mods to northern soul to madchester to 90s club culture

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dominic

Beast of Burden
came across this interesting article yesterday after googling "twisted wheel" in order to figure out what 3underscore was talking about on another thread that i had initially started to promote my own private agenda

however, i think this might well be of interest to entire dissensus community, which is the question of 60s mod culture through northern soul through madchester and the commercial hegemony of 90s club culture

here's the article

and here's some questions

(1) were punk and post-punk nearly so significant as northern soul in preparing the ground for uk house and rave?

(2) did the u.s. have anything like a mod-into-northern soul tradition? and if not, does this lack explain the failure of white america to create revolutionary dance music? ------- i.e., white america had a folk/rockers divide, not a rockers/mods divide (and though nyc, chicago, sf had mixed party scenes from the 70s forward, these seem not to have had anything like the profile of northern soul in the north of england) (although jazz was, i believe, a mixed scene going back to 20s -- so am i perhaps overstating the segregation of the american music experience?)

(3) is there anything comparable to northern soul today in england?

(4) or did the commercial hegemony of "clubbing" in the 90s kill the mod tradition, such that we can now say that it lasted from 1960 to 2000?
 
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dominic

Beast of Burden
and i suppose by making the first question punk/post-punk versus northern soul i've foolishly eliminated from consideration the JA soundsystem element and street beats . . . .

in "energy flash," blissblogger basically treats the balearic set as carriers of the mod tradition, and then the acid teds and hardcore ravers are something along the lines of what? not rockers per se -- but what?

of course i think people from up north think blissblogger's account too london-centric or essex-centric

and at same time i pose all these questions as an american more curious than knowledgeable about what the facts on the ground in england were . . . .
 
Woebot

Woebot

Well-known member
dominic said:
(1) were punk and post-punk nearly so significant as northern soul in preparing the ground for uk house and rave?
Click to expand...

Post-Punk was in the sense that some of the only musicians who could get their heads around making homegrown Acid House in the UK in the early stages were ex-PostPunk synth nerds. Recently musing that the general Public probably needed LSD and ecstacy to tolerate the hideous racket they unleased on themselves ;)

dominic said:
(2) did the u.s. have anything like a mod-into-northern soul tradition? and if not, does this lack explain the failure of white america to create revolutionary dance music? ------- i.e., white america had a folk/rockers divide, not a rockers/mods divide (and though nyc, chicago, sf had mixed party scenes from the 70s forward, these seem not to have had anything like the profile of northern soul in the north of england) (although jazz was, i believe, a mixed scene going back to 20s -- so am i perhaps overstating the segregation of the american music experience?)
Click to expand...

Strikes me that the closest thing America has had to this in the sense of "correct" clothing and a kind of "thoroughbred" appreciation of Black music is the post-DJ Premier strain of HipHopFunk purism. They might pretend to be shaggy but they sure as hell aint.

dominic said:
(3) is there anything comparable to northern soul today in england?
Click to expand...

Er, Northern Soul? Possibly Grime afficionados ;) No only joking (sort of)......

dominic said:
(4) or did the commercial hegemony of "clubbing" in the 90s kill the mod tradition, such that we can now say that it lasted from 1960 to 2000?
Click to expand...

The Heavenly Social was a kind of Mod thing. And FatBoy/Brighton is sort of Mod-ish. There was even a Mod-ish post Big Beat Record store tucked round the back of Oxford Street with a football strain to it, but it got shut down cos it wasnt very popular. Mod has now created itis own brand of reto-Mod which is even more crassly self-inverted than Mod itself!

Not a big Mod fan meself, and dont really think the connections to Acid House/Northern Soul are that strong (despite what Goldie will tell you about Essex alldayers. Seems like it was drug-led and exploded uncontainable out of the cllub scene.
 
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