Abstract
As a concluding chapter, we reflect upon what these insights and added voices mean for our scholarly understanding of the northern soul scene and, potentially, for the study of other multigenerational music scenes. Similarly, questions of method and the communication of research are considered before we step into a northern soul allnighter for the final time and consider what the future may hold for the people, places and music of the scene.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
This is argued by Nicola Smith, particularly in: Smith, “‘Time Will Pass You By.’”; Smith, “Beyond the Master Narrative of Youth.”
- 2.
Grazian’s approach to writing, which he developed over several publications, has been highly influential to this research. But in relation to authenticity, I refer specifically to Grazian, D. (2003). Blue Chicago.
- 3.
By this I do not mean that the experiences of African Americans in the 1960s are imagined, but rather that many younger members of the scene imagine and try to understand that experience to make their own role meaningful.
- 4.
During my four years of ethnographic research, I only encountered one member of the original generation for whom northern soul was deeply political. Paul (mid-50s) framed his participation in northern soul from the 1970s onwards through anti-racist and liberation politics. However, Paul also noted that in the 1970s scene, social activism, political activities and discussions took place elsewhere. This observation supports the work of Wilson that I discussed in Chap. 7 (p. 144) and suggests that, rather than a scene-wide engagement with liberation politics and a direct assoication of this with northern soul music, certain individuals framed their participation through pre-existing and developing political interests, see Wilson, Northern Soul.
- 5.
Wall, “‘Out on the floor,’” 445.
- 6.
Street, “Dave Godin and the Politics of the British Soul Community.”
- 7.
- 8.
This scene term is used to describe a central northern soul dance move during which the dancer twists their feet to move across the floor. One leg can also be raised, and complex alternating patterns of movements and lifts are used to engage with the record being played. This movement is associated with The Twisted Wheel in Manchester necessitated (I was told by several people) by its small and strangely shaped dance floor. It is this movement in particular that requires a clean and polished wooden floor, sometimes aided by talcum powder.
References
Attrep, K. (2018). From Juke Joints to Jazz Jams: The Political Economy of Female Club Owners. IASPM@Journal, 8(1), 9–23. https://doi.org/10.5429/2079-3871(2018)v8i1.3en.
Brocken, M. (2016). Other Voices: Hidden Histories of Liverpool’s Popular Music Scenes, 1930S–1970S. London: Ashgate.
Ensminger, D. (2010). Coloring Between the Lines of Punk and Hardcore: From Absence to Black Punk Power. Postmodern Culture, 20(2). https://doi.org/10.1353/pmc.2010.0010.
Grazian, D. (2003). Blue Chicago: The Search for Authenticity in Urban Blues Clubs. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Harris, A. (2012). Next Wave Cultures: Feminism, Subcultures, Activism. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.
Nyong’o, T. (2013). Do You Want Queer Theory (or Do You Want the Truth)? Intersections of Punk and Queer in the 1970S. In The Routledge Queer Studies Reader (pp. 223–235). Abingdon: Routledge.
Salkind, M. E. (2019). Do You Remember House?: Chicago’s Queer of Color Undergrounds. New York: Oxford University Press.
Smith, N. (2006). ‘Time Will Pass You by’: A Conflict of Age: Identity within the Northern Soul Scene. In C. Baker, E. Granter, R. Guy, et al. (Eds.), Perspectives on Conflict (pp. 176–195). Manchester: University of Salford.
Smith, N. (2009). Beyond the Master Narrative of Youth: Researching Ageing Popular Music Scenes. In D. B. Scott (Ed.), The Ashgate Research Companion to Popular Musicology (pp. 427–445). Surrey: Ashgate.
Stewart, K. (2007). Ordinary Affects. Durham: Duke University Press.
Stewart, K. (2008). Weak Theory in an Unfinished World. Journal of Folklore Research: An International Journal of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, 45(1), 71–82. https://doi.org/10.2979/jfr.2008.45.1.71.
Street, J. (2019). Dave Godin and the Politics of the British Soul Community. In S. Raine, T. Wall, & N. W. Smith (Eds.), The Northern Soul Scene. Sheffield: Equinox.
Strong, C., & Raine, S. (2019). Towards Gender Equality in the Music Industry: Education, Practice and Strategies for Change. New York: Bloomsbury.
Wall, T. (2006). ‘Out on the Floor’: The Politics of Dancing on the Northern Soul Scene. Popular Music, 25(3), 431. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261143006000985.
Wilson, A. (2007). Northern Soul: Drugs, Crime and Subcultural Identity. Cullompton: Willan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Raine, S. (2020). “A Little Togetherness”. In: Authenticity and Belonging in the Northern Soul Scene. Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41364-4_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41364-4_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-41363-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-41364-4
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)