also to provide the thematic soundtrack to their own lives. Mods thus coveted these plentiful Motown-sounding records - many of which had been forgotten by the mainstream public. While a lot of these records had been completely overlooked in America, others were minor successes; yet it was to be a decade or more before they suddenly became popular in the north west of England.
Ironically, the so-called modernity of the Mods, as indeed with the Teds, was, in reality, stylistically quite backward-looking. Northern Soul has rarely placed strong emphasis on current releases. In fact, just the opposite often proved to be the case. Indeed, due to the production-line nature of Motown Records itself (modelled on the mass production techniques of the Detroit car factories), a great number of official Motown tracks were never released, and thus never found their way onto the airwaves. Some of these recordings would later become highly prized in the north of England, and were certainly much sought after as time passed.
The net effect of all this was that a vast amount of undiscovered 'soul treasure' lay in record company vaults, much of which was eventually released for retail sale, only to end up in bargain basement bins around the USA. With so much product flooding the market, and with limited shelf-space (and airtime) available for current releases, a lot of soul music was, unsurprisingly, overlooked.
By the end of the 1960's, though, a growing underground club culture had begun to increase the demand for these obscure rarities - largely, and perhaps most surprisingly, in the north west of England. In London and the south of England, however, rock continued to dominate the underground scene, the UK brand of which was also successfully marketed to the USA. Curiously, in several of the northern clubs of England, the rock trend was less significant than one might imagine. It was, rather, through the pursuit of more obscure music that the Mods could show just how cutting edge their tastes were.
As rivalry increased between DJs - each of whom wanted to possess the most obscure and exclusive vinyl, and as the dangers of bootlegging were becoming more apparent - so the practice of covering up record labels became quite widespread, with the original artist and title often being changed. (Indeed, it should be remembered that importing records remained an illegal activity in the UK until 1972.) DJs sought to protect their new-found treasures by any means whatsoever. Northern Soul was now an important, and highly-prized, commodity THE TERM 'Northern Soul' is derived from the activities of travelling football supporters from the north of England. Supporters of these teams came south to watch matches in London. It became apparent to Dave Godin - a crucial figure in Northern Soul (who in the 1960's had helped set up the UK arm of Motown, co-owned the Soul City record shop, and later became a writer for Blues and Soul Magazine) - that there were marked differences in taste between consumers from the north and south. He reminisces that northerners did not seem interested in 'buying what was subsequently called funk' (the 'in' music of the time, which was selling well in the south). So Godin coined the term, 'Northern Soul', to refer to exactly that type of music enjoyed by his northern customers, and which he would play whenever such clientele graced his record shop in any numbers. The term soon caught on. (In Brewster and Broughton 2000: 93.)When The Twisted Wheel club opened in 1963 in Brazennose Street, in Manchester, it played a mix of blues, soul and jazz. By the time it had moved to neighbouring Whitworth Street, in 1967, it was well on its way to establishing itself as the seminal club of Northern Soul. It became pre-eminent largely due to its policy of restricting the music to up-tempo soul sounds.Roger Eagle was resident DJ at The Twisted Wheel, and felt his choice of tracks to be limited because of the narrow demands of the regulars, subsequently becoming fed up with not being able to play a full range of music. The police and the local authorities eventually closed The Twisted Wheel, due to repeated trouble and the prevalence of drugs. The musical legacy, though, was substantial - nuggets of soul gold unearthed at the Wheel included All For You by Earl Van Dyke, Here I Go Again by Archie Bell and The Drells, and Just Walk In My Shoes by Gladys Knight and The Pips.The Catacombs club in Wolverhampton, with its DJ, Farmer Carl Dean, was closely associated with The Wheel, but since the Catacombs closed early (at midnight), it never had the same impact. Its influence was still important, though, as it was among the first clubs to seek out ultra rare vinyl, and thus aired records like I'll Do Anything by Doris Troy, which later became a Northern Soul classic.Even in the early years of the Northern Soul scene, club hits were beginning to edge their way into the national charts (even without the crucial airplay listings that are normally deemed essential). Tami Lynn's I'm Gonna Run From You, for example, reached No.4 in the UK in May, 1971. This was followed, a couple of months later, by The Tams' Hey Don't Bother Me - a record first broken by Farmer Carl, and a No.1 single in the UK. Such popularity and increasing sales volume began to motivate other record labels in the UK (such as Pye Records) to reissue more of this rare and forgotten music.Another venue, The Torch, in Stoke-On-Trent, only ran for one year from 1972 to early 1973. Despite this fact, it managed to secure a legendary reputation by