0:00:12 > 0:00:15The Northern Soul phenomenon was the most exciting underground
0:00:15 > 0:00:18British club movement of the 1970s.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22In its heyday, white working class youth in the North of England
0:00:22 > 0:00:25travelled hundreds of miles across the region to dance
0:00:25 > 0:00:29to obscure black American soul records until the break of dawn.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31You had a purpose in life.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34You know, you were always looking to hit that next record,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37you were always looking forward to the buzz of the weekend.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40It was just excitement.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42It was just euphoria.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47Everybody was there for one reason only and that was the music.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Nothing else mattered.
0:00:51 > 0:00:56With its roots in mod culture of the previous decade, Northern Soul
0:00:56 > 0:01:00created a genuine antidote to desperate, dead-end times.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04Everybody worked in a factory. Everybody worked in the pit.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06I didn't know anybody who worked in offices.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09You know, you've got one night a week
0:01:09 > 0:01:12and you're going to just do everything
0:01:12 > 0:01:14that you wanted to do all week in that one night.
0:01:17 > 0:01:18It became a way of life,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22with its own completely unique fashions and dance styles.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25If you went to a club and saw someone do a big high kick,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29you would try and out-kick that person by kicking higher.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35Northern Soul DJs believe they were creating
0:01:35 > 0:01:38a radical alternative to mainstream British culture.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41We found our own records in defiance of the market,
0:01:41 > 0:01:44in defiance of Radio 1, in defiance of the newspapers,
0:01:44 > 0:01:48in defiance of the media, and in great defiance to Top Of The Pops.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53But the joyful unity between the northern clubs was shattered
0:01:53 > 0:01:55by bitter infighting.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58And the rivalries were very intense.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01There's no two ways about that. You talk about the north-south split.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03This was a north-north split.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07Today, in the 21st-century, Northern Soul is being discovered
0:02:07 > 0:02:12by brand-new generation and experiencing a glorious revival.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18But it was back in the '70s that a strange,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21exotic flower pushed its way up through
0:02:21 > 0:02:24the concrete of northern England and changed people's lives.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32COLLIERY BAND PLAYS ABIDE WITH ME
0:02:41 > 0:02:45The late '50s, the Midlands and the North were grim.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47We still worked 44 hours a week,
0:02:47 > 0:02:49Saturday morning was part of our working week.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51Working men's clubs would have been
0:02:51 > 0:02:53the predominant form of entertainment.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59Grimy. Smoky.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01No glamour whatsoever.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06The older generation, my parents, would go to bingo,
0:03:06 > 0:03:08or the local liberal club for a comedian
0:03:08 > 0:03:10and a turn.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12That was people's entertainment.
0:03:12 > 0:03:18There was no club scene in the early 1960s in the North of England.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20There were ballrooms where live bands usually played
0:03:20 > 0:03:22and people went and danced.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27There were covers bands that played in halls.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30And not very much else.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42But, down south, a budding youth movement that would later
0:03:42 > 0:03:46inspire the Northern Soul scene was emerging in the twilight
0:03:46 > 0:03:49world of London's Soho and West End.
0:03:49 > 0:03:50The birth of club culture began,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53I guess, with the mods,
0:03:53 > 0:03:55or the modernists,
0:03:55 > 0:03:57the kids that gave you a glimpse of the future.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01They were looking for something new and different.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06They didn't want to listen to the music of their parents.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10And they wanted to hear, originally, modern jazz,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13but then it moved onto Blue Beat and R&B.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16And what they wanted to hear were the original records.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20It was at underground venues like The Flamingo in Soho where
0:04:20 > 0:04:23these sharp-dressed mods danced to black American soul records
0:04:23 > 0:04:25all night until the break of dawn.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32They were also falling in love with the exciting,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35new sounds of Motown, a Detroit-based label,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39whose soul releases were now dominating the American charts.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50It was, "I love you, darling.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52"You hurt me, I hurt you, let's get back together,"
0:04:52 > 0:04:56with a thumping great beat and a bloody great chorus to sing along to.
0:04:56 > 0:04:57It was refreshing.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01Nowadays, you look at the lyrics, they were very sad,
0:05:01 > 0:05:03but it had that uptown beat.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05It's got a doop-doop-doopy-doop-doop beat to it.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07But it's got those lovely chords.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09So a new music form was found
0:05:09 > 0:05:12with a rock beat and jazz chords
0:05:12 > 0:05:15because the chords uplift your mood and make you feel happy
0:05:15 > 0:05:19or wistful on a rock beat. That's the Motown sound.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22# Baby love, my baby love
0:05:22 > 0:05:26# I need you, oh, how I need you
0:05:26 > 0:05:30# But all you do is treat me bad... #
0:05:31 > 0:05:36The Motown sound was hugely popular in the USA and very widely imitated.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40But, in the UK, apart from the occasional chart hit, its artists
0:05:40 > 0:05:45initially struggled to gain anything like their stateside success.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Radio 1 didn't start broadcasting till 1967,
0:05:48 > 0:05:50so all through the heyday of Motown,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52there wasn't a proper station for young people.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57In those days, you really had to go to record stores or
0:05:57 > 0:06:00tune in to pirate stations to hear black American music.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05# I'll be gone, holding on
0:06:05 > 0:06:07# Oh, yes, I will... #
0:06:07 > 0:06:10So, when the pirate radio ships came along,
0:06:10 > 0:06:13we were given a lot of freedom to play the music we liked.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17I made sure that I wanted to play black soul music.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22People do forget, now that music is ubiquitous in our society,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24it was the opposite in the 1960s.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26It didn't fall on your lap,
0:06:26 > 0:06:28it wasn't something that accompanied TV adverts.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31It was something you had to go and seek out.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34# ..everyday
0:06:34 > 0:06:36# And each and every way
0:06:36 > 0:06:38# My love is growing stronger... #
0:06:38 > 0:06:43By the mid-1960s, London's mod culture, with its love of dancing
0:06:43 > 0:06:47all night to little-known soul records, was infiltrating the North.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51The mods had The Flamingo and other clubs.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53And it slowly transferred north.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56It had to work its way up the country by people from Market Harborough,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59or Leicester, or Doncaster.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03One or two people from that town would catch a train to London
0:07:03 > 0:07:05and bring something back.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14A crucial destination in the North was Manchester's Twisted Wheel.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18This club was a rare oasis for mods in the region.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21A young Pete Waterman stumbled across The Twisted Wheel
0:07:21 > 0:07:24when visiting the city for a football match.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29It was one of those things when you went, "Oh, my God, what is this?
0:07:29 > 0:07:31"This is amazing."
0:07:31 > 0:07:34You know, I was hearing stuff that I'd never heard before,
0:07:34 > 0:07:36but I knew what it was.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40And I remember catching the train the next day, and I must've been
0:07:40 > 0:07:43very quiet all the way back thinking, "Where do I get them records?"
0:07:43 > 0:07:48# Now, what's that sound that make you wanna feel all right... #
0:07:48 > 0:07:52Across the Peak District, in Sheffield, promoter and DJ
0:07:52 > 0:07:56Peter Stringfellow was creating a similar all nighter at the Mojo Club.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00Every Saturday night, that was it,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03the whole neighbourhood was boomp, boomp, boomp, boomp.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08And they would stay until ten o'clock Sunday morning.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13They were taking these things called blueys, and off they would go.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16And I think there was a wild one called the Black Bomber
0:08:16 > 0:08:19which would keep you dancing for a week.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22It was these small underground venues like Sheffield's Mojo
0:08:22 > 0:08:25and Manchester's Twisted Wheel with their culture of dancing
0:08:25 > 0:08:29all night to black music that were now sowing the seeds
0:08:29 > 0:08:31of what would become Northern Soul.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49Down south, pop culture was changing at an increasingly dramatic pace.
