MadPriest

Rockabilly and rock and roll has lived with this problem a lot longer than we have. I remember visiting rock and roll venues back in the late seventies and the age of the fans ranged from teenagers into the Stray Cats to fully suited up teddy boys who had been on the scene since the mid fifties. The youngsters had a lot of respect for the oldies and learned about the history of the scene and the music by talking with them. Unfortunately, I think there is too much snobbery and oneupmanship in Northern Soul, always has been, and I fear youngsters coming onto the scene now would be greeted with a "you weren't there" attitude and put off staying around. Also, no young person can afford to become a northern soul DJ (in fact, I doubt that many of us could start up from scratch nowadays). I think we should not only allow, but encourage, venues to play our music from any source whilst advertising vinyl only events specifically for those who rate the medium over the music itself.