few threads about northern in daily mail , film soundtracks etc etc flying around the forum

is northern in mainstream media a good or a bad thing?

vote above

THE RULES OF NORTHERN SOUL

1. Must be able to stay out all night every Saturday - and be useless for the rest of the weekend

2. Must be able to dance - or think you can

3. Must blow the family income on original vinyl - as often as possible

4. Must dislike The Snake - and Frank Wilson

5. Must spend at least ten hours per week on this forum - a week!? A day surely??

6. Must be able to recall which artist did which song on which label whenever questioned - and the b side

7. Must have all original American vinyl - something wrong with British?

8. Must never converse with non soulies that wander in - only if you talk in code

9. Must never finish a conversation at a soul night; "Gotta go an dance ta thisn'"

10. Must take all matters Northern Soul related totally seriously - deadly

Magoo

loved 60's soul and motown,

That'll do it!

Shoot, that's me branded then!

You, me, and many many more Karen!

Was your parents into soul and Funk Baz???....they would be around my age i believe.....just wondering how a youngster got into the more retro sounds....i don't mean that last remark rudely so please don't take offence...just curious that's all...Delxx

No not me parents, used to do alot of the soundhause do's in northampton, hip hop/breakdancing/funk/retrobeats ect so spawned from there too

Edited May 2, 200718 yr by Baz

THE RULES OF NORTHERN SOUL

1. Must be able to stay out all night every Saturday

2. Must be able to dance

3. Must blow the family income on original vinyl

4. Must dislike The Snake

5. Must spend at least ten hours per week on this forum

6. Must be able to recall which artist did which song on which label whenever questioned

7. Must have all original American vinyl

8. Must never converse with non soulies that wander in

9. Must never finish a conversation at a soul night; "Gotta go an dance ta thisn'"

10. Must take all matters Northern Soul related totally seriously

Magoo

You forgot about the chin stroking action required

no spencers

no more oldies to be played

no disco to be played

no r&b to be played

no rare and obscure to be played

never ever mention Wigan anymore

dont eat in themed cafe`s

Dont ever go off topic on SS

No not me parents, used to do alot of the soundhause do's in northampton, hip hop/breakdancing/funk/retrobeats ect so spawned from there too

Nice one....Delxxx

NS will always be misrepresented in mainstream media as theres not a person (or persons) on the planet that could do a presentation that wouldn't be the catalyst for a mega debate on here on where they got it wrong/right!

Personally i voted 'don't care' cos i don't care what the state of the scene will be when i'm not around! why should i? its a hobby/pastime not a religion!

Things are born,grow then die, why should NS be any different? And if it dies before me then i shall have to find somethin else to spend rediculous amounts of money/time on!

In the meantime i shall carry on having a jolly good time while it lasts!

Pete

Spot on Pete.

I voted Don't Care for similar reasons. I also thought "would the people who made the tunes give a toss about whether people were jiving or doing backdrops as long as they were dancing and digging the tunes?" and "Did Popcorn Wylie have a 'no drinks on the dancefloor' rule?"

I go to plenty of nights where music other than Northern Soul is played (my own funk night for exapmle) and people are polite and friendly and don't scrap. We don't have the monopoly on that.

It also put me in mind of the folk club at my old pub. For a while a guy did the bookings and he did everything he could to get new people involved. He booked cutting edge contemporary roots and world music acts and for a few years we had some of the biggest names in the folk world too, and drew big audiences including plenty of younger people. He got little support from the old die-hards and eventually he packed in in. The club moved venues a couple of times and ended up back at my pub in the small room with a coal fire, where the ten or twelve hardcore traditionalists could meet and sing the same old tunes without the need for a PA or electric instruments.

Ring any bells?

Godz

Edited May 2, 200718 yr by Godzilla

Arrgh!...flippin' heck.. this is doin' my head in!!! - I just can't make my mind up.

I voted that its a good thing, generally I agree with more points made in favour but some points put across really well from both sides so far...