0:08:49 > 0:08:541967 was the year that psychedelic rock exploded.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56But it wasn't embraced by everyone.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00The reasons psychedelia didn't work in the North is
0:09:00 > 0:09:02cos it was too industrial.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06There's just no way you could tune in and drop out in the North when,
0:09:06 > 0:09:11on a Monday, you've got to go work in the steelworks in Scunthorpe.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14What they needed was an escape for the weekend.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17Peter Stringfellow attempted to introduce
0:09:17 > 0:09:20psychedelia into the underground soul clubs of the North.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22# If you're going to San Francisco... #
0:09:22 > 0:09:26It was 1967, I was wearing a kaftan and flowers,
0:09:26 > 0:09:30I walked on stage, and I was playing my kind of flower power music.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33# If you ever go to San Francisco. #
0:09:33 > 0:09:34And I'm throwing flowers,
0:09:34 > 0:09:38and they were throwing Pepsi Cola bottles back at me.
0:09:38 > 0:09:39"Get off!
0:09:39 > 0:09:42"What the hell are you doing? Get off, it's rubbish!"
0:09:42 > 0:09:48As Stringfellow discovered, the mods in the North did not want to change.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50They weren't interested in Jefferson Airplane.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53They wanted to continue taking amphetamines
0:09:53 > 0:09:55and dancing to R&B music.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00And the amphetamines had an effect of the music speeding up.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05Anyone on amphetamines tends to be talking ten to the dozen
0:10:05 > 0:10:08and, likewise with the music, the music became faster and faster.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14It was these up-tempo soul stompers with their non-stop 4/4 beat
0:10:14 > 0:10:17that created the blueprint for Northern Soul.
0:10:21 > 0:10:26I Can't Help Myself by Motown act the Four Tops epitomised this style.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33# Sugar pie, honey bunch
0:10:33 > 0:10:36# You know that I love you... #
0:10:36 > 0:10:39One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41# Cos I love you... #
0:10:42 > 0:10:45All the way through doesn't let up, that's all it is.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48It is absolutely... The beat is not complicated.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54There's no swing element, there's no...
0:10:54 > 0:10:56IMITATES SWING BEAT
0:10:56 > 0:10:59There's none of that. There's no swing element,
0:10:59 > 0:11:02there's no time signature changes. This is just a straight beat.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05# I can't help myself
0:11:05 > 0:11:09# No, I cannot help myself... #
0:11:09 > 0:11:11It's important because it's almost a template
0:11:11 > 0:11:13for what became Northern Soul.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17It has the yearning vocal, it has the beautiful orchestration,
0:11:17 > 0:11:19and it has the snare on every beat.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23# And I kissed it a thousand times
0:11:25 > 0:11:27# Sugar pie, honey bunch
0:11:27 > 0:11:28# Sugar pie, honey bunch
0:11:28 > 0:11:31# You know that I'm weak for you... #
0:11:31 > 0:11:32Then you get to the chorus,
0:11:32 > 0:11:34# I can't help myself
0:11:34 > 0:11:36# I love you and nobody else. #
0:11:36 > 0:11:38It's just... Everybody sings along
0:11:38 > 0:11:40because everybody understands the message.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42# Sugar pie, honey bunch
0:11:42 > 0:11:43# Sugar pie, honey bunch... #
0:11:43 > 0:11:48And everybody's bouncing about to a beat singing a sad song.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50It's brilliant.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53And that became the kind of signifier of every great
0:11:53 > 0:11:54Northern Soul stomper.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57So, the really up-tempo records that were known
0:11:57 > 0:12:00in the Northern Soul scene were pretty much all
0:12:00 > 0:12:04based on that kind of sound, the Four Tops, I Can't Help Myself.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06# I love you and nobody else
0:12:06 > 0:12:08# Ooh! #
0:12:11 > 0:12:15MUSIC: "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" by James Brown
0:12:16 > 0:12:20But as these up-tempo tracks became the records of choice in the budding
0:12:20 > 0:12:24Northern Soul clubs, times and music were changing in black America.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26'Some people say we've got a lot of malice,
0:12:26 > 0:12:29'some people say it's a lot of nerve...'
0:12:29 > 0:12:32This time, there was the riots.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35There was protests at the '68 Olympics.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37The assassination of Martin Luther King.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41There were people who became radicalised.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45There were black GIs coming back from Vietnam with a new militancy.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50As the slower, tougher, more political James Brown funk
0:12:50 > 0:12:52began to dominate the black American landscape,
0:12:52 > 0:12:59the faster, optimistic, mid-60s Motown sound was now out of date.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02But soul fans in the North of England didn't like what they heard.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07Musically, it was too off the wall, and it was too slow to be
0:13:07 > 0:13:13consumed by 500 kids in a basement off their heads on French blues.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16They wanted something quicker, something faster,
0:13:16 > 0:13:18and funk wasn't it.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20If the clubs in the North of England wanted to keep playing
0:13:20 > 0:13:24uplifting, up-tempo soul, they were now forced to look back into
0:13:24 > 0:13:26the past, sourcing their records
0:13:26 > 0:13:30from this mid-60s golden era of Motown, whose sound
0:13:30 > 0:13:33had been widely imitated across black America.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Northern Soul started out as us
0:13:37 > 0:13:41looking for records with the Motown sound that weren't on Motown.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44And the more they had flopped, the more they were a B-side that
0:13:44 > 0:13:47no-one had ever seen before, the more desirable they became.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50So, we went looking for flops or B-sides of obscure records
0:13:50 > 0:13:52that no-one had ever heard of.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55On one hand, you've got the highly polished,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58industrialised music machine like Motown,
0:13:58 > 0:13:59but lower down the food chain,
0:13:59 > 0:14:02you know, there were these little artists is in the back of nowhere,
0:14:02 > 0:14:06so badly recorded most of them were little more than demos.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12But what appeals is the honesty and the integrity and the truth.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16I guess that's what people love about them.
0:14:23 > 0:14:24At the end of the decade,
0:14:24 > 0:14:27clubs like Manchester's Twisted Wheel were
0:14:27 > 0:14:30miming this mid-60s period for forgotten soul records
0:14:30 > 0:14:33and playing them at their all-nighters
0:14:33 > 0:14:34for the very first time.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37I would say the landmark record from The Twisted Wheel would be
0:14:37 > 0:14:40a record by Leon Haywood called Baby Reconsider.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44That was the tip of the iceberg for what we were then to see over
0:14:44 > 0:14:45the next four or five years -
0:14:45 > 0:14:50an absolute landslide of amazing American imports.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52When you had a record like Baby Reconsider
0:14:52 > 0:14:55that everybody wanted to dance to, everybody, there was no other club
0:14:55 > 0:14:57in England you could hear it,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00so they had to travel to The Wheel to hear this music.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03Ian Levine - from an affluent Blackpool family -
0:15:03 > 0:15:08was just a teenager when he had his very first Twisted Wheel experience.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11It was in a stone cellar, painted black, with wheels on the wall,
0:15:11 > 0:15:13and the heat hit you...
0:15:13 > 0:15:17People smoked in the club and the nicotine and sweat
0:15:17 > 0:15:21was dripping off the ceiling, literally, like stalactites -
0:15:21 > 0:15:23a brown-coloured gunge -
0:15:23 > 0:15:27and everybody was on that floor clapping on the beat.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Not like some bunch of mums and dads at a wedding -
0:15:30 > 0:15:32but so sharply clapping to every beat.
