What's' Northern Soul'?

[Guest]

When you tell 'Ordinary People' you like Northern Soul

and they say 'What's that?' Just what do you say??

I say Black music from the 60's and 70's and add..... Marvin Gaye,4 Tops,Temptations etc..

Difficult isn't it??

[Guest]

When you tell 'Ordinary People' you like Northern Soul

and they say 'What's that?' Just what do you say??

I say Black music from the 60's and 70's and add..... Marvin Gaye,4 Tops,Temptations etc..

Difficult isn't it??

I dont bother anymore can't be arsed explaining it to the non belivers.

[Ian Parker]

I dont bother anymore can't be arsed explaining it to the non belivers.

i just say 60's and 70's uptempo soul, yanno, like 'sweet soul music and baby love'

[ChrisOD1964]

When you tell 'Ordinary People' you like Northern Soul

and they say 'What's that?' Just what do you say??

I say Black music from the 60's and 70's and add..... Marvin Gaye,4 Tops,Temptations etc..

Difficult isn't it??

Thats more or less what i say and leave it at that coz then it becomes annoying when they start saying things like so elvis northern soul etc.

chris

[Rbman]

I think it's a style of music mainly purchased in the 70s in a record shop in London by blokes from up north (west) when visiting soho for a dirty weekend away!

[Douglas]

If you are talking to someone intelligent the best way is to reply that most record companies in the 60s were trying to cash in on the Motown sound and so is very similar in style, most of it being inferior to Tamla Motown records but still some that were actually superior, most of the uninitiated have a set view of Northern Soul and nothing you can say will change their mind,most people thought i was going to the casino to listen to dross like Third Finger Left Hand, if only they knew i was actually going to hear Court Davis, Cecil Washington and the like.

[BlueWail]

I dont bother anymore can't be arsed explaining it .

Thats what i do

Yesterday i was at work and some bloke clocked a sticker on my work van and commented about wigan casino

I just agreed with him

[Cunnie]

What's Northern Soul?

Easy. It's 40+ year old Modern Soul

[Mark Bicknell]

I say 'generally 4/4 beat music.......and all of the sound or a 'hook' in it makes your hair stand on end'....then I usually waffle on about Dusty Springfield's 'What's it Gonna Be' and how 'Tony Blackburn did a cover once'......................they've usually walked off by then.

Best

dogstoat

Do you then explain the difference between oldies and newies? lol

One all I think lol

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

Edited April 10, 2009 by Mark Bicknell

[Guest]

Do you then explain the difference between oldies and newies? lol

One all I think lol

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

What is Northern Soul ?

Whatever you want it to be ..........

Malc Burton

[Paul R]

Someone once told me that it was soul music, but sung by white people

Paul

[bri pinch]

Someone once told me that it was soul music, but sung by white people

Paul

CIRCA 1975 WIGAN IT PROBABLY WAS .

BRI PINCH.

[Sean Hampsey]

Someone once told me that it was soul music, but sung by white people

Paul

or as an old workmate told me "Soul Music... for people who don't like real Soul Music"

[Guest isis]

A conversation between me and Jose Mourinho lookalike (true)

Jose2 "What music do you like then?"

Me "Lots, but mostly northern soul"

Jose2 "You mean like Wigans Ovation"

Me "F*c*o*f.............NOW"

[Mark S]

When you tell 'Ordinary People' you like Northern Soul

and they say 'What's that?' Just what do you say??

I say Black music from the 60's and 70's and add..... Marvin Gaye,4 Tops,Temptations etc..

Difficult isn't it??

I love the term "Ordinary People "

If people need to ask then they will never get it so I never tell them

[Guest Matt Male]

I love the term "Ordinary People "

'locals' 'commoners' 'mundanes' 'mudbloods' 'peasants' 'plebeians' 'muggles'

I like the term 'citizen' e.g. 'how do we explain to a citizen?'

I was just thinking that we on here can't agree what northern soul is, so what chance of we got of explaining it to 'citizens'?

