Episode
Keeping The Faith: Crossed Channels Goes Northern Soul
- Published
- Oct 9, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 644
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Summary
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit tonyfletcher.substack.com Welcome to the 21th episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast — a.k.a. the podcast in which music journalists/obsessives Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond. This time out, we truly straddle the Atlantic with an energetic discussion of Northern Soul, the long-running British dance movement fired by the uptempo sounds of (mostly) obscure soul and R&B singles from American cities like Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Growing out of the British mod scene and legendary 1960s venues like Manchester’s Twisted Wheel and Sheffield’s King Mojo, the Northern Soul scene exploded in the early 1970s, with thousands of young working-class people crowding hot spots like the Wigan Casino and Blackpool Mecca’s Highland Room to enjoy the social connection and euphoric uplift of dancing the night away to their favorite songs. These songs weren’t the pop hits of the day, however — Northern Soul DJs would typically spin older US soul and R&B songs, many of which bore a decided Motown influence, and most of which had never charted or even been released in the UK. Though both the Casino and the Mecca had shut their doors by 1981, the Northern Soul scene continued to morph and grow, with its music influencing a number of British artists of the 1980s, including Dexys Midnight Runners, The Jam, Orange Juice and Soft Cell. Indeed, the Northern Soul scene grooves on to this day, with young and old devotees alike still “keeping the faith” at all-nighters modeled upon the original dancefloor gatherings of the 1960s and 70s. In this episode, Tony talks about his own experiences at Northern Soul nights from Southport to…