0:15:32 > 0:15:33That was Northern Soul -
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Bob Brady and the Con-chords More, More, More Of Your Love
0:15:36 > 0:15:39at The Twisted Wheel. That was it. There was no going back from that point.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43Other clubs in the North inspired by The Twisted Wheel
0:15:43 > 0:15:47were setting up their own high-octane soul all-nighters.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51When we were going to the all-nighters it was a special club.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54You could leave Huddersfield, and on the train
0:15:54 > 0:15:57you'd get the people from Leeds getting on,
0:15:57 > 0:15:59the girl from Dewsbury, we'd get on at Huddersfield -
0:15:59 > 0:16:02you just knew people that'd be on the train
0:16:02 > 0:16:04were all part of the same group,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06were going to the same club.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10Here we had underground, American, black music
0:16:10 > 0:16:12taking over and producing the culture
0:16:12 > 0:16:14that became Northern Soul.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17Although at this time nobody
0:16:17 > 0:16:19called it Northern Soul.
0:16:19 > 0:16:20It was just excitement.
0:16:23 > 0:16:24But this was about to change.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31It needed some sort of
0:16:31 > 0:16:33tag to identify it.
0:16:33 > 0:16:34The story goes that Dave Godin
0:16:34 > 0:16:39who had a record shop in London called Soul City Records...
0:16:39 > 0:16:41On a weekend, people from the North -
0:16:41 > 0:16:44may be in town to watch Manchester United at West Ham - who knows -
0:16:44 > 0:16:47would take the time to go into his shop
0:16:47 > 0:16:49and ask for a certain type of sound.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51A soul sound.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55And, of course, Dave was in the middle of London
0:16:55 > 0:16:58where the culture was very much James Brown,
0:16:58 > 0:17:00a very much funkier side of sounds,
0:17:00 > 0:17:04and kids from the North would go down and ask for faster records.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08And Dave got to understand that this was happening,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10not just occasionally, but week in, week out.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14And he realised a different thing was developing in the north of England.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18Before that, we called it rare soul, up-tempo soul.
0:17:18 > 0:17:19People would say,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22"What, like Motown?" "No. Like Motown but...on different labels."
0:17:22 > 0:17:24You couldn't describe it.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28But Dave, by coining it, gave it an identity.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35- # Hey, girl, don't bother me - # Don't bother me now
0:17:36 > 0:17:40- # Hey, girl, don't bother me - # Stay away, girl
0:17:40 > 0:17:45- # Go away, come back another day - # Don't bother me... #
0:17:45 > 0:17:46The first signs that
0:17:46 > 0:17:51Northern Soul was becoming something more than a localised phenomenon
0:17:51 > 0:17:54was when certain old records
0:17:54 > 0:17:59began to be rereleased and revived and to get into the charts.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02One was The Tams - Hey, Girl, Don't Bother Me.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06- # They said you liked to cheat - # Cheat, cheat... #
0:18:06 > 0:18:09Tony Blackburn had championed Hey, Girl Don't Bother Me
0:18:09 > 0:18:11on the pirate radio stations back in the mid-60s
0:18:11 > 0:18:14when the record was originally released.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17I could normally spot, in those days, a hit record,
0:18:17 > 0:18:19and I thought that one was going to be a big hit.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21And it wasn't. It didn't make it.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24And it must've been about six or seven years later,
0:18:24 > 0:18:27because of the Northern Soul scene they suddenly discovered it up there
0:18:27 > 0:18:28and started playing it,
0:18:28 > 0:18:31and it actually forced it to become a number one hit.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33To The Tams great surprise,
0:18:33 > 0:18:35they were invited over from America
0:18:35 > 0:18:38to perform their old song on Top Of The Pops.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44# Hey, girl don't bother me #
0:18:44 > 0:18:47But in 1971,
0:18:47 > 0:18:49the same year The Tams hit the top of charts,
0:18:49 > 0:18:51Manchester's Twisted Wheel -
0:18:51 > 0:18:54the mother club of the emerging Northern Soul scene,
0:18:54 > 0:18:56was in trouble.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59The drug squad became very aware of what was going on.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03The usual thing that would be levelled against a venue
0:19:03 > 0:19:06like this was "it's a haven for people taking drugs"
0:19:06 > 0:19:10which, of course, really, whilst it was true,
0:19:10 > 0:19:14it wasn't the reason people were going there in the first place.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18Manchester City Council was putting pressure on that there would be
0:19:18 > 0:19:21no more all-night dances within the city of Manchester.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24There was only one I knew of and that was The Twisted Wheel,
0:19:24 > 0:19:27so the police gunned for it, the council gunned for it
0:19:27 > 0:19:30so they closed it.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32And I thought when that finished
0:19:32 > 0:19:34then that was that, it was over.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37The good times had gone.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40# I'm just a drifter
0:19:40 > 0:19:43# No place to call my home... #
0:19:54 > 0:19:56# Nothing but a heartache every day
0:19:57 > 0:19:58# Nothing but heartache
0:19:58 > 0:20:00# Nothing but a teardrop... #
0:20:00 > 0:20:03The North and the Midlands was bleak.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05It was tough in the late '50s, but by the late '70s
0:20:05 > 0:20:08it had gone into serious depression.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12We've had strikes in the car industry,
0:20:12 > 0:20:14we'd had strikes in the pits...
0:20:14 > 0:20:17The North was being hung out to dry, there was no question.
0:20:17 > 0:20:18There was so many unemployed,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21people that couldn't make their living
0:20:21 > 0:20:23the way they'd made their living before.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26There was gloom and despondency all around.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33So many patches of, like, waste ground.
0:20:33 > 0:20:38Because a lot of the mills had been knocked down at that time.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41And yet, as kids, we all used to play on the waste ground.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48I couldn't see any way
0:20:48 > 0:20:53of breaking out of the town I lived in.
0:20:53 > 0:20:54Everybody worked in a factory.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56Everybody worked at the pit.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01I didn't know anybody who worked in offices.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04Everybody seemed to be leaving school at 15.
0:21:04 > 0:21:05When I was at school
0:21:05 > 0:21:08I was asked what I wanted to do.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11And I said, "I want to work for a record company."
0:21:13 > 0:21:16This is, like, 15 years old in Mirfield,
0:21:16 > 0:21:18and they're, like, "We don't have many
0:21:18 > 0:21:19"record companies in Mirfield
0:21:19 > 0:21:22"but can work at the cement factory."
0:21:22 > 0:21:25I think the Northern Soul thing in that early period
0:21:25 > 0:21:27was the only hope that anybody had up north
0:21:27 > 0:21:29of getting out of it.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33# Ooh, girl...
0:21:33 > 0:21:37# Be my sweet darling... #
0:21:37 > 0:21:40It was a quiet street in the town of Tunstall
0:21:40 > 0:21:43close to its traditional pubs,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47that the underground spirit of Northern Soul was revived.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51# Sweet darling, yeah, Sweet darling... #
0:21:51 > 0:21:53Although The Torch had been operating for a number of years,
0:21:53 > 0:21:58in 1972 this club started its very first Northern Soul all-nighter.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04It was strange, because it was in an odd place.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06It was in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08I mean, we'd have to get a train to Derby
0:22:08 > 0:22:09and then Derby to Crewe
0:22:09 > 0:22:12and jump off at Longport railway station
0:22:12 > 0:22:14and walk a mile up the hill.
0:22:14 > 0:22:15And it was a residential street.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20As you turned into Hose Street and the queue -
0:22:20 > 0:22:24and this was a built-up terraced house residential area -
0:22:24 > 0:22:25you'd hear the bump, bump, bump...
0:22:25 > 0:22:27of the sound of The Torch.
