Northern Soul

Northern Soul is a music and dance movement that has origin in Northern England in the late 1960’s. “Northern” means its origin North of England, and “Soul” is fans of black American music

This was influenced by British mod scene, which is a subculture thrived in London in the late 1950s to 1960s. Northern soul consists of black American soul music in terms of its style having the heavy syncopated beats and fast tempo with soulful vocals. Also Northern soul is associated with Motown (Tamla Motown sound) and R&B scene of the late 1960s not only about music, but dance styles and fashion. In the late 1960’s young people were going to clubs that were playing R&B and Motown records.

This movement quickly spread to many dancehalls and nightclubs in the UK such as Catacombs, the Highland Rooms, Golden Torch, Wigan Casino, and especially the Twisted Wheel was a centre of the Mod scene in Manchester.  Then it lasted until 1970s. Later on, DJs generally started to move to play more contemporary sound instead of 1960’s Motown sound.  

Today there are still DJs influenced by the Northern soul movement and the DJs at that time. Northern Soul DJs sought to satisfy the crowd’s desires for music and the base was built up by them.

Here are some examples of Northern Soul music.

Landslide/ Tony Clarke

Tainted Love/ Gloria Jones

I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)/ The Four Tops