Northern Soul: Music, drugs and subcultural identity By Andrew Wilson

Northern Soul: Music, drugs and subcultural identity By Andrew Wilson 

Information I took from each chapter

Chapter 1: Understanding the context

- "The lryics of soul records before 1968 do not offer evidence of a strong relationship between soul and black power."

- "Northern Soul involved specialized knowledge of the esoteric music played in clubs that were self created by the enthusiasts themselves: if not by organizing the event, then at least by persuading the management of the clubs to provide a venue."

- Soul in Britain was on a lot smaller scale compared to USA.

- Stoke on Trent got a lot of bad press for the use of drugs within their clubs.

Chapter 2: The Northern Soul Scene

- Records such as 'Blowing my mind', 'Cracking up over you', 'Ten miles high' and more are all about drugs.

- " The term 'Northern Soul' was first used in 1970 by Dave Godin, a journalist at the niche market magazine Blues and Soul, providing comment that blended musical knowledge with social awareness of the roots of black American music".

- All nighters were the central event of the Northern Soul scene. If someone asked if you went to all nighters it would show how much you were involved with the scene.

- All nighters would happen monthly or fortnightly. They had to compete for the most dominant venue.

- "From 1964 to 1981, 3 clubs dominated the soul scene in the north: the Twisted Wheel, the Torch in Stoke on Trent and Wigan Casino".

- Early all nighters disco opening times between 8pm and 2am.

- "Dancing was regarded as expression, but not an expression that acts as a show to attract the opposite sex; it was more personal, more closely tied to enjoyment of the music, the occasion and participating in it."

- People would want to DJ but not for the profit aspect of it.

- 1970's Soul scene was a working class phenomenon.

- There was more men on the scene then women. A ratio in 1986 and 1995 found that it was 70:30.

Chapter 3: Making sense of drugs

- Drugs were common ground however, the specific drug people used showed peoples subculture.

- Compared to Hippies.

Blocking

- B- is for bombers I drop with ease.

- L- is for lies I tell the police.

- O- is for overdose, which I'll never take.

- C- as in crack up, shiver and shake.

- K- as in Kline, Smith and French.

- I- is indictment on my first offence.

- N- is the needle that I'll never touch and

- G- is the gear I love so much.

- There is gradual users and rapid users.

Chapter 4: High risk behaviors

- "The illegal status of the drugs created a barrier, through fear of prosecution, that may have been reduced by the assurances given by other users, but interpretation of the law was also affected by the experiences, knowledge and expectations of the person involved.

- Supplying drugs wasn't just about the profit it was also about having a name for it. Wanted to be superior for having access to supplying them.

- Taking precautions such as hiding drugs outside the house were ignored driven by paranoia. 

Chapter 5: Disengagement and later life impact

- Suffering from comedowns

- People stopped going to all nighters because of work, relationships, getting arrested but relationship to be the most prominent. 

- People died from drug overdose.

- "The diminished quality of drugs and music was the most cited deterioration, which can be seen as a relative depreciation, but the increasing number of deaths associated with the scene was an objective fact."

- There was some media attention which made it more commercialized causing it to lose its culture.

- When it got more attention they used white peoples music but using a black name on it.

- A lot of people were arrested for burglary of chemist shops.

Chapter 6: Towards a conclusion

- "The scene offered many opportunities for socialization: the all nighters, mid week soul clubs, travel to the clubs with their meeting points, bank holiday gatherings at traditional working class seaside resorts, and hometown peer groups."

- Strong social groups were formed.

- "While a focus on rare records and its longevity make the scene unique, there are common characteristics with other subcultural formations. The history of the scene, from its Mod evolution and attraction to many former skinheads to the neo-mods of the late 1970's, reveals links with subcultures usually regarded as relatively autonomous entities.

- The all nighters weakened the moral bind of society.

- A small amount of people had used drugs before joining the scene, and a few others made a rapid transition to drug use.

- Drugs at this time caused a lot of deaths

-The unique scene that was Northern Soul and the changes it had on society made drugs normalized.