0:22:27 > 0:22:28And that's all it was.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31It was almost like the building was shaking.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33And shaking everything else around it.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38The magic, as you turned into the street, was just phenomenal.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41And then you just couldn't wait to get inside the club.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44The Golden Torch for me was everything,
0:22:44 > 0:22:46because it was my first ever all-nighter.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49We were young,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53and we'd decided we did not want to know the charts, by this time.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56There was another chart, our chart.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02We wanted, whilst in 1972 it might have been Slade
0:23:02 > 0:23:04and Little Willy by The Sweet,
0:23:04 > 0:23:07we wanted Duke Browner and Crying Over You
0:23:07 > 0:23:09and Nolan Chance and Just Like The Weather.
0:23:09 > 0:23:10They were the top sounds.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12That was our top 20.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15In just over a year, The Torch helped reunify
0:23:15 > 0:23:18the underground Northern Soul scene.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22But it was in a town 50 miles away
0:23:22 > 0:23:26where this growing movement would be absolutely transformed.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33Wigan was once a major manufacturing powerhouse in the North,
0:23:33 > 0:23:35but the town's cotton and coal industries
0:23:35 > 0:23:38had been in severe decline for decades.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44Russ Winstanley was a local Wigan DJ and soul fan.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47I heard in early '73
0:23:47 > 0:23:49that the all-nighters were finishing
0:23:49 > 0:23:53at The Torch in Stoke,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56so I decided to have a look around for a venue.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01The Wigan Casino had been built in the early part of the 20th century.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03The casino was just perfect.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05Fabulous sprung dance floor,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07massive areas to it -
0:24:07 > 0:24:10held about 3,500 to 4,000.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14The very first night at Wigan Casino was frightening,
0:24:14 > 0:24:16it was amazing,
0:24:16 > 0:24:17it was incredible.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20And I always remember thinking,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24when we got over the 500 mark - September 23, 1973 -
0:24:24 > 0:24:28if we get to Christmas, I'll be really made up.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30Wigan, logistically,
0:24:30 > 0:24:31what a great place.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33Have you been to Wigan train station?
0:24:33 > 0:24:36It's fantastic. You can go anywhere from Wigan.
0:24:36 > 0:24:37You can get to Wigan -
0:24:37 > 0:24:39it's on the motorway, it was perfect.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42And they never looked back from then on.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44It just went bigger and bigger and bigger.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48# Temptation's calling my name
0:24:49 > 0:24:51# Calling it loud and clear... #
0:24:53 > 0:24:56In the same year the all-nighters started at the Wigan Casino,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00Ian Levine went on one of his regular family holidays to Miami.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04But rather than soaking up the sun,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07he spent all his time digging for old 1960s soul records
0:25:07 > 0:25:10in a huge dimly lit charity store.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13I went at nine in the morning until they closed at six,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16and each day I carried a cardboard box of records home.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19By the nine days had finished, I'd bought 4,000 records from them.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23He was going out there every day going to places, finding records.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25That thirst for knowledge,
0:25:25 > 0:25:27looking at the label,
0:25:27 > 0:25:29and instantly knowing that it could be goer.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34- LEVINE:- When we left by Miami with my 4,000 records
0:25:34 > 0:25:37we were on a tiny little two-engine propeller plane
0:25:37 > 0:25:39to go to the Bahamas.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42And these 4,000 records were on board this little plane...
0:25:42 > 0:25:45And the pilot's took off and he couldn't get any height.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47And he says, "I can't get the plane up, the records...
0:25:47 > 0:25:49"Those crates are too heavy."
0:25:49 > 0:25:51And my dad erupted and said he was
0:25:51 > 0:25:53going to open the door of the plane
0:25:53 > 0:25:55and throw the great big chests of records -
0:25:55 > 0:25:57they were in, like, tea chests, 4,000 of them -
0:25:57 > 0:26:00into the sea. And I begged him not to, I'm pleading.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02"They're the best records I've ever found! Please don't.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04He says, "The plane can't take off!"
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Thankfully, Ian wasn't forced to ditch his 4,000 singles
0:26:09 > 0:26:13into the ocean to save his family's life.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16The find of those records was the greatest significant find
0:26:16 > 0:26:17of the Northern Soul scene.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21Every big record from '73 and '74 came out of that find.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23The greatest haul ever.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36After safely returning to his home town of Blackpool
0:26:36 > 0:26:39with his huge vinyl haul,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Ian Levine was now a much sought-after DJ.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45Colin Curtis had started a new Northern Soul night
0:26:45 > 0:26:47at Blackpool Mecca's Highland Room,
0:26:47 > 0:26:51and he invited Ian to join him as resident DJ.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54That haul from Goodwill left me on a pedestal above Wigan or anybody.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Nobody could compete with those records,
0:26:57 > 0:26:58because I found so many at once.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Every week I was coming up with new monster stompers
0:27:01 > 0:27:04that were absolute quintessential bare essence
0:27:04 > 0:27:06of what Northern Soul was all about.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09It was easy to generate excitement in the Highland Room
0:27:09 > 0:27:10because of the low roof,
0:27:10 > 0:27:12because of the style of music,
0:27:12 > 0:27:15and the up-tempo music just kept that air of tension,
0:27:15 > 0:27:17that air of excitement up at that level,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20and handclapping, spinning,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23it was just the whole thing was just...
0:27:23 > 0:27:25exciting.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27I still remember my heart beating
0:27:27 > 0:27:30as I went up the escalator to the Highland Room.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33One of the most exciting clubs I've ever been to in my life.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38# My girl You are just too darn soulful... #
0:27:38 > 0:27:40As we moved into the early '70s then,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43you would have the Blackpool Mecca and the Wigan Casino
0:27:43 > 0:27:46as the two leading lights of Northern Soul.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03# Hear me girl... #
0:28:03 > 0:28:06A healthy rivalry developed between these two clubs
0:28:06 > 0:28:09which helped fan the gospel across the region.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13The people you were playing to all knew where they would go to.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16"Are you going here next Saturday? I'll see you there on Sunday.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18"That's going on next week.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21"There's an all-dayer at Whitchurch."
0:28:21 > 0:28:25You don't have to advertise, everybody knew the DJs.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27I remember the adverts we used to put in the mags.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29All we did was put the songs we were playing -
0:28:29 > 0:28:32that was all everybody wanted to know.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35What songs is Pete Waterman playing that Colin isn't playing
0:28:35 > 0:28:36or Ian isn't playing
0:28:36 > 0:28:38or Russ Winstanley.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41Had he found a record that was different?
0:28:41 > 0:28:43# Oh, baby...
0:28:43 > 0:28:45# If this isn't love
0:28:45 > 0:28:47# Ooh, baby... #
0:28:49 > 0:28:53Alongside the music, a unique visual style was emerging.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56We would go to Burton's and order suits with six pockets,
0:28:56 > 0:28:5830 buttons,
0:28:58 > 0:29:01wide trousers with seams in, turn-ups...
0:29:01 > 0:29:03Fashion and music were connected.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Very much was the baggy trousers,
0:29:06 > 0:29:08the brown shoes, the jacket,
0:29:08 > 0:29:10the shirt, the badge -
0:29:10 > 0:29:11keep the faith.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18It was total escapism.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21It was nothing like what you did in the week.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23The experience of going
0:29:23 > 0:29:25to an all-nighter in a different town
0:29:25 > 0:29:27and meeting all these different sorts of people,
0:29:27 > 0:29:29and having this kind of drive
0:29:29 > 0:29:31to be better and better at dancing,
0:29:31 > 0:29:34better at collecting records...