[Guest dundeedavie]

Not sure i know any ordinary people ..... i wouldn't bother trying to explain it to them

[Guest soulmaguk]

2 words 'frank wilson'

[Guest familytree]

I say 'generally 4/4 beat music.......and all of the sound or a 'hook' in it makes your hair stand on end'....then I usually waffle on about Dusty Springfield's 'What's it Gonna Be' and how 'Tony Blackburn did a cover once'......................they've usually walked off by then.

Best

dogstoat

haha brilliant! x

[Maria O]

Someone once told me that it was soul music, but sung by white people

Paul

Don't you mean: soul music LIKED by white people?

Can't remember the definition I used to use back home, but it definitely started with "Well... you wouldn't like it, but...."

and it used to end with

"...but you wouldn't like it."

These days, I prefer listening to soul music anyway

m

[Guest bazabod_downunder]

Tend to agree, it's a tad bit difficult describing it to 'ordinary folk'...lol....I find it quite amusing on ebay sometimes to see an uneducated dealer describing something as 'Northern Soul' hoping he'll get big money for a record which actually isn't.......I was sent to do a quote for a chemist (not to raid it) for some work, the woman there was in her mid to late 40's, we got chatting & as she was a pom I asked where she was from, 'Wigan' was the reply, so I said 'Did you go to the Casino?'.....'No love I don't gamble' was the reply.

....lol

KTF

Baz

'locals' 'commoners' 'mundanes' 'mudbloods' 'peasants' 'plebeians' 'muggles'

I like the term 'citizen' e.g. 'how do we explain to a citizen?'

I was just thinking that we on here can't agree what northern soul is, so what chance of we got of explaining it to 'citizens'?

[Guest soulmaguk]

Tend to agree, it's a tad bit difficult describing it to 'ordinary folk'...lol....I find it quite amusing on ebay sometimes to see an uneducated dealer describing something as 'Northern Soul' hoping he'll get big money for a record which actually isn't.......I was sent to do a quote for a chemist (not to raid it) for some work, the woman there was in her mid to late 40's, we got chatting & as she was a pom I asked where she was from, 'Wigan' was the reply, so I said 'Did you go to the Casino?'.....'No love I don't gamble' was the reply.

....lol

KTF

Baz

ha ha ha, did she know Russ Winstanley, you know he discovered frank wilson, and northern soul and cooking on tv.

[Guest JJMMWGDuPree]

It's soul, but Northern!

[Guest Brett F]

Was in Las Vegas about 8 years back and i bought a local magazine, in it was an interview with Norman Cook (fatboy slim), the journalist mentioned that Cook sampled "Northern Soul".........in brackets the interviewer explained it was " A POOR ENGLISH VERSION OF MOTOWN" .............

[Cunnie]

Didn't Richard Searling once call it 'deep soul with a dance beat'.

Not so sure I'd agree but a great description anyway.

[Simsy]

We concluded that the Wikipedia definition wasn't far off the mark some time back. Point them towards that?

[Cunnie]

We concluded that the Wikipedia definition wasn't far off the mark some time back. Point them towards that?

Good call Ian

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_soul

[Sjclement]

When you tell 'Ordinary People' you like Northern Soul

and they say 'What's that?' Just what do you say??

I say Black music from the 60's and 70's and add..... Marvin Gaye,4 Tops,Temptations etc..

Difficult isn't it??

Ask them why they want to know in the first place

BEWARE OF THE THOUGHT POLICE

[Guest kid mohair]

When you tell 'Ordinary People' you like Northern Soul

and they say 'What's that?' Just what do you say??

I say Black music from the 60's and 70's and add..... Marvin Gaye,4 Tops,Temptations etc..

Difficult isn't it??

Just tell em to go and get a £4.99 cd from morrisons and let them figure it out...

[Maark]

I say 'generally 4/4 beat music.......and all of the sound or a 'hook' in it makes your hair stand on end'....then I usually waffle on about Dusty Springfield's 'What's it Gonna Be' and how 'Tony Blackburn did a cover once'......................they've usually walked off by then.

Best

dogstoat

[Guest Dave Turner]

When you tell 'Ordinary People' you like Northern Soul

and they say 'What's that?' Just what do you say??

I say Black music from the 60's and 70's and add..... Marvin Gaye,4 Tops,Temptations etc..

Difficult isn't it??

