Way back when ...

Dance music is all the rage these days. Switch on your radio, or wander down your local high street, and you're surrounded by it. Any Mediterranean holiday resort or English town worth it's salt is full of nightclubs playing the latest dance sounds, and the hero of anyone aged between thirteen and thirty is no longer a top musician or group, but more than likely a DJ.
 
There was a rather dreary time not so long ago when the most popular music around was literally that - ie. records which featured in the Top 40 pop charts. The only nightclub dance music in existence was recorded by black artistes - soul, funk and jazz. One very rarely got to hear this type of music, as it was regarded as a 'minority' taste, and as such rarely gained more exposure than the media were required to give it.


For people living in cities in the UK, this type of music was confined to a couple of hours of specialist radio programming each week - in London we were rationed to a few hours each weekend - Capital Radio's 'Soul Spectrum' and BBC Radio London's Robbie Vincent show, each Saturday lunchtime.

This was at a time when the national popular music station in Britain (BBC Radio One) carried absolutely no black music programming, other than the odd Soul (or Reggae) tune that might have made it into the charts. There was a Musicians Union ruling that only nine hours 'needleplay' was allowed per day, which meant that huge swathes of radio programming didn't feature the playing of records. Black music hardly got a look in.

An interesting point to note is that Radio One wasn't even broadcasting on FM until way into the 1980's - everything was restricted to nasty old AM, so even if you were lucky enough to hear the odd tune that slipped past the producer, it usually sounded pretty dire.  For those who were truly desperate, there was always the odd show on Radio Luxembourg, but what with an awful AM signal and seriously over-commercialised shows, watching Crossroads on TV tended to be a more enjoyable choice ! 




Sometime around 1982 the BBC finally did 'roll over' and concede to a Soul programme - Froggy and Pete Tong presenting 'Stepping Out' - less than one hour, once a week, a 'specialist feature' segment of Peter Powell's Friday drivetime show, although even this was soon moved to a Monday slot !

It would be fair to say that unless you lived in an inner city area, or somewhere with a sizeable black population, you would be pretty unlikely to bump into anyone else who was seriously into their Soul. This type of music was mostly restricted to the confines of London, Manchester or Birmingham. 

Soul music did thrive in some pretty unexpected locations - specialist clubs in places like Didcot (see below), Canvey Island, Yate (near Bristol), Wigan, and St Ives (Cambridgeshire). 


These venues were the preserve of the truly dedicated Soul fanatic. One would hear tales of car loads of people trekking to places 50+ miles away, purely to visit a particular club or to see a DJ in action (Nicky Peck's Sunday night sessions at The Central in Gillingham, Kent, were famous for attracting groups of dedicated 'punters' from all over the south east of England). 

Of course, everyone could name the commercial disco tunes of the day, by bands like Chic or Shalamar, but unless one travelled to a specialist venue that played records on US import or 'white label', you were pretty much isolated with your tastes. Specialist clubs were usually a car drive away, and many had strict door policies ('no jeans or trainers' etc). Early closing times (usually 2am) were normal back then, so a sizeable budget and alot of effort was usually required in order to have a half-decent soulful night out.




So how did one survive this horrendous ordeal ? One of my greatest pleasures in these days was at least being able to read about my favourite music. The two essential music publications were Black Echoes (Soul, Reggae) once a week, and Blues & Soul (Soul, Jazz). These were a prime source of information regarding activities on the Soul scene. Echoes carried a good amount of Northern Soul content, and plenty of adverts for clubs and venues, while B&S was great for record reviews and more current sounds. 

Radio could provide very little aural satisfaction, but then again, there was the small matter of those few hours each Sunday afternoon on the London FM band, courtesy of Radio Invicta. 

The contribution made by clandestine radio operators was invaluable, and was a unique source of a great deal of music that was unheard elsewhere. Pirate Radio is an extensive subject, with it's roots in the mid-1960's, and so is comprehensively covered in it's own section elsewhere on this site.