0:29:34 > 0:29:36was such an attractive proposition
0:29:36 > 0:29:38compared to what was set out for you.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42It kind of propelled you through everything else.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46Even if you had a crap job, Monday to Friday,
0:29:46 > 0:29:49you could go on autopilot and just live for the weekends.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54It's dancing your tears away and dancing your pain away.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56You're on the dance floor dancing to a dance beat
0:29:56 > 0:29:58but you're hearing this singer
0:29:58 > 0:30:00singing about a lost love,
0:30:00 > 0:30:01the pain of life, a heartbreak...
0:30:01 > 0:30:04I am going to have a good time
0:30:04 > 0:30:05and leave all my heartbreak
0:30:05 > 0:30:06and all my pain behind.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10# Baby, that I've ever been lonely... #
0:30:10 > 0:30:14That bittersweet feeling of good times
0:30:14 > 0:30:16to escape from the bad times.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21You've got one night a week
0:30:21 > 0:30:24and you're going to just do everything that you wanted to do all week
0:30:24 > 0:30:26in that one night
0:30:28 > 0:30:32# Oh, baby, if this isn't love
0:30:32 > 0:30:34# Oh, baby
0:30:37 > 0:30:41# If this isn't love... #
0:30:53 > 0:30:58Strict 1970s licensing laws didn't allow alcohol at the all-nighters
0:30:58 > 0:31:02but that didn't bother many of the Northern Soul clubbers.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05Drugs were absolutely key.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08They are a part of the Northern Soul scene.
0:31:08 > 0:31:10That was a marriage.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Speed and tempo of record,
0:31:13 > 0:31:14large building,
0:31:14 > 0:31:16four o'clock in the morning.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19I tended to be Mr Straight, because I was the DJ.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21I was also driving.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24But it wouldn't be unusual for my car to be full of people
0:31:24 > 0:31:26that were speeding off their heads.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29And thank God one of us was straight!
0:31:29 > 0:31:32Obviously, for most people it required
0:31:32 > 0:31:33a prescription from the doctor,
0:31:33 > 0:31:35but for some Northern Soul fans,
0:31:35 > 0:31:38it basically just meant breaking into a chemist on the way
0:31:38 > 0:31:40to whichever all-nighter they were going to
0:31:40 > 0:31:44and relieving the chemist of their slimming pill supplies
0:31:44 > 0:31:46and distributing them at Blackpool
0:31:46 > 0:31:48or Wigan
0:31:48 > 0:31:50or wherever it was they were heading.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55People talk about the highs you get from drugs,
0:31:55 > 0:31:59whether it's cocaine or whatever else you're taking,
0:31:59 > 0:32:00and, for me, that hit
0:32:00 > 0:32:03was probably provided by the playing of music.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07If you're playing an unknown record
0:32:07 > 0:32:10for the first time and getting an unbelievable response,
0:32:10 > 0:32:13that's the biggest buzz, that's what this is all about.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16It's sharing music with people and getting a reaction.
0:32:28 > 0:32:33The majority of Northern Soul clubbers were white working class.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36But some young black people were beginning to discover the scene.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40Fran Franklin was the child of a black American father
0:32:40 > 0:32:41and a white Irish mother.
0:32:43 > 0:32:48School in Edinburgh in the '60s and '70s was really tough.
0:32:48 > 0:32:53I'd never seen any other black people, other than my dad.
0:32:53 > 0:32:54My whole life.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56Until I was about 13,
0:32:56 > 0:32:59I don't think I'd ever actually seen a black person.
0:32:59 > 0:33:01I was bullied a lot.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04I had to grow up pretty quick.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06# You've got to be good to me... #
0:33:07 > 0:33:09I took a lot of verbal abuse
0:33:09 > 0:33:13and they used to write names on the wall outside the house and stuff.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16So it was pretty nasty for a while.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22It was a beautiful experience
0:33:22 > 0:33:25the first time I ever went to an all-nighter.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29I can always remember being at Wigan in this sea of people
0:33:29 > 0:33:31and floating...
0:33:31 > 0:33:35as if I was floating on the sea... on this sea of happiness.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42There would never be any racism, everybody loved the music.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45It would be very hard for someone to be racist
0:33:45 > 0:33:49and be singing along to some black artist.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55It changed my life in that I was able to just be free
0:33:55 > 0:33:58of all the name-calling,
0:33:58 > 0:34:00free to dance how I wanted to dance,
0:34:00 > 0:34:05I was embraced in a family of great people
0:34:05 > 0:34:10and people that knew me as Fran Franklin,
0:34:10 > 0:34:13not "that girl with the big Afro".
0:34:20 > 0:34:24Northern Soul dancing brought out of
0:34:24 > 0:34:26more traditional Northern guys
0:34:26 > 0:34:29something that they probably didn't know existed within themselves
0:34:29 > 0:34:32until that music became the catalyst.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37For the first time boys were able to just get on the floor
0:34:37 > 0:34:41and express themselves in a way that had never been done before.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46They probably felt as liberated as I did.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50The male dancers on Northern Soul
0:34:50 > 0:34:52were like peacocks -
0:34:52 > 0:34:53wearing the best clothes,
0:34:53 > 0:34:54strutting their stuff...
0:34:54 > 0:34:57They learned their moves from watching soul singers from America.
0:34:57 > 0:34:59People like Jackie Wilson -
0:34:59 > 0:35:02he spins round, he does backflips.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04And even James Brown, who had nothing to do with Northern Soul
0:35:04 > 0:35:07but he still had the steps and moves.
0:35:07 > 0:35:12James Brown was doing this shuffle thing, so I think the fast footwork
0:35:12 > 0:35:14probably did come a little bit from there,
0:35:14 > 0:35:16but they weren't trying to be Soul Train.
0:35:16 > 0:35:21We weren't trying to be anybody else. We were just doing our thing.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28The northern clubs and records like Tainted Love were now uniting
0:35:28 > 0:35:31people across the region.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35I always give credit to Richard Searling for breaking Tainted Love.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37It was the right record at the right time.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40The fact that it worked so beautifully for hand claps.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43The fact is we wanted fast records at the time.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45We were all, like, 16, 17,
0:35:45 > 0:35:4818-year-old kids wanting to burn our energy off.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51If you're going to do it, do it to a song like Tainted Love.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56It's like every single person knew when that clap was going to happen
0:35:56 > 0:35:59and everybody clapped at the same time.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02It just made every hair on your body stand up.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07It just all bubbles up like in a big melting pot
0:36:07 > 0:36:09and explodes in your head
0:36:09 > 0:36:13and you just to throw yourself about that dance floor and just love it.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17- # Now I run from you - Now I run
0:36:17 > 0:36:20# The tainted love you give me
0:36:20 > 0:36:22# I give you all a girl can give... #
0:36:22 > 0:36:25Northern Soul will touch your soul.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32The scene in the north had developed in almost total
0:36:32 > 0:36:35isolation from the rest of the country,
0:36:35 > 0:36:39but then a southern-based record label, Pye, spotted an opportunity.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44The Northern scene, particularly at Wigan, was becoming so big
0:36:44 > 0:36:46it was bound to attract the attention
0:36:46 > 0:36:49of the London-based record companies.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56The record industry suddenly woke up that there was an industry
0:36:56 > 0:36:57north of Watford,
0:36:57 > 0:37:02so the Disco Demands series certainly worked for Pye
0:37:02 > 0:37:06because, at that point, nobody in the record industry even cared.
0:37:06 > 0:37:11They made popular Northern tracks on the Northern scene available
0:37:11 > 0:37:17to people like me who would never get to hear those sort of tracks,
0:37:17 > 0:37:21but I can remember there was fierce debate and backlash against the
0:37:21 > 0:37:26purists who didn't want their music
0:37:26 > 0:37:30to be enjoyed or exposed or bought by anybody else.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35The top Northern Soul DJs reacted to this increasing
0:37:35 > 0:37:39flood of easily-accessible reissues by hunting down ever more
0:37:39 > 0:37:42obscure records to play in the clubs.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46You would have to chase down every single lead to try
0:37:46 > 0:37:48and find the records that you wanted.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50Quite often there would only be one copy
0:37:50 > 0:37:51and it would be in someone's collection.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53You'd have to try and prise it out.