One thing that puzzles me though, if media coverage didn't exist, how would potential newbies find the scene??... If we're relying on friends of 'the already converted' or kids inheriting this from parents, surely you're condeming the future of the scene.....that'd be a bit sad me thinks..

I wonder how many people maybe heard a soul record on radio 1 (for instance) or commercial radio/charts,etc which led them down maybe the motown path and through the door of the strange world of Northern Soul... oh,You know what I mean!!!..

Jayne.x.

Spot on Pete.

I voted Don't Care for similar reasons. I also thought "would the people who made the tunes give a toss about whether people were jiving or doing backdrops as long as they were dancing and digging the tunes?" and "Did Popcorn Wylie have a 'no drinks on the dancefloor' rule?"

I go to plenty of nights where music other than Northern Soul is played (my own funk night for exapmle) and people are polite and friendly and don't scrap. We don't have the monopoly on that.

It also put me in mind of the folk club at my old pub. For a while a guy did the bookings and he did everything he could to get new people involved. He booked cutting edge contemporary roots and world music acts and for a few years we had some of the biggest names in the folk world too, and drew big audiences including plenty of younger people. He got little support from the old die-hards and eventually he packed in in. The club moved venues a couple of times and ended up back at my pub in the small room with a coal fire, where the ten or twelve hardcore traditionalists could meet and sing the same old tunes without the need for a PA or electric instruments.

Ring any bells?

Godz

Loud and clear Godz,

Think the 'scene' would be more appealing to newcomers if those within it would just enjoy what they enjoy and allow others to do the same, lost count of the people who have paid a brief visit to our scene and disappeared saying the music was fine but the politics, the dos and don'ts, and the confusing conflicting opinions were just to much!

mainstream media good or bad has very little influence on the well being of NS!

Its the natural erosion due to time along with the single mindedness of those within it will bring about its inevitable downfall!

In the meantime..............Keep The Faith!

Pete

Arrgh!...flippin' heck.. this is doin' my head in!!! - I just can't make my mind up.

I voted that its a good thing, generally I agree with more points made in favour but some points put across really well from both sides so far...

One thing that puzzles me though, if media coverage didn't exist, how would potential newbies find the scene??... If we're relying on friends of 'the already converted' or kids inheriting this from parents, surely you're condeming the future of the scene.....that'd be a bit sad me thinks..

I wonder how many people maybe heard a soul record on radio 1 (for instance) or commercial radio/charts,etc which led them down maybe the motown path and through the door of the strange world of Northern Soul... oh,You know what I mean!!!..

Jayne.x.

One thing that puzzles me though, if media coverage didn't exist, how would potential newbies find the scene??

Jayne,

In our neck of the woods and the rest of the north of England at least every town almost has a WMC, Church Hall, civic centre, where there is a NS related event going on, in many cases this may be the only way for the locals to get a late pint, so invariably these events are pretty well attended! There isn't many folk who i come accross that arn't at least aware there is such a scene, and more than you can imagine have sampled it!

The odd tv fly on the wall/documentry isn't gonna have em flooding in by the coach load!

A friend of ours jokingly tagged NS (round here at least) as the new bingo!

Personally i think it gets ample exposure! But as i said either way doesn't really concern me,

Pete

In our neck of the woods and the rest of the north of England at least every town almost has a WMC, Church Hall, civic centre, where there is a NS related event going on, in many cases this may be the only way for the locals to get a late pint, so invariably these events are pretty well attended! There isn't many folk who i come accross that arn't at least aware there is such a scene, and more than you can imagine have sampled it!

Hi Pete,

I very rarely come across people like this. None of my friends had ever heard of NS before I introduced them to it, and other than the odd ex-soulie who used to go in the 70's, probably 90% of people I've worked with over the last 10years hadn't come across it either.

I suppose most non soulie's I've ever spoke to about it would tend to socialise around town centre's or the local pub and wouldn't go to the kind of venue's you mention above. Maybe it's age group thing? or an area thing?..

It would make a nice change to come across someone who was aware of it - it'd same me having the same conversation time after time!

