What Is Northern Soul
Definition, Origins & Identity
Definition
Northern Soul is a music and dance movement centered in Northern England that emerged in the late 1960s from the remnants of the mod scene. It is built around a very specific type of record: obscure Black American soul music from the mid-1960s, almost exclusively 7" singles from small, independent record labels that were commercial failures in their time.
The classic Northern Soul record is characterized by:
- Heavy syncopated beat — designed for dancing
- Fast tempo — 100–130+ BPM
- Gospel-inflected vocals — emotional, strained, authentic
- Rarity and obscurity — unknown to mainstream audiences
- Records from small American labels — obscure pressings, not major chart hits
- Almost exclusively American 7" singles — original pressings highly valued
NOT a Music Genre
Northern Soul is not a music genre — it is a scene and cultural phenomenon built around a specific type of record. The records it treasures were recorded as Motown, Stax, and Atlantic soul — they are simply records that failed commercially in America and were rediscovered, often decades later, by British collectors.
"Built from failures — music made by hundreds of singers copying the Detroit/Motown sound that were commercial flops in their time and place.
Coining the Term
The term "Northern Soul" was coined by Dave Godin in Blues and Soul magazine in 1970. Godin was a legendary soul enthusiast who had founded Soul City record shop in Covent Garden in 1967. He was a committed civil rights supporter and had become the authority on soul music in Britain.
The term distinguished the passionate, rare-soul scene flourishing in Northern England from the broader soul movement across Britain. It captured the geographic specificity, the working-class identity, and the obsessive devotion to obscure American records that characterized the movement.
Godin's influence was profound: he pressed Berry Gordy Jr. and EMI to create a dedicated Tamla Motown label in Britain (launched 1965), compiled the influential "Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures" series for Ace Records, and remained the scene's intellectual godfather throughout his life. The term he coined in 1970 has stuck permanently.
Origins in the Mod Scene
Northern Soul emerged as an evolution of the mod scene. The mod movement of the 1960s — centered in London — was built around sharp dress, imported American soul and R&B records, and obsessive dancing. As the mod scene waned in the mid-1960s, its values and aesthetic "snaked its way Up North" to working-class youth in Manchester, the Midlands, and beyond.
Northern youth inherited the mod commitment to rare American imports, the cult of sharp tailoring and styling, and the cult of all-night dancing. But they pushed these values further: deeper into obscurity, more obsessive about rarity, and more defiant in their independence from London's cultural dominance.
By the late 1960s, what had begun as an offshoot of the mod scene had become something distinct — a fully formed cultural phenomenon with its own venues, DJs, collectors, and aesthetic.
The Stomper
A "stomper" is the defining Northern Soul record — an uptempo, often obscure soul record designed to move a dancefloor. The Four Tops' "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" (1964) is often cited as the earliest retrospective example of a Northern Soul stomper, though the term and the scene itself emerged years later.
What made a record a stomper was a specific combination of factors:
- Uptempo — usually 100+ BPM
- Heavy beat — designed for the body to move
- Rarity — unknown or obscure, not a major chart hit
- Dancefloor impact — the ability to electrify a crowd
- American origin — almost exclusively from US sources
- Era — typically from the mid-1960s
Record Terminology
The Northern Soul scene developed its own vocabulary to describe different types of records. These terms reflect the sophistication of the collecting and DJing culture:
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Stomper | An uptempo, heavy-beat soul record designed to move a dancefloor — the core Northern Soul sound. |
| Floater | A slower, more soulful record — a contrast track in a DJ set to provide variety. |
| Breaker | A record that "breaks" the dance floor — often an unexpected, crowd-pleasing deep cut. |
| Rack Record | A commercially available record (found in regular record shops) — contrasted with "import" or rare records. |
| Floorburner | A record so exciting that it sets the dance floor on fire — synonymous with stomper. |
Social & Class Context
Northern Soul emerged explicitly as a working-class phenomenon. The venues were filled with coal miners, factory workers, and young people in industrial towns facing economic decline and limited cultural outlets. The scene offered escapism, community, and a sense of cultural ownership.
Unlike the chart-pop consumed by mainstream British society, Northern Soul was anti-mainstream and anti-establishment. It rejected commercial radio and Top 40 culture in favor of obsessive collecting and specialist knowledge. This defiance was both musical and social — working-class youth claiming cultural authority over what mattered, independent of London's cultural gatekeepers.
The scene was explicitly anti-fashion (even as it developed its own distinctive style), anti-commercial, and fiercely protective of its values. As journalist and former Wigan Casino regular Paul Mason has written, the scene represented "an absolute refusal to bend to pop culture's values" — instead, it asserted the authority of working-class taste, working-class venues, and working-class culture.
This class identity remains central to Northern Soul's identity and values. The scene has always been, fundamentally, about working people claiming culture for themselves.
Rarity as Cultural Currency
In Northern Soul, rarity carries both symbolic and economic value. A record that is rare is literally valuable — original pressings command high prices. But rarity also carries cultural prestige: the rarer the record, the deeper the knowledge required to hunt it, the greater the respect from peers.
DJs built their reputations on discovering and sourcing records that few others had heard. Ian Levine famously travelled to America to source records. Richard Searling tracked down the original copy of "Tainted Love" by Gloria Jones at a flea market in the USA and brought it back to introduce to the UK scene in 1973. These hunters became celebrities within the community.
The most legendary example is Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" — recorded in 1965 for Motown's Soul label, but so expensive to produce and so commercially unsuccessful that Berry Gordy Jr. reportedly ordered the original pressing destroyed. Only 2 known original copies survive in the world. In 2009, one sold at auction for £25,742 — making it one of the most expensive records ever sold.
For Northern Soul collectors and aficionados, rarity is everything. An original pressing is sacred; a reissue is acceptable but carries less prestige. This obsession with rarity and authenticity defines the entire culture.
Keep the Faith
"Keep the Faith" is the motto of Northern Soul — a rallying cry that captures the movement's values and spirit. It means maintaining loyalty to the scene, to the records, to the culture, and to each other, no matter how the mainstream world changes or dismisses the movement.
The motto is embodied in an iconic symbol: a clenched fist — the logo that appears on flyers, merchandise, and in the hearts of scene members worldwide. The clenched fist has roots in the Black Power movement of the 1960s and carries meanings of resistance, solidarity, and self-determination.
The logo was created by Chris Burton, owner of The Golden Torch in Stoke-on-Trent, during the early 1970s. It became the enduring symbol of the entire Northern Soul movement. In 2014, when someone attempted to trademark the logo, the community successfully defended it as communal cultural property — reinforcing the principle that Northern Soul belongs to the scene, not to any individual or corporation.
"Keep the Faith" remains the beating heart of Northern Soul culture — a commitment to loyalty, authenticity, and the values that define the scene.