0:37:53 > 0:37:58You'd have to offer really good swaps to get them, but once you got
0:37:58 > 0:38:01that record, you could say, "It's the only one in the country.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04"If you want to hear it, you've got to come to one of my gigs."
0:38:04 > 0:38:08The Wigan Casino's record bar was instrumental in feeding
0:38:08 > 0:38:11the desire for rarities amongst the clubbers.
0:38:11 > 0:38:17The record bar at Wigan Casino is where the record dealers swap, trade
0:38:17 > 0:38:20or buy these records that otherwise you wouldn't have any
0:38:20 > 0:38:22way of getting hold of them.
0:38:22 > 0:38:28By the end of 1974, rare vinyl fever was reaching epic proportions
0:38:28 > 0:38:32and record digging trips to the States were now rife.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35We found a B-side to an obscure record from Detroit that
0:38:35 > 0:38:37nobody had ever heard of in their life.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39We made it into a turntable hit.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42We didn't get record companies coming in saying, "This is our new smash.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46"Play it." We found our OWN records in defiance of the market,
0:38:46 > 0:38:49in defiance of Radio 1, in defiance of the newspapers,
0:38:49 > 0:38:52in defiance of the media and in great defiance of Top Of The Pops.
0:38:54 > 0:38:59Times were changing. Freddie Laker announced £59 one way to the USA.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01We were racing. We didn't know how long it would last.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04Would our dreams be shattered by 1976?
0:39:04 > 0:39:07Would there be no more Northern Soul scene?
0:39:07 > 0:39:10Maybe these records were going to be worth 10p in three year's time.
0:39:10 > 0:39:14Let's find as many as we can and bring them back and sell them,
0:39:14 > 0:39:16enjoy them.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18We just lived for the moment.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20# Do I love you?
0:39:20 > 0:39:22# Indeed, I do
0:39:22 > 0:39:24# Hey, my darlin'
0:39:24 > 0:39:27# Indeed, I do. #
0:39:27 > 0:39:29It's a really great year for Wigan
0:39:29 > 0:39:31and in fact we now have Wigan's Ovation
0:39:31 > 0:39:33and we're going to go Skiing In The Snow!
0:39:39 > 0:39:41# Days are growing colder
0:39:41 > 0:39:44# Snow's a fallin' upon the hill
0:39:46 > 0:39:50# I gotta get my gear out ready for the winter chill. #
0:39:52 > 0:39:54I think there was a time in the '70s
0:39:54 > 0:39:56when the Northern Soul had been very
0:39:56 > 0:39:58underground and then suddenly
0:39:58 > 0:40:01obviously promoters saw the potential
0:40:01 > 0:40:04and they started recording their own records.
0:40:04 > 0:40:08# Run on down, skiing in the snow
0:40:09 > 0:40:12# In the up down... #
0:40:12 > 0:40:15Wigan's Ovation's cover version of a rare Northern Soul song
0:40:15 > 0:40:20became a major top 20 chart hit in 1975.
0:40:20 > 0:40:25I think Wigan's Ovation's Skiing In The Snow was bad for Northern Soul.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28Terrible cover version of The Invitations' classic.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31That was when it was no longer underground.
0:40:31 > 0:40:32Everybody knew about it.
0:40:32 > 0:40:36I was into Bay City Rollers last year. Now I'm into Northern Soul.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40You'd be speaking to work colleagues.
0:40:40 > 0:40:41They'd be saying, "What are you into?"
0:40:41 > 0:40:43You'd say, "Northern Soul."
0:40:43 > 0:40:45and they'd go, "Oh, like Wigan's Ovation?"
0:40:45 > 0:40:46HE SIGHS
0:40:46 > 0:40:49"No! How many times do I have to explain
0:40:49 > 0:40:52"that's as far away as it can possibly be?"
0:40:52 > 0:40:55# Skiing in the snow. #
0:40:56 > 0:40:58It horrified the purists.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01None of us at the venues were very happy about it
0:41:01 > 0:41:02but what it did,
0:41:02 > 0:41:05it put Northern Soul on the music map for the industry.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11When Granada Television broadcast a documentary about Wigan Casino
0:41:11 > 0:41:16in 1977, an incredible 20 million British viewers tuned in
0:41:16 > 0:41:19to discover all about the Northern Soul phenomenon.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24If you go to Wigan of a Saturday night, stop there all night,
0:41:24 > 0:41:26don't come home till 12 o'clock the next day,
0:41:26 > 0:41:31people think you're crazy or there's something going on there.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33They might think wrong thing, like, you know,
0:41:33 > 0:41:34like a lot of parents think.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38Oh, stopping out all night, getting up to all sorts.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42You're going somewhere where there's a certain good time.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45Well, it brightens up the people's lives who go.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58When the film came out, I think we all had an immense sense of pride
0:41:58 > 0:42:04and, of course, it did attract, as Saturday Night Fever did for disco,
0:42:04 > 0:42:08a lot more visitors to the Casino, so great for the venue.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12Did it turn people away as well? Maybe it felt we'd sold out.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15To an extent, but I wasn't aware too much of that.
0:42:15 > 0:42:20It was more inclusive and seen as a good thing at the time.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24# Turnin' my heart beat up, beat up
0:42:24 > 0:42:27# Turnin' my heart, baby
0:42:27 > 0:42:30# It's gettin' louder It's gettin' louder
0:42:30 > 0:42:32# I feel it burnin'
0:42:32 > 0:42:34# It's gettin' hotter, yeah
0:42:34 > 0:42:38# Turn it, turn it up, yeah, yeah
0:42:38 > 0:42:41# Burnin' my heart, aah-ahh! #
0:42:44 > 0:42:47Norman Jay, a young Londoner, had been avidly reading about the
0:42:47 > 0:42:51Northern Soul scene in music magazines for years, but he made
0:42:51 > 0:42:55his very first trip up north the year the Granada film was televised.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59I'm queuing to get into Wigan.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02I remember we were allowed to jump the queue,
0:43:02 > 0:43:05because when the people in the queue heard us
0:43:05 > 0:43:07speaking with Cockney accents, they couldn't believe that we'd
0:43:07 > 0:43:12driven all the way from London to Wigan and I was really excited.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15And it was like a football match cos I can vividly recall
0:43:15 > 0:43:18standing across the road outside the main entrance
0:43:18 > 0:43:21and watching coaches from Manchester,
0:43:21 > 0:43:24from Huddersfield, from Leeds,
0:43:24 > 0:43:29from all parts of Scotland and Bristol, and I'm like, "Wow!"
0:43:38 > 0:43:41But just as Northern Soul broke nationwide,
0:43:41 > 0:43:45the scene was wrestling with its biggest ever dilemma.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49I can remember us having conversations in 1975
0:43:49 > 0:43:54and actually being worried about are the records going to dry up because
0:43:54 > 0:44:01we had such an unbelievable run from let's say '68 through to '75
0:44:01 > 0:44:06where every other week people were discovering records that nobody knew
0:44:06 > 0:44:09and sooner or later it's going to dry up, isn't it?
