Talk:Northern soul

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Contents 1 Northern soul dancers 2 Clarification needed 3 Misleading 4 Northern or northern

[edit] Northern soul dancers

Guys, this is not the place to advertise record shops. Also, this article deals with Northern Soul, not the Frank Wilson single. If you insist that the info on the Frank Wilson single belongs on wikipedia, please give it its own page, perhaps linked from this page. If someone doesn't revert this page to the version of 04:15, 1 January 2006 by Emann15, I will do it.

[edit] Clarification needed

From the article: "It has nothing to with the "Northern USA" per se. ... from northern cities like Detroit and Chicago (in contrast to southern styles like Memphis soul)."

I find this confusing. The article says, that Northern Soul has nothing to do with the "Northern USA," yet then goes on to make the distinction between Detroit/Chicago and southern styles like Memphis a sentence or so later. I think this needs to be re-done to be a bit more clear. Oswald Glinkmeyer 03:09, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I think the story is this: 'Northern Soul,' as a 'genre' of music, received its name in soul record shops in London. Records in the 'Northern Soul' section were those that were popular in the north of England, in relation to the clubs mentioned in the article. (There is a particular record-shop owner accredited with coining the term, but I forget where I read that.) This is where the name originates, so it is a coincidence that 'Northern Soul' is largely originally music from the north US, because the 'north' in question is the north of England. However, this scene has been self-sustaining (reviving artists such as Major Lance, and giving rise to new recordings made for the clubs,) and influential, (it should be noted in the article that northern soul was a major forerunner of contemproray dj culture, being itself a genre founded by dj selections) to the extent that 'Northern Soul' clubs in Southern California are referencing Wigan before they are Detroit. Hence the name. So basically, in good Wiki fashion, if someone wants to throw a bit of etymology in at the beginning, everything will work out fine.

Simon Feb 2006

The term "Northern Soul" was coined by Dave Godin, who ran the Soul City record shop in London and wrote for Blues and Soul magazine. He first used the term in that magazine in 1970, I believe.

Quote: "I didn't invent the term Northern Soul, but merely coined the term to define the kind of music that young people from the north of Britain were preferring to those in the southern parts, who were falling under the spell of the changing direction that the US soul and R&B charts were taking in the late 60s" (Dave Godin in the foreword to "The In Crowd" by Mike Ritson and Stuart Russell, Bee Cool Publishing, 1999)

Andy July 2006

[edit] Misleading

I wouldn't recommend this article to anyone as it stands. The reference to northern USA is plain misleading, right at the start (though I understand the writer may be trying to convey the flavour of much NS by referring to Motown, Detroit, Chicago).

"Northern" = northern UK, as pointed out, and besides, heaps of songs deemed "Northern Soul" are from southern states anyway, or even from outside the US. And can you say it's a "musical style"? It's like saying "British Invasion" is a musical style. I'd rewrite, but it'd be good to see some more discussion here first.

[edit] Northern or northern

I think the N in Nothern should always be capitalised here, see here. Maikel (talk) 00:31, 6 April 2008 (UTC)