The African American Diaspora originally brought a wave of music considered to be blues, jazz, gospel, or what is now called R&B to both the United States as well as the UK. The Mods were one of the first subcultures to really take in and embrace this music, and after their cultural prominence faded so did the music’s prominence, although it influenced years of music to come. Despite its brief decline, years later African American music came back to the forefront in the Northern part of the UK in a movement known as Northern Soul.
The Northern Soul movement was unique in many ways and produced its own image of a “Soul Boy.” The Soul Boy music scene was fairly similar to the club scene of the Mods, although there had been major changes in fashion. The Mods traditionally dressed like the upper class, while the Soul Boy brought much more function to their club attire. The Northern Soul movement dressed appropriately for long nights of dancing, wearing loose, baggy clothing that they anticipated getting sweaty in. Northern Soul was defined by its dance craze, and along with this dance craze came a spike in amphetamine use. Alcohol was not usually legal in many of the clubs, but amphetamines were what kept people dancing literally overnight.
Northern Soul was all about the dancing when it came to the weekends. As the culture was primarily working class citizens, dancing all night on the weekends in places such as the famous Wigan Casino provided a sort of escape from the hard workweek. The Northern Soul movement formed a very strong sense of community for the working class; everyone would go to clubs to dance and there was less worry about who was there, regardless of race or any other factors. Also, unlike many other subcultures, there were no idyllic figures, which also contributed to the community that was Northern Soul. There were no heavily influential bands that would play shows, and even DJ’s only were recognized for their record collections. Old records from the U.S. were once again highly coveted and harder to come by.
Like many movements from music history, Northern Soul has significantly decreased in popularity but it is still around if you know where to look for it. Many clubs in London will still have soul nights and play the traditional music while people dance for hours and hours, although the original Northern Soul working class community is not present like it once was.
The Northern Soul movement was unique in many ways and produced its own image of a “Soul Boy.” The Soul Boy music scene was fairly similar to the club scene of the Mods, although there had been major changes in fashion. The Mods traditionally dressed like the upper class, while the Soul Boy brought much more function to their club attire. The Northern Soul movement dressed appropriately for long nights of dancing, wearing loose, baggy clothing that they anticipated getting sweaty in. Northern Soul was defined by its dance craze, and along with this dance craze came a spike in amphetamine use. Alcohol was not usually legal in many of the clubs, but amphetamines were what kept people dancing literally overnight.
Northern Soul was all about the dancing when it came to the weekends. As the culture was primarily working class citizens, dancing all night on the weekends in places such as the famous Wigan Casino provided a sort of escape from the hard workweek. The Northern Soul movement formed a very strong sense of community for the working class; everyone would go to clubs to dance and there was less worry about who was there, regardless of race or any other factors. Also, unlike many other subcultures, there were no idyllic figures, which also contributed to the community that was Northern Soul. There were no heavily influential bands that would play shows, and even DJ’s only were recognized for their record collections. Old records from the U.S. were once again highly coveted and harder to come by.
Like many movements from music history, Northern Soul has significantly decreased in popularity but it is still around if you know where to look for it. Many clubs in London will still have soul nights and play the traditional music while people dance for hours and hours, although the original Northern Soul working class community is not present like it once was.