Copied from someone's previous post and from the main front page. If anyone asks me what Northern Soul is I couldn't be arsed to explain it so I'd like to be able to, there and then, print off the following and leave 'em to read it. After that they can think what they like.

For me the term Northern Soul, means so much more than just the music. I dont mean 'just the music' in a derogatory way.Northern Soul encompasses the whole concept of the scene. The camaradrie that spills out into our whole life away from clubs and record bars. The type of person even willing to endure some of the lengths we go to, to enjoy our music. The collecting Gene. The dancing Gene.

It is a suitably generic all encompassing term that doesnt narrow the concept of a scene that plays a varied style of music. (Some not remotely soul).

It was perfect for when the majority of the clubs were in the north, but timeless enough to carry 30+ years of recognition by people who dont really know anything about our music. Apart from hazy memories of schoolmates in youth clubs leaping around dancefloors to records these people didn't know, and they probably brought along themselves and badgered the DJ to play.

It says to me, meeting people in motorway services and spotting that person you have known for 20 years, and cant ask their name, because after all this time you probably had been told it once, but cant remember what the hell it was. But still greet like a long lost brother or sister.

It says talking with people where noone cares if you are a millionare, or on the dole. A school teacher or a Lorry driver or a famous singer, an actor off the TV. You are just a Northern Soul fan, and that is generally all you need to make a friend.

It says, add alcohol/drugs whatever, and still people know how to interact in the cordial way, that seems impossible in many other scenarios for the public at large.

It says sweaty clubs, empty clubs, nice venues and dives. It says here is part of my life I have never regretted.

It says every time I drive through Yate, or pass Stafford on a train, or visit aunties and cousins in Leicester, I have to go a certain way that takes me past the old venue, or crane my neck and try to glimpse the old place as the train trundles to a halt at Stafford station.

It says whenever I walk down Oxford Street I HAVE to peer through the doorway. I dont know why, but it has to be done.

It says when Soft Cell or Yazz come on the radio I feel the urge to change station. but in a knowing, almost pitious way. Not quite contemptuous. Not quite.

It says mates still think I am mental 30 years later, and dismiss my bleary eyed stop off for a pint on Sunday lunch time, on my way home to bed.

It says Matt and Conway and Vince and Bob and Hippo, and a thousand others I still see regularly at Soul nights.

It says Mike and Bernadette and Kevin and Andy who I see about town, but who dont go any more.

It says Paul who we lost in a car accident, but think about almost everyday, and not just at Easter.

If it was just Soul, jeez no-one would have given our music more than a second thought. It sets us and our music out as different, and the term is probably IMO, more important than Wigan and Stafford, the Torch, 100 club etc etc all added up and put together.

And it even means Poo Pan is something to be sought after. How many people can say the same!!??

Mikey

Edited April 11, 2009 by Dave Turner

[Guest kid mohair]

I actually got asked this question a bout 2weeks ago, the question was simply,,"so what is northern soul" i replied with "how the hell should i know" is it some sort of flat fish from manchester...

[Guest Steve Lehair]

I actually got asked this question a bout 2weeks ago, the question was simply,,"so what is northern soul" i replied with "how the hell should i know" is it some sort of flat fish from manchester...

Well if it was invented today it would just be called 60,s dance music,..........but actually it usually is a wasteof time tryin to explain it

steve

[Guest proudlove]

Well if it was invented today it would just be called 60,s dance music,..........but actually it usually is a wasteof time tryin to explain it

steve

Hiya Steve hows it going? Steve Proudlove

[Jez Jones]

Hiya Steve hows it going? Steve Proudlove

Hey up Steve. What you doing lurking on here. Check yer message inbox--something to do with Hose st

[Samson]

Don't try to describe it please......it just sounds so good in my head now and I don't want to ruin it. thanks.

[Guest WPaulVanDyk]

Well personally for me i would say it is obscure soul music played out in clubs in the 60's and 70'sin England which has a Motown feel to the sound and with some plays of famous soul singers and very little chart hits. i tell them a few songs and then say it also means they play Modern soul music too which is stuff like Norhern but more modern. I keep the idea simple to explain to all who ever ask.

Although some people really don't get it and pointless arguing to someone when you say it's the best thing you could want, playng original records which are rare and they say your having a laugh.