Jayne.x.

No not me parents, used to do alot of the soundhause do's in northampton, hip hop/breakdancing/funk/retrobeats ect so spawned from there too

Interesting mate. I was at Uni with a few lads who were into breaks, funk etc. I played them 80s stuff like Glenda McCloud or harder edged 60s like Eddie Parker I'm Gone, Judy Stokes Real Man etc and they loved it.

By allowing people with an interest in other areas of black music access to the scene and music through nights that arnt a million miles away from what they're into (Like Soul Revolution) offers IMO a much better way of opening the scene to newcomers than seeing some middle aged fellahs on regional TV slot talking about the Casino. Anyone who was at JTs last nighter will have seen youngish people having a ball - that's the way to recruit, not some black and white cat scounging snap to Rubin.

The reason I voted bad is not because I don't welcome "the outsiders" (ooooooooohhhhh- the dark ones are here) poping in and having the crack but because the media will allways get it wrong and will portray the scene as sh!te. In fact how could they get it right - it's not their agenda to represent the scene in any other way than through sterotypes and cliches; they will always go for easy story / visual as any other route has cost implications ala research which equates to costs, all down to time and money.

Edited May 3, 200718 yr by Byrney

I voted good....

My reason ..

Well we're becoming a dying breed and there are only very few young people interested in it

BUT....

I will add that not all media coverage is good coverage.....eg Jazzy B ...who wont be appearing at a soul club near you in the near future!!!!

What we need is our own media coverage ...like our own people who can write up a decent article that encapsulates all thats good about the scene now

Any takers???

Mand

I voted good....

My reason ..

Well we're becoming a dying breed and there are only very few young people interested in it

BUT....

I will add that not all media coverage is good coverage.....eg Jazzy B ...who wont be appearing at a soul club near you in the near future!!!!

What we need is our own media coverage ...like our own people who can write up a decent article that encapsulates all thats good about the scene now

Any takers???

Mand

Just to add ...I work at a sports centre and I asked to do a soul/motown night

I did it and 300 locals came thru the door mostly non soulies we had a brill night and the few of us soulies who attended had the same good night!

So Im having another and the feedback from the last one was fantastic

I have also converted a few that attended to go to other soul nights locally

So it does rub off with the right kind of exposure!!

Mand

few threads about northern in daily mail , film soundtracks etc etc flying around the forum

is northern in mainstream media a good or a bad thing?

vote above

BAD .

BAD .

Just say what your thinkin, don't mess about!

Just say what your thinkin, don't mess about!

I just voted bad it said good,bad or not bothered and i put bad, i wont put what im thinking .

I just voted bad it said good,bad or not bothered and i put bad, i wont put what im thinking .

Sorry, didn't mean it like that, twas a joke and obviously not the funniest

Sorry, didn't mean it like that, twas a joke and obviously not the funniest

Northern soul .........dont ya just love it. not a problem pete.

2, you forgot about Byrney with your hurried reading. Most of the stuff coming the other way was from that Bladeforlife bleeder, thank fekc he ain't around anymore..

ps, I did say Kaka would score first.

Sound fellow, very clever man !

So, according to the Poll, on a site I thought might be biased, it seems that it's ok out in the open

i voted who cares cause i don't know weather to say it's good or bad.

The good things is that it is still around and with luck will carry on but you see the bad thing is when your young and you try to get into Northern soul there is always people look down on you and think oh no. But as i don't care for them i get on and attend and listen to the music and keeps me happy and plus most of the people i meet locally are all nice enough people and can only see me as good thing because i attend as was told by someone it's good your coming along we need more young people.

So, according to the Poll, on a site I thought might be biased, it seems that it's ok out in the open

its just a poll

that thought may get a bit of enjoyable discussion going

nothing more nothing less...

here's the final score

is it a good thing ? good thing [ 54 ] [46.55%] bad thing [ 34 ] [29.31%] who cares [ 28 ] [24.14%]

biased ?

yeah right