Where Did 'Northern Soul' Come From?

The phrase 'Northern Soul' didn't exist until 1970 when writer David Godin ventured north from London to sample the all-nighter scene and coined the phrase 'Northern Soul' after he noticed a particular trend for Mods from the North of England coming into the London record store where he worked and requested obscure, 'old-fashioned' fast tempo soul records. As the buyers took the records back up north to Lancashire and put on nights at venues at venues such as the aforementioned Wigan Casino and Manchesters Twisted Wheel. 

Northern Soul Nights 

Unlike todays musical culture where anyone can find a song they heard during a night out at the press of a button, for 70's Northern Soul lovers, the only place they could hear their favourite tracks was at their local club. At the time it was a competition between DJ's because there were only a handful of copies of the now most iconic Northern Soul tunes in existence. 

People young and old, black and white came together in the clubs to dance all night. (elegant footwork and inch-perfect spins).

Today

Northern Soul nights are still incredibly popular today. What set Northern Soul apart as a subculture was how it went against all others- punk and hip hop emerged as a result of young people feeling disenfranchised with everything that had gone before, Northern Soul was created because of a misty-eyed nostalgia to the good old days, a true "don't make 'em like they used to attitude."