what is Northern Soul music

Question: What is Northern Soul music?

Answer: Northern Soul is not so much a genre of music as a retro fad, one of the very first, began in the North of England in the late Sixties. It grew and thrived through the next decade, as thousands of young Brits made their way to ballrooms in order to dance all night to obscure soul records from the mid-Sixties -- mainly from Detroit, although Los Angeles, Memphis, Chicago and New Orleans soul could be represented as well. Though the original phenomenon died in the early Eighties, the movement continues today.

Northern Soul generally refers to mid-Sixties soul, and always to obscure 45 singles which did not receive much airplay in England or America. The obscure soul classics they loved were often uptempo (although an occasional midtempo song would work itself in), and would ape the popular Motown sound (though were usually not on any of the Motown labels). All Northern Soul songs share a certain glamorous and glossy, even romantic quality.