another punk/new wave background here ..... i was born in '65 so by about 1978 i was starting to listen to stuff like the jam, costello, boomtown rats, blondie ..... plus pistols, clash, uk subs, SLF etc. also flirted with the mod revival of 1979 .... and two tone.
got into all this pretty late compared to most here ......... probably about 1996 when i was DJ-ing at an indie club (modernworld) where we had a playlist that included up to date britpop, indie classics, 60s guitar (action, who, small faces, beatles etc) and motown. got asked to DJ at another club by a bouncer who worked there who was well into his northern .... he played me some ..... from there on i started buying it.
bizarrely though ..... i managed to totally miss the northern soul scene, didn't know anything about it. scooter rallies too (although there was a regular rally at hayling island for a few years i think). i also went to a couple of untouchables mod rallies from about 1995, went along with a local mate who used to go to them regularly.