0:44:15 > 0:44:18It had to implode at some stage because you can't build
0:44:18 > 0:44:22a scene on oldies because eventually you'll run out of great songs.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26That was the inherent problem with Northern Soul.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29You were relying on finding records that everyone else had
0:44:29 > 0:44:32forgotten about. Now, there is a finite amount of those records
0:44:32 > 0:44:37so inevitably it had to kind of run into a brick wall at some stage.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43# Give me love
0:44:43 > 0:44:45# Give me all that you got
0:44:45 > 0:44:48# You know that I need you, babe. #
0:44:48 > 0:44:51Blackpool Mecca DJ Ian Levine was now frequently travelling
0:44:51 > 0:44:55to New York, fascinated by its blossoming disco scene.
0:44:57 > 0:44:59The heat and the atmosphere reminded me
0:44:59 > 0:45:00of the early days of Northern Soul.
0:45:00 > 0:45:05Everybody was into the music and it really hit me like a bullet
0:45:05 > 0:45:08and it influenced me forever, so, of course, coming back from that,
0:45:08 > 0:45:12I started to get more discofied at the Mecca.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18They began to play the more up-tempo disco records that were
0:45:18 > 0:45:21starting to be made in New York.
0:45:21 > 0:45:22Now these records, in a lot of ways,
0:45:22 > 0:45:27were harking back to the golden era of Tamla Motown in the mid-1960s.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30They had the horns, they had the strings,
0:45:30 > 0:45:34they had the lush production that Northern Soul fans loved.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38Ian's view was initially to merge the two
0:45:38 > 0:45:41and take it to what he saw as being the logical
0:45:41 > 0:45:45progression of Northern Soul, which was just great dance music
0:45:45 > 0:45:49and that didn't sit well with a lot of guys from some of these small
0:45:49 > 0:45:52northern towns that didn't want to know what was
0:45:52 > 0:45:55going on in New York or Philly or Chicago.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58They were more interested in what happened there in the '60s.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09Over at the Wigan Casino,
0:46:09 > 0:46:12they also weren't that thrilled about Ian Levine's new disco
0:46:12 > 0:46:15direction and decided to stick to tradition,
0:46:15 > 0:46:19playing obscure up-tempo 1960's soul records.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23But with rarities from that era now drying up, the Wigan Casino
0:46:23 > 0:46:27would increasingly play anything with a Northern Soul beat.
0:46:27 > 0:46:33At Wigan, a general... I would call it a dumbing-down, where the
0:46:33 > 0:46:38beat almost became more important than the actual piece of work
0:46:38 > 0:46:43itself, so if it had that right on-the-fours, shall we say,
0:46:43 > 0:46:47beat, it would get played and certain people weren't too
0:46:47 > 0:46:50concerned about was it even a soul record?
0:46:57 > 0:47:00You'll always get some people who were saying why on earth were
0:47:00 > 0:47:02certain records played?
0:47:02 > 0:47:05One record called Joe 90,
0:47:05 > 0:47:09and a version of Tony Blackburn's I'll Do Anything.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13It was just a fact that if a DJ played them and you get a very
0:47:13 > 0:47:17good reaction to it, you know, you'd probably still keep playing it.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23Russ was quite happy to play records that may have been white pop,
0:47:23 > 0:47:25some abominable records got played.
0:47:25 > 0:47:30Records that I was very vociferously slagging off at the time.
0:47:30 > 0:47:31Pissing Ross off no end.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34He didn't like the fact I was criticising his music
0:47:34 > 0:47:35so it got a bit fractious.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51The Tony Blackburn record that was getting spins at the Wigan Casino
0:47:51 > 0:47:55had originally been recorded by Tony back in 1968.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58He had then completely forgotten about it for years.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02I was doing a Radio 1 show
0:48:02 > 0:48:05and I got this phone call from somebody in the North saying,
0:48:05 > 0:48:09"Do you realise that you've got a big Northern Soul hit?"
0:48:09 > 0:48:12And I said, "What's it called?"
0:48:12 > 0:48:15They said, "I'll Do Anything." I remember saying, "It's awful!
0:48:15 > 0:48:17"It's absolutely appalling!"
0:48:17 > 0:48:20It was one of the worst records I've ever made.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23What had happened was that somebody got hold of a white label,
0:48:23 > 0:48:25which was a demo album,
0:48:25 > 0:48:28and they made it into a single under the name of Lenny Gamble.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31They didn't want to make it under the name of Tony Blackburn, which
0:48:31 > 0:48:35would have been a complete disaster, and I said, "Well, these people...
0:48:35 > 0:48:38"People in the North in these clubs don't know it's me."
0:48:38 > 0:48:42They said, "No." And they said it was selling like hotcakes.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44Well, I went there, into the Wigan Casino,
0:48:44 > 0:48:49and I mimed to the record, and I got a fantastic reaction.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53And then when I finished doing the song, all these people come up
0:48:53 > 0:48:56and wanted me to sign my autograph, so I signed Tony Blackburn.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59And I remember one person saying,
0:48:59 > 0:49:02"Would you mind signing Lenny Gamble?" And I wasn't aware
0:49:02 > 0:49:05whether or not they knew it was me or not, Tony Blackburn,
0:49:05 > 0:49:09so I asked one of them, I said, "Of course I'll put Lenny Gamble,"
0:49:09 > 0:49:12and I said, "You do know it's me, do you, Tony Blackburn?"
0:49:12 > 0:49:15He said, "Yes, yes, Lenny."
0:49:23 > 0:49:24As Blackpool Mecca embraced disco
0:49:24 > 0:49:26and the Wigan Casino played more
0:49:26 > 0:49:31and more watered-down 1960s soul stompers, the hostilities
0:49:31 > 0:49:35between these two citadels of Northern soul reached a climax.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38When it got ugly was that on a Sunday,
0:49:38 > 0:49:40we were all on at the Ritz in Manchester.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43The Wigan crowd were all there for Richard and everybody
0:49:43 > 0:49:46and they couldn't stand the music I was playing and they threw things
0:49:46 > 0:49:48and people got into fights,
0:49:48 > 0:49:50and the Mecca crowd couldn't stand the Wigan stompers. "Get off!
0:49:50 > 0:49:52"We want Levine on!"
0:49:52 > 0:49:53And they were saying "Get off, Levine,
0:49:53 > 0:49:57"we want Richard on," and then it became all-out war.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01Certainly there was a lot of real passion
0:50:01 > 0:50:04and anger, I suppose, even.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09They talk about the north/south split. This was a north/north split.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11People at Wigan had "Levine must go" badges,
0:50:11 > 0:50:14"Levine must go" banners, "Levine must go" t-shirts,
0:50:14 > 0:50:15that's the worst thing,
0:50:15 > 0:50:19they actually had "Levine must go" t-shirts and it was like football
0:50:19 > 0:50:22fans, it was like Manchester City and Manchester United.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25Very nasty, very, very ugly, and I'd had enough in the end.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31As the Northern soul scene unravelled,
0:50:31 > 0:50:33the drugs were also taking their toll.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39We lost a couple of our Edinburgh friends through the drugs.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43In the space of a year it was probably, you know,
0:50:43 > 0:50:44maybe seven or eight.
0:50:44 > 0:50:50And they were all teenagers or just turning 20 or something.
0:50:50 > 0:50:54And we were young and it was heartbreaking, it really was.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59If there's one bad word said about Northern Soul
0:50:59 > 0:51:02then it would be the drug scene.
0:51:02 > 0:51:07By the end of the 1970s, the focus on rarity that had made
0:51:07 > 0:51:10the Northern Soul scene so special had gone.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12All the purists hated me
0:51:12 > 0:51:14because they blamed me for changing the sound.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17They still wanted to hear '60's stompers.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19I think I went too far.