[Shinehead]

Deep with a BEAT.

[Guest dundeedavie]

just tell them "ask the boss , i only work here "

[Cunnie]

Deep with a BEAT.

Post 30

[Guest sandi]

What's Northern Soul?

Easy. It's 40+ year old Modern Soul

l'd agree with that.

[Guest posstot]

I had a slightly tempered disscussion with a work-mate, who had heard a couple of c.d's in the bosses van, that, obviously i'd made for him......Out of the blue, as a bit of banter,(but actually meaning it)." your music is shit!!

"fair do's, what do you listen to then?"

he replied, "the rollin' stones and the who".

At which point i sprayed the preverbial tea alll over the shop. " well, tell me who influenced the rollin' stones and the Who? they were RnB bands...copying the sound of black america...Infact THE STONES RECORDED AN ALBUM AT CHESS RECORDS, THE HUB OF CHICAGOS' RnB / BLUES AND SOUL, so they could meet, jam and record with.

"I like Honmky tonk woman" he said....... At this point i gave up.

In summary, and in answer to the original question about explaining Northern Soul......my answer, from now on, will be;

......"It's hard to explain!!"

[Guest kev such]

Sorry if this has been put already but.

As in the term of the thread and trying to explain it. "YOU CANT" simple. Over 40,000 tunes (ish) each one meaning something different to each person. You just cant put that into words.

ITS MORE THAN A FEELING.

[Guest nhsoulie]

i will try to explain it ONLY if there working class

[Guest proudlove]

i will try to explain it ONLY if there working class

Why?

[Guest familytree]

For me the term Northern Soul, means so much more than just the music. I dont mean 'just the music' in a derogatory way.Northern Soul encompasses the whole concept of the scene. The camaradrie that spills out into our whole life away from clubs and record bars. The type of person even willing to endure some of the lengths we go to, to enjoy our music. The collecting Gene. The dancing Gene.

It is a suitably generic all encompassing term that doesnt narrow the concept of a scene that plays a varied style of music. (Some not remotely soul).

It was perfect for when the majority of the clubs were in the north, but timeless enough to carry 30+ years of recognition by people who dont really know anything about our music. Apart from hazy memories of schoolmates in youth clubs leaping around dancefloors to records these people didn't know, and they probably brought along themselves and badgered the DJ to play.

It says to me, meeting people in motorway services and spotting that person you have known for 20 years, and cant ask their name, because after all this time you probably had been told it once, but cant remember what the hell it was. But still greet like a long lost brother or sister.

It says talking with people where noone cares if you are a millionare, or on the dole. A school teacher or a Lorry driver or a famous singer, an actor off the TV. You are just a Northern Soul fan, and that is generally all you need to make a friend.

It says, add alcohol/drugs whatever, and still people know how to interact in the cordial way, that seems impossible in many other scenarios for the public at large.

It says sweaty clubs, empty clubs, nice venues and dives. It says here is part of my life I have never regretted.

It says every time I drive through Yate, or pass Stafford on a train, or visit aunties and cousins in Leicester, I have to go a certain way that takes me past the old venue, or crane my neck and try to glimpse the old place as the train trundles to a halt at Stafford station.

It says whenever I walk down Oxford Street I HAVE to peer through the doorway. I dont know why, but it has to be done.

It says when Soft Cell or Yazz come on the radio I feel the urge to change station. but in a knowing, almost pitious way. Not quite contemptuous. Not quite.

It says mates still think I am mental 30 years later, and dismiss my bleary eyed stop off for a pint on Sunday lunch time, on my way home to bed.

It says Matt and Conway and Vince and Bob and Hippo, and a thousand others I still see regularly at Soul nights.

It says Mike and Bernadette and Kevin and Andy who I see about town, but who dont go any more.

It says Paul who we lost in a car accident, but think about almost everyday, and not just at Easter.

If it was just Soul, jeez no-one would have given our music more than a second thought. It sets us and our music out as different, and the term is probably IMO, more important than Wigan and Stafford, the Torch, 100 club etc etc all added up and put together.

And it even means Poo Pan is something to be sought after. How many people can say the same!!??

Mikey