playing records like Sandi Sheldon's You're Gonna Make Me Love You. Even today, it vies with many other seminal clubs as one of the greatest. Its reputation was also enhanced by Major Lance (a Northern Soul favourite), who recorded his live performance album there, Major Lance Live at the Torch, on 9th December, 1972.Meanwhile, various other venues began to spring up, creating a flourishing Northern Soul scene - clubs such as the Blue Orchid (Crewe), the King Mojo (Sheffield), the Cats Whiskers (Burnley), Vava's (Bolton), the Holgate (York), the Queen's Hall (Bradford), Clifton Hall (Rotherham) and the King George's Hall (Blackburn).Most notable, though, was the opening of The Blackpool Mecca (and its Highland Room, with resident DJ, Ian Levine). Although the Blackpool Mecca was constrained by conservative licensing laws, it adopted the novel practice of staging all-dayers (from noon to midnight), as opposed to all-nighters. This club proved, arguably, to be the most innovative of all such clubs, and all-dayers soon became a feature at other venues. Unfortunately, damaging friction with The Wigan Casino (which opened soon afterwards) ultimately caused the Northern Soul scene to split and branch out in different directions.THE TERM 'Northern Soul' is derived from the activities of travelling football supporters from the north of England. Supporters of these teams came south to watch matches in London. It became apparent to Dave Godin - a crucial figure in Northern Soul (who in the 1960's had helped set up the UK arm of Motown, co-owned the Soul City record shop, and later became a writer for Blues and Soul Magazine) - that there were marked differences in taste between consumers from the north and south. He reminisces that northerners did not seem interested in 'buying what was subsequently called funk' (the 'in' music of the time, which was selling well in the south). So Godin coined the term, 'Northern Soul', to refer to exactly that type of music enjoyed by his northern customers, and which he would play whenever such clientele graced his record shop in any numbers. The term soon caught on. (In Brewster and Broughton 2000: 93.)When The Twisted Wheel club opened in 1963 in Brazennose Street, in Manchester, it played a mix of blues, soul and jazz. By the time it had moved to neighbouring Whitworth Street, in 1967, it was well on its way to establishing itself as the seminal club of Northern Soul. It became pre-eminent largely due to its policy of restricting the music to up-tempo soul sounds.Roger Eagle was resident DJ at The Twisted Wheel, and felt his choice of tracks to be limited because of the narrow demands of the regulars, subsequently becoming fed up with not being able to play a full range of music. The police and the local authorities eventually closed The Twisted Wheel, due to repeated trouble and the prevalence of drugs. The musical legacy, though, was substantial - nuggets of soul gold unearthed at the Wheel included All For You by Earl Van Dyke, Here I Go Again by Archie Bell and The Drells, and Just Walk In My Shoes by Gladys Knight and The Pips.The Catacombs club in Wolverhampton, with its DJ, Farmer Carl Dean, was closely associated with The Wheel, but since the Catacombs closed early (at midnight), it never had the same impact. Its influence was still important, though, as it was among the first clubs to seek out ultra rare vinyl, and thus aired records like I'll Do Anything by Doris Troy, which later became a Northern Soul classic.Even in the early years of the Northern Soul scene, club hits were beginning to edge their way into the national charts (even without the crucial airplay listings that are normally deemed essential). Tami Lynn's I'm Gonna Run From You, for example, reached No.4 in the UK in May, 1971. This was followed, a couple of months later, by The Tams' Hey Don't Bother Me - a record first broken by Farmer Carl, and a No.1 single in the UK. Such popularity and increasing sales volume began to motivate other record labels in the UK (such as Pye Records) to reissue more of this rare and forgotten music.Another venue, The Torch, in Stoke-On-Trent, only ran for one year from 1972 to early 1973. Despite this fact, it managed to secure a legendary reputation by playing records like Sandi Sheldon's You're Gonna Make Me Love You. Even today, it vies with many other seminal clubs as one of the greatest. Its reputation was also enhanced by Major Lance (a Northern Soul favourite), who recorded his live performance album there, Major Lance Live at the Torch, on 9th December, 1972.Meanwhile, various other venues began to spring up, creating a flourishing Northern Soul scene - clubs such as the Blue Orchid (Crewe), the King Mojo (Sheffield), the Cats Whiskers (Burnley), Vava's (Bolton), the Holgate (York), the Queen's Hall (Bradford), Clifton Hall (Rotherham) and the King George's Hall (Blackburn).Most notable, though, was the opening of The Blackpool Mecca (and its Highland Room, with resident DJ, Ian Levine). Although the Blackpool Mecca was constrained by conservative licensing laws, it adopted the novel practice of staging all-dayers (from noon to midnight), as opposed to all-nighters. This club proved, arguably, to be the most innovative of all such clubs, and all-dayers soon became a feature at other venues. Unfortunately, damaging friction with The Wigan Casino (which opened soon afterwards) ultimately caused the Northern Soul scene to split and branch out in different directions.
by Scott Blackie
Freelance music writer
Glasgow, Scotland, UKAugust, 2001