0:51:19 > 0:51:20The more they hated me,
0:51:20 > 0:51:23and the more they dragged on their "Levine must go" campaign,
0:51:23 > 0:51:26the more determined I was to go in the opposite direction,
0:51:26 > 0:51:29so we ended up playing Sylvester - You Make Me Feel Mighty Real
0:51:29 > 0:51:33and records like that and even some Donna Summer at Blackpool Mecca,
0:51:33 > 0:51:35which I think was wrong. I think it was too commercial.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39I think, by the time we finished, we were playing records that any
0:51:39 > 0:51:43youth club could play and there was no elitism any more.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48Ian Levine eventually decided to quit the scene.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51I left the Mecca in July of '79 and that was it.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55I made that horrible statement, "Northern Soul is dead, it's gone."
0:51:55 > 0:52:01Which was not true, but sometimes anger and despair and just,
0:52:01 > 0:52:05just an insufferable wall of pain forces you into something you
0:52:05 > 0:52:07just can't stand any more. It was horrible.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11Just two years later, the Wigan Casino was forced to
0:52:11 > 0:52:16close down to make way for a planned civic centre extension.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19I think we can draw a line after Wigan
0:52:19 > 0:52:24and say that that was the end of the glory years of Northern Soul.
0:52:24 > 0:52:29A lot of people decided that, really, do you know what?
0:52:29 > 0:52:30That's it, for me.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32There'll never be anything as good as Wigan
0:52:32 > 0:52:35so they didn't want to go to a second best alternative.
0:52:35 > 0:52:41It did feel like there was the end of something very special.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44That last night was just absolutely horrible,
0:52:44 > 0:52:47because you thought that was it, you would not see these wonderful
0:52:47 > 0:52:51people, these new friends on a regular basis any more.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54The last three records at the end of the night, I played them,
0:52:54 > 0:52:58and then everybody just clapped and wouldn't stop clapping.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00I played them again, and they're, "No, no, no, no,"
0:53:00 > 0:53:03shouting and clapping, they didn't want to go.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07Played them for the third time, and then I'm in tears on stage.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09A lot of people were as well.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11Couldn't stay any longer, I got so upset.
0:53:11 > 0:53:16Hopped in the car and just drove up to a place, Rimmington near Wigan,
0:53:16 > 0:53:20and just looking over the countryside there broke me heart.
0:53:33 > 0:53:38# Sometimes I feel I've got to
0:53:38 > 0:53:39# Run away
0:53:39 > 0:53:41# I've got to
0:53:41 > 0:53:46# Get away from the pain you drive into the heart of me
0:53:46 > 0:53:50# The love we share seems to go nowhere. #
0:53:50 > 0:53:53Northern soul went underground again in the 1980s, but it was
0:53:53 > 0:53:57already providing the source material for huge global pop hits.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00# I toss and turn I can't sleep at night. #
0:54:00 > 0:54:03We were looking for a cover version to put in the set,
0:54:03 > 0:54:06and at the time, electronic bands, it was the thing to be very cool
0:54:06 > 0:54:08and very kind of, you know, very sort of um,
0:54:08 > 0:54:10everything was bleak
0:54:10 > 0:54:14and everything was like this cool, this cold, sort of northern, robotic
0:54:14 > 0:54:15thing and Dave Ball suggested to me,
0:54:15 > 0:54:18"What about doing a Northern Soul song?
0:54:18 > 0:54:20"What about this song, Tainted Love?"
0:54:20 > 0:54:22Well, immediately I loved the title, because I thought that was what
0:54:22 > 0:54:26Soft Cell was all about - tainted and love, these two words together.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28Something about the song just hooked me in.
0:54:30 > 0:54:35Tainted Love brought Northern Soul over to a more mainstream audience.
0:54:35 > 0:54:37# Touch me baby tainted love
0:54:37 > 0:54:40# Tainted love. #
0:54:42 > 0:54:44DANCE MUSIC PLAYS
0:54:51 > 0:54:56Northern Soul was also influencing British club culture of the 1980s.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59Northern Soul was effectively a template for what
0:54:59 > 0:55:02happened in 1988 with the acid house explosion.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05It was basically loads of working class kids
0:55:05 > 0:55:10dancing in basements to black American music, hopped up on pills.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16These events would take place on an ad-hoc basis.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19There was a word of mouth underground.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22The linkage between drugs, the need to stay up late,
0:55:22 > 0:55:25the fast music, the obscurity of it all.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29There was an edginess to Northern Soul in the same
0:55:29 > 0:55:31way that there was with acid house. There were
0:55:31 > 0:55:34so many people that had progressed from the Northern soul scene
0:55:34 > 0:55:37onto the early house scene that the parallels are just really
0:55:37 > 0:55:38blindingly obvious.
0:55:45 > 0:55:47# It might seem crazy what I'm 'bout to say
0:55:51 > 0:55:53# Sunshine, she's here You can take a break. #
0:55:55 > 0:55:58Northern soul today is alive and well.
0:55:58 > 0:56:03One of the reasons why it's such an enduring legacy
0:56:03 > 0:56:06is that new, younger kids are discovering it.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09Elements of Northern Soul are manifesting themselves,
0:56:09 > 0:56:12you know, in loads of current pop tracks.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15I mean, you only have to listen to Pharrell Williams - Happy.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17That's where Northern Soul is today.
0:56:17 > 0:56:24There's a direct correlation between that and music of the '60s and '70s.
0:56:25 > 0:56:29If you listen to Happy, I mean, that is straight four on the floor,
0:56:29 > 0:56:31it's got all those elements
0:56:31 > 0:56:33that we wanted for Northern Soul.
0:56:34 > 0:56:36Elaine Constantine fell in love with Northern Soul
0:56:36 > 0:56:39as a teenager in Lancashire.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43Today, she has channelled her passion into a movie set amongst
0:56:43 > 0:56:46the anarchic lives of clubbers in the North of England.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49They had passions and they were driven
0:56:49 > 0:56:52and they were intelligent and they were sharp.
0:56:52 > 0:56:57And they lived a full life, you know, they lived life to the max.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04# I wrote my baby 'specially
0:57:04 > 0:57:06# And told her I'd been... #
0:57:06 > 0:57:10Someone watches that film, that's what I want them to get out of it.
0:57:10 > 0:57:13You know, that it is a very cool thing.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18As well as inspiring contemporary music and movies,
0:57:18 > 0:57:22Northern soul is attracting a whole new generation.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26Today, the scene is in a very vibrant state.
0:57:28 > 0:57:32Younger people coming onto the scene could not have a better
0:57:32 > 0:57:36situation because we've sifted out the trash.
0:57:36 > 0:57:38There is no Wigan's Ovation.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42We've sorted it all out so, you come to one of our venues,
0:57:42 > 0:57:45it's the best of The Wheel, the best of Blackpool Mecca.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47It's the best of The Torch.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50The best of Wigan and the best of today.
0:57:52 > 0:57:57I've always said I never want to see it decrepit to the stage
0:57:57 > 0:57:59where it's a bunch of 70-year-old men in zimmer frames trying
0:57:59 > 0:58:02to dance to the lost values of their youth.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05Northern Soul was cool, hip and fresh.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09It was smart kids in Ben Shermans and Brute aftershave spinning round
0:58:09 > 0:58:12and clapping their hands on the beat and looking sharp and attractive.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15That's what it was and thank God there's a whole new crowd,
0:58:15 > 0:58:18not just in England but in Japan, and in Sweden and Austria,
0:58:18 > 0:58:20all over the world.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23There's even Northern Soul nights in San Francisco. It's fantastic.
0:58:29 > 0:58:34It's fresh, it's young, it's vibrant and it needs today's kids to
0:58:34 > 0:58:37re-establish it again and take it into the future.
0:58:59 > 0:59:03MUSIC: "Be Young, Be Free, Be Happy" by The Tams