1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:03,560 Welcome back. And tonight I'm asking the 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:08,480 question, what makes Northern Soul Northern? 3 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:33,880 So what makes Northern Soul Northern? 4 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:38,120 Is it the sound, those driving beats, the relentless tempo 5 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:41,600 records built for movement, not radio? 6 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:46,120 Is it the place from the dance floors of Wigan Casino to the 7 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,320 back rooms and ballrooms scattered across the industrial 8 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:53,880 north? Or is it something deeper? 9 00:01:04,879 --> 00:01:10,200 When you need me anytime baby, don't you hesitate. 10 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:17,000 Just call my same old number and then just wait. 11 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:25,400 Give me just a minute or two. I'll be right there to see about 12 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:32,720 you, see about you, baby. Just like Johnny. 13 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:39,480 Just like Johnny. Just like Johnny. 14 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:43,320 Just like Johnny. Let's me. 15 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:52,440 Hey, hey, hey. No need to be an old song only. 16 00:01:52,480 --> 00:02:01,160 And this is all fun. Just call me darling and I'll be 17 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:02,080 home. Run. 18 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:10,440 Give me just a minute or two. I'll be out there to see about 19 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,760 you. I'll see about you. 20 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:14,280 Play. Yeah. 21 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:20,200 I'll be just like Johnny on the Star. 22 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:24,600 Just like Johnny on the Star. Just like Johnny. 23 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,360 Just need me. I make the highways. 24 00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:06,920 That's what they call me. Give me just a minute or two to 25 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:09,040 rescue you. Just like Johnny. 26 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:17,320 Just like Johnny. Just like Johnny. 27 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:35,000 For those who never stood on a packed dance floor at 3:00 AM, 28 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:39,200 never felt the opening bars of the right track hit like a 29 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:43,880 heartbeat and never heard a room erupt at the drop of a needle, 30 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:46,840 Northern Soul can feel like a mystery. 31 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:51,320 Who was Frank Wilson? How did these impossibly rare 32 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:55,760 American records, pressed in tiny numbers thousands of miles 33 00:03:55,760 --> 00:04:00,120 away, end up becoming sacred objects in Britain? 34 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:06,320 And perhaps the biggest question of all, what makes Northern Soul 35 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:26,520 Northern? Don't say that I've been there, 36 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:35,560 never taking you nowhere but aside everything that I even 37 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:38,480 accuse me of being. And I'm true. 38 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:55,560 I still love you, baby. But you've got me training 39 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:03,920 behind my Give me a plane a ride, darling me, please relax. 40 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:07,920 Cut to yourself. Open your eyes. 41 00:05:24,840 --> 00:05:31,680 Baby can't see that I know what else to eat ever since the day. 42 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:02,400 The story, as it's often told, begins with Dave Golden, late 43 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:07,600 1960s in London, inside his shop, Soul City. 44 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:12,760 The capital's trendsetters are chasing the newest sounds. 45 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:17,840 Fresh Imports chart hits the next big thing from across the 46 00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:20,360 Atlantic. But something unusual keeps 47 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:22,120 happening. Week after week. 48 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:26,880 Young people with northern accents, sharp eyes, purpose in 49 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:31,400 their stride, walk in, asking for something completely 50 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:34,920 different, Not the new, not the fashionable. 51 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:39,600 They want forgotten records, obscure American Soul singles, 52 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:44,400 tracks already disappearing into history and golden. 53 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:49,560 He clocks it, and he gives them a name, a section in his shop 54 00:06:49,760 --> 00:07:07,760 labelled simply Northern Soul. And many places hide. 55 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:17,040 I'm a smiler and many faces hide. 56 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:20,040 If you're wondering if my love is true, it's true. 57 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:28,680 And I'll give a few of you world My love is right on me. 58 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:42,320 Don't you may roar anywhere, but my lover will be right there. 59 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:48,920 And my love will never, never die, Never die. 60 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:56,680 Tell me why were my lover? It's for this ride on me. 61 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:05,000 I'm fit. You is my joy to see. 62 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:15,360 I love only you, my dear. No matter if you're away from 63 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,120 me. My love is true. 64 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:20,200 No little. Can't you see that little girls? 65 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:31,360 I miss you With you my lover. They don't compare so don't 66 00:08:31,520 --> 00:09:03,600 worry, I guarantee you. But really, the label only tells 67 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:08,000 you what it's called, It doesn't really explain why it happened. 68 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:12,560 And to understand that, you've got to leave London behind and 69 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:17,280 head north, back to a Britain where the skyline wasn't glass 70 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:23,000 and steel towers, but mills, foundries and pit heads. 