How did the Northern Soul movement begin?
How did the Northern Soul movement begin?Answer: As soul music turned into funk in the late-Sixties, middle-class kids from the North of England began to turn their tastes backward, scouring the racks for Motown and Detroit (and sometimes Southern) soul they hadn’t heard yet. Dave Godin, who ran the Soul City record shop in London, developed the term in 1968 to refer to obscure soul being bought by fans from the North of the country. Manchester’s Twisted Wheel club was the first to cater to this phenomenon, starting in 1963; by 1967, the Saturday “all-nighters” of uptempo rare soul had gained the club a popularity it had trouble handling. By 1971 the police discovered the amphetamine scene at the club and closed it down, but by that point a number of other clubs had picked up on the scene and were hosting their own all-nighters (and also “all-dayers”), most notably The Golden Torch in Tunstall.
