{
  "slug": "northern-soul",
  "name": "Northern Soul",
  "aliases": [
    "wigan casino",
    "rare soul",
    "the twisted wheel"
  ],
  "description": "Not a style anyone recorded — a style of listening. Northern English all-nighters from 1970 built a canon out of failed American soul 45s, prizing a fast four-four stomp and obscurity itself as a value.",
  "origin": {
    "place": "Wigan and Manchester, England",
    "year": 1970
  },
  "lineage": [
    {
      "genre": "soul",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/",
      "inherited": "The records, all of them, and none of them made for this. Northern soul is a curatorial act performed on other people's commercial failures — mostly mid-sixties Detroit and Chicago sides that had sold nothing at home."
    }
  ],
  "bpm": {
    "min": 120,
    "max": 140
  },
  "updated": "2026-08-31",
  "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/northern-soul/",
  "trackCount": 7,
  "curatedBy": [],
  "playlists": {},
  "tracks": [
    {
      "rank": 1,
      "trackKey": "dobie-gray--out-on-the-floor",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dobie-gray--out-on-the-floor/",
      "title": "Out on the Floor",
      "artist": "Dobie Gray",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dobie-gray/",
      "year": 1966,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A song about dancing all night that flopped in America and became a commandment in Lancashire. The Wigan anthem, and it sounds like it was written for the room it found.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Dobie%20Gray%20Out%20on%20the%20Floor",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ylviFjAM1J0",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 2,
      "trackKey": "frank-wilson--do-i-love-you-indeed-i-do",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/frank-wilson--do-i-love-you-indeed-i-do/",
      "title": "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)",
      "artist": "Frank Wilson",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/frank-wilson/",
      "year": 1965,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A Motown producer's one attempt at singing, withdrawn before release. Two copies are known to survive; one sold for a five-figure sum, which is the scene's economics in a sentence.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "sung-to-someone",
          "name": "Sung to Someone",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/sung-to-someone/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Frank%20Wilson%20Do%20I%20Love%20You%20(Indeed%20I%20Do)",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1OvaglT9EB4",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 3,
      "trackKey": "al-wilson--the-snake",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/al-wilson--the-snake/",
      "title": "The Snake",
      "artist": "Al Wilson",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/al-wilson/",
      "year": 1968,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A fable about a woman who takes in a snake and is bitten, over a stomping four-four. The Wigan Casino played it every night for years.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Al%20Wilson%20The%20Snake",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ULx9k2QkL94",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 4,
      "trackKey": "jimmy-radcliffe--long-after-tonight-is-over",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/jimmy-radcliffe--long-after-tonight-is-over/",
      "title": "Long After Tonight Is Over",
      "artist": "Jimmy Radcliffe",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/jimmy-radcliffe/",
      "year": 1965,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "One of the three records that closed the Casino at eight in the morning, and the most desolate. Nobody who was there talks about it casually.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Jimmy%20Radcliffe%20Long%20After%20Tonight%20Is%20Over",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Jimmy%20Radcliffe%20Long%20After%20Tonight%20Is%20Over",
          "exact": false
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 5,
      "trackKey": "gloria-jones--tainted-love",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/gloria-jones--tainted-love/",
      "title": "Tainted Love",
      "artist": "Gloria Jones",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/gloria-jones/",
      "year": 1964,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A B-side nobody bought, resurrected on the Northern circuit, and then turned by Soft Cell into a global synth-pop hit. The original is faster and considerably angrier.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "sung-to-someone",
          "name": "Sung to Someone",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/sung-to-someone/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Gloria%20Jones%20Tainted%20Love",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=WrAPgjcVDOc",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 6,
      "trackKey": "yvonne-baker--you-didnt-say-a-word",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/yvonne-baker--you-didnt-say-a-word/",
      "title": "You Didn't Say a Word",
      "artist": "Yvonne Baker",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/yvonne-baker/",
      "year": 1966,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Intro, chorus, and no time wasted. Northern soul favoured records that start at full speed, and this is the purest example of the preference.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Yvonne%20Baker%20You%20Didn't%20Say%20a%20Word",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IGykz3cIMNE",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 7,
      "trackKey": "tobi-legend--time-will-pass-you-by",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/tobi-legend--time-will-pass-you-by/",
      "title": "Time Will Pass You By",
      "artist": "Tobi Legend",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/tobi-legend/",
      "year": 1968,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The last of the Casino's three closing records. A warning about wasting your youth, played to people who had spent the night doing exactly that.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "dancing-to-bad-news",
          "name": "Dancing to Bad News",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/dancing-to-bad-news/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Tobi%20Legend%20Time%20Will%20Pass%20You%20By",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=F8gejqmgELA",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}