Northern Soul Floorfillers Show

Music from the days of Wigan Casino to the present day

There’s no doubt that the Northern Soul scene is bigger today than it’s ever been, as is evident with the amount of Northern Soul evenings throughout the Country.

The Northern Soul Floorfillers Show is repeated at 11pm on Monday.

The History of Northern Soul

Nobody could have predicted that records people had no or very little interest in, in the USA would eventually be picked up by record collectors from the UK, cross the water and become massive underground anthems for a whole generation.

Many people assume the “Northern” addition to the genre name comes from the areas of the US that these records were recorded and discovered, when if fact it was the music’s popularity in the North of England that eventually lead to the naming of this incredible music scene.

The first real “Northern Soul” venue is believed to have been the Twisted Wheel club in Manchester, although the music played didn’t pick up the Northern Soul tag until a few years later. The early records to be played were simply unheard Motown tracks that had failed to make the Singles Chart.

My Involvement in the Scene

I got involved in the Northern Soul Scene as a spotty fourteen year old. A school friend of mine called Kevin Batey had been bitten by the music and had bought a few records out of his pocket money (and his school dinner money – a habit I soon picked up.) I thought this music I was listening to for the first time in my life, was fantastic and the following weekend we went to the local disco in Bearpark armed with his few records for the DJ to play.

I watched ‘Tattie’ as he was nicknamed, dance to these records with a big circle of teenagers clapping for him. We soon found a regular Northern Soul Disco that was going on at Neville’s Cross Social Club every other Tuesday. We were allowed in so long as we never touched alcohol!!!