71 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:38,800 Try under, say that I love you, I love you, I love you baby, 72 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:43,280 That I'd never never you without you baby. 73 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:46,560 You better be a little patient, baby. 74 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:55,480 It's nothing but a harmless flirtation and that she can't 75 00:09:55,520 --> 00:10:00,960 confare with me, but it's something I don't want about I 76 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:08,760 guys to do and try to undine that I love you, I love you, I 77 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:13,120 love you baby. That you win win. 78 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:16,840 We have a baby. It's not that you're not good 79 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:22,280 too baby. You're even better than she 80 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:31,280 looks baby, and the thing that is you for baby 'cause I always 81 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:39,080 need to love and soul me stand I happy and try to under that I 82 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:45,240 love you, I love you, I love you baby that you we we will have a 83 00:10:45,400 --> 00:11:03,800 baby. My baby, 'cause I always enjoy 84 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:07,320 loving song. Please stand by me and try to 85 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:12,360 understand that I love you. I love you I love you baby. 86 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:22,360 That you way way above a baby. That you sleepy love me. 87 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:40,560 The north of England in the 1960s and 70s was still the 88 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:45,600 industrial engine of the country and if you were young, working 89 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:49,960 class and living there, your path was often laid out. 90 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:57,600 School, work, factory, repeat. No gap years, no trust funds, no 91 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:01,640 finding yourself. So when the weekend came, it 92 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:04,680 really mattered. Now, down in London, youth 93 00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:09,280 culture shifted fast. Monster hippies in the blink of 94 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:12,720 an eye. But up north something different 95 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:15,960 happened. They held on to the beat. 96 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:21,680 The sharp suits softened, maybe, but the music stayed fast, 97 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:41,640 urgent and danceable. I used to sit around with my 98 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:47,400 head hanging down. I'm feeling sad and so blue 99 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:51,080 because I'm lonely for you, you, you. 100 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:55,520 I brought them all just for you, darling. 101 00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:59,240 You're my whole world around you. 102 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,160 I refuse. I refuse to be lonely baby. 103 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:10,560 To be lonely baby. I refuse to be lonely baby. 104 00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:14,920 Slowly but surely I had to get over you. 105 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:21,320 And then I realised just what I had to do. 106 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:28,600 Have to get you out of my mind. Start my life with me. 107 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:32,680 That's what I've got to do. I refuse. 108 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:38,160 I refuse to be lonely, baby. To be lonely, baby. 109 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:50,240 I refuse to be lonely baby. I refuse to be lonely baby. 110 00:13:50,240 --> 00:14:07,840 From that day on I have got to forget. 111 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:23,560 You forget, only regret I have. I still love you, lonely, and 112 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:27,160 you always on my mind. I refuse you. 113 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:32,320 I refuse to be lonely baby. Lonely baby. 114 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:42,520 I refuse to be lonely, baby. I refuse to be lonely, baby. 115 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:44,560 I refuse to be lonely, baby. I feel to be lonely, baby. 116 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:46,800 I feel to be lonely. Oh, I be lonely, lonely. 117 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:48,600 Never be lonely. I don't know. 118 00:14:49,800 --> 00:15:06,560 I'm lonely, lonely, baby. I won't be lonely. 119 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:13,920 Because you see, life up north really wasn't about drifting 120 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:16,240 away. It was about release. 121 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:21,800 No LSD daydreams, no sitting in fields watching the wheel go by. 122 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:27,240 This was all night, dancing, sweat, spins, backdrops. 123 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:32,440 Hours on a sprung floor chasing a rhythm that never LED up. 124 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:36,680 And here's the twist. That music, the heartbeat of 125 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:39,440 Northern Soul, it wasn't British at all. 126 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:43,960 It came from places like Detroit, Philadelphia and 127 00:15:43,960 --> 00:16:12,880 Chicago. I know you want me. 128 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:28,200 I know I wish you success. How will I understand your love 129 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:33,400 for him? It's like my love for you, love 130 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:43,160 for you, Your love for him. It's like my love like my lover 131 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:53,440 for you all baby. It's a wasting of the time rope 132 00:16:54,320 --> 00:17:01,400 and it's hope is being. It doesn't stand to reason. 133 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:12,560 I know if the food is too, that you get up yourself and there's 134 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:21,760 nothing you can leave. Your love for you, it's like my 135 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:24,640 love for you. I'm young. 136 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:33,640 Your love for you, it's like my love, Like my love for you. 137 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:52,160 I'll be there. Oh, don't eat nothing that one 138 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:01,400 bad. But you made-up your man and 139 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:07,960 there's nothing you can do. Your love for him. 140 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:16,240 It's like my love for you, love for you, your love for you. 141 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:40,600 Get your tear that I really love you baby. 142 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:48,640 Now those American cities were industrial cities, working class 143 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:54,040 cities, places that in many ways mirrored the north of England. 144 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:57,160 Different continents, but the same energy. 145 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:02,440 Then they were the venues, ballrooms, dance halls, places 146 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:07,640 built decades earlier for workers to unwind, now worn, 147 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:12,880 slightly crumbling, but perfect. They were cheap to hire, big 148 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:18,240 enough to move and, crucially, free from trends because in the 149 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:23,120 North, no one cared what was fashionable in London. 150 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:38,640 When I'm not around, Try to make you live without me. 151 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:43,600 Lose the love that went down. But I can't excuse that made of 152 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:50,560 me. What means all right will never 153 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:55,160 be wrong. Tell them where we go live. 154 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:59,760 Tell them that I know where I know. 155 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:19,920 I'm bringing you down. I'm. 156 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:45,400 I'm on the roadside of town. I'm bringing you down. 157 00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:48,480 I'm on the roadside of town. You're trans. 