The northern soul scene is a dance-based music culture that originated
in the English North and Midlands in the early 1970s. It still thrives
today with a mix of sixty-year-olds and several generations of new
converts, and its celebration of 1960s soul has an international
following.
This co-produced book brings together newly commissioned essays together
with pivotal earlier articles that have defined the field so far. These
chapters are interspersed with key journalistic articles, evocative
photographs, and interviews with the directors of northern soul-themed
films. This anthology is the first to provide a wide variety of
perspectives on the history and contemporary nature of the scene, and
creates a forum for vibrant dialogue and debate amongst academic
researchers, students and those immersed in the scene. Representations
of the scene from different media, and different historical locations,
are juxtaposed to construct a rich and diverse statement about the
music, people, places and practices that constitute the northern soul
scene in the UK and beyond.