Zed1

Remember the night well..... Fab times. Thanks for posting.

Ok Folks, it's time for the Soulsource Monthly 'Wigan Went Shite in.... (insert year of Choice) thread. As usual special brownie points given to all posters who can list as many 'White pop crap' tunes that Russ & co played after it "Went Crap" and real kudos can be gained amongst your fellow Soulsourcers by telling anyone ( who'll listen) that every other Venue before The Casino only ever played Quality Black Rare Soul music and it was in fact Wigan that was responsible for the death of Northern Soul as well as the rise of National Socialism in Nazi Germany in the 1930's, The Bubonic plague, The poll Tax and the End of Free School Milk (Thatcher the milk snatcher was known to be on Russ's pay roll). Wigan went crap for me in 81 went it was replaced by a Pile of Bricks and a Piano, not to mention having a funny smell of Smoke.

From my very faded memory I think it was 78 when he won.

When he used to go to Wigan he had a full head of Hair...... so he thought he'd go back and see if he could find it.

Rare footage, and 0ne of the few clips from Station Rd other than This England. If you look at the First clip the place looks empty other than the dancers, seem to recall reading it was filmed in a Morning after everyone had gone?.

No too bad Ste ( for a couple of Fat old Pensioners)... Yourself?.

Still the man.....

Isn't there some footage of Vernon dancing/spinning at Wigan Ste?..

I've watched many great dancers down the years and you can usually tell the venue from back in day that influenced their Style. Dancers from Station Rd had a unique style which contained lots of tricks & spins etc timed to the instro breaks in the more uptempo tracks. Dancers from the earlier Torch & Wheel etc tended to be much more expressive using hand movements to match the same breaks and changes in the record. Not sure what this guys style is based on unless it's just his own interpretation based on lots of visits to local Soul.

'tis something I've noticed in the last 10 years, very few people now actually dance to the music, ie they just do the same thing at the same speed no matter what the type or tempo of the Track. They look like they must be listening to their ipods as they're clearly not dancing to the record being played.

Watch & Learn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlTDesrj3Xw

Starts around 42 minutes in.... https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000d2lv/the-greatest-dancer-series-2-episode-1

James Carr - That's what I want to Know.....

Agreed Ste. And not a Fat Pensioner in fancy Dress to be seen.

Northern Soul - Where did it all go wrong?.

For Many venue's 'Across the board' is just a catch all to appeal to as many punters as possible, usually meaning the Same old Northern, Same old Crossover and same old Modern.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlTDesrj3Xw

The original question was 'What Killed Wigan?'. You'll hear/read lots of stuff blaming Station Rd's demise on Frank Wilson, White Pop Crap, Comedy Trousers, Russ Winstanley, Margret Thatcher, Adolf Hitler, and Genghis Khan. You could even blame the fact that it was a little difficult to keep attending a venue when it just a pile of smoking rubble. I still see lots of the old crowd from our Casino days and interestingly not one of them blame any of the above, they simply say they grew up and life changed, so they moved on. Which is probably what happened to most Youth type cultures, ie I think that's why they're called 'Youth' cultures. Now I know there are lot's who have tried to change the scene's history to suit their own agenda's but the truth is a little more mundane. Station Rd was a truly Fantastic place at a truly fantastic time in our lives, I for one will only ever have the fondest of memories of the old place, but I do wish people would stop picking over it's bones looking for something that REALLY isn't there.

To have a love of Soul music you must first have a love of Music. Our passion is no better or deeper felt that lot's of other people's love of other genre's. To think otherwise is delusional in the extreme.

'Northern Soul' is a film about Transcendental Music in the 25th Century on the Planet Zurg in the alpha quadrant.... or it may as well be given it's resemblance to the Northern Soul Scene circa 2019. Perhaps today's 'Soulies' could more relate to a Film based on an over 55's Version of TOWIE

We're good Ste. Yourself?.... The Buildings are the old Anglesey Brickworks. http://www.penmorfa.com/porthwen/

A mate has a Yacht at Conwy and we had a fab day out last year around Puffin Island and Anglesey.....

I think it's all to easy to forget this on Today's stagnant scene. Back then you missed a couple of Niters and the playlist had completely changed. Stop Girl is a fantastic Dance floor Track for what, after all is a Dance floor based scene. .... whatever silly label people insist on sticking on it, and every other track in it's History.

Agreed Ste. Even 5 decades after the event people are still under the illusion that Northern Soul has to be performed by a Brother from the Ghetto..

We're ok Steve. You?....