158 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:53,600 You're talking about me. You say you won't live without 159 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:57,080 me inside. I hope you won't live without 160 00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:00,680 me. In the north of England they 161 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:04,760 cared about the record, the temple, the rarity and the 162 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:09,840 feeling, and no one captured that better than Wigan Casino 163 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:13,720 from 1973. It became the beating heart of 164 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:17,400 the scene and all night a temple to soul music. 165 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:21,640 Not glamorous, not polished, but real. 166 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:42,360 Gonna go be a mountain way up high. 167 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:49,240 Gotta get away from this cruel world. 168 00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:55,840 Gonna leave everything, everything including my girl. 169 00:22:55,840 --> 00:23:02,680 My girl gonna go be a mountain way up high. 170 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:09,200 I'm going to look for freedom of the mountain time. 171 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:15,960 If I don't find anything I'm on my way to the moon. 172 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:25,120 The garden world will be seen this soon. 173 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:29,400 Going to build me the mountain way apart. 174 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:34,720 Can you tell me what to say? Say to my mother and father? 175 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:42,760 Just do, brother, do. Come on, let me hear what you 176 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:49,960 got to say. It better be good because I'm on 177 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:57,890 my way. When I will say no Glory 178 00:23:57,890 --> 00:25:03,680 Hallelujah. And at the Wigan casino, dishes 179 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:08,480 like Ruswin Stadley at the freedom to dig deeper, play 180 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:14,360 rarer and push further while the London clubs chase the trends. 181 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:19,960 Wigan, Magic in the grooves and of course Northern Soul didn't 182 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:25,040 stay in the north forever. Places like the 100 Club carried 183 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:30,240 the torch in the capital and today the scene stretches across 184 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:35,680 the UK and far beyond. But its identity that's still 185 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:38,800 rooted in something very specific. 186 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:44,320 Working class energy, obsessive record collecting, and a dance 187 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:48,160 floor culture built on escape, not image. 188 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:51,720 So what makes Northern Soul northern? 189 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:55,480 It's not the geography, it's graft. 190 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,400 It's community. It's the idea that after a long, 191 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:05,160 hard week, you earn your moment, one record at a time, one dance 192 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:10,360 at a time, until the lights come up and reality kicks back in. 193 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:38,680 Man, oh man, I'm trying hard as I can just to make you 194 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:42,960 understand that my heart is breaking, the love is left. 195 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:48,080 I'm all by myself, like my heart is on the shell and I'm bad and 196 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:51,400 shaking. What shall I do? 197 00:26:54,240 --> 00:27:00,760 I'm in a order to share. Now I'm feeling somebody come on 198 00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:07,320 and tell me what to love you. I need to know Him. 199 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:15,920 I know Love's need love just simple my PP and you're thinking 200 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:21,560 not just forget nobody her love can be found if I just look 201 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:24,680 around I know she's in town. I'm going to jump on the 202 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:32,520 childhood which I do too little man and I hide in all that he 203 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:36,800 shall now and don't feel real. Nobody. 204 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,920 Come on and tell me what she's like to do. 205 00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:06,920 The all sweet love is simple, up, above, up, whatever you're 206 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:09,320 thinking of, just forget about it. 207 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:13,240 Her love can be found if I just look around. 208 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:15,560 I know she's in town. I'm going to jump on the 209 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:16,280 Charlie. What should I do? 210 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:22,920 Just get my love back and I hide it. 211 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:28,600 All that is shine now and I feel hurt to lose somebody. 212 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:31,400 Come on and tell me what should I do? 213 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,200 So what makes Northern so Northern? 214 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:53,760 It's not just the records pressed in places like Detroit 215 00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:56,600 or Chicago. It's not just the venues like 216 00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:01,280 Wigan Casino where the music found its home, it's the people. 217 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:06,120 It's the dancers who gave those records live, the DJs who 218 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:11,440 searched endlessly for the next undiscovered gem, and the 219 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:15,720 communities that turned forgotten songs into timeless 220 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:18,280 anthems. Northern Soul isn't just 221 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:21,400 something you listen to, it's something you live. 222 00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:26,400 And once you've felt it, it never really leaves you. 223 00:29:27,320 --> 00:30:00,800 Until the next time, bye bye. Love is blind, love is blind 224 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:08,680 that I can see and I open up my heart girl, open up my heart. 225 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:21,240 You made us love me and I tell myself it I'm never look again. 226 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:27,120 And now that you gone away and I just. 227 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:11,400 I I just can't even. I just can't. 228 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:20,320 I just can't win. So I walk through the land with 229 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:25,640 the harmless steel. I know when I'm feeling baby 230 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:41,120 that love is me. I just don't believe that.