Think you’re a music nerd? Have you ever spent five hours digging through boxes of 45s looking for an exceptionally rare Northern Soul record?
Do you even know what Northern Soul is?
For the betterment of your musical education, Northern Soul is a style of music that was popular in dancehalls like the Wigan Casino in northern England in the 1960s. Kids couldn’t get enough of it. Imagine a capacity crowd crushed inside Necto dancing all night to Ray and Dave’s “Wrong Wrong Wrong” and Etta James’s “Seven Day Fool.”
If you’re ready to experience more glorious soul enlightenment, The Ann Arbor Soul Club will show you the light.
Michigan grad student and WCBN DJ Robert Wells and DJ Brad Hales inaugurated what is now a monthly Soul Club dance party this past December at The Blind Pig. The duo will return to the Pig again this Friday with another night of barn-bruning soul singles and dancing.
Soul clubs and obsessions with rare soul records have existed in Europe since the 1960s, but the popularity of old soul records has never been as great here in the United States. In the past decade, though, there has been a renewed interest in the genre.
Since then, clubs like the A2 Soul Club have cropped up in cities all over the nation.
What should you expect upon entering this new and exciting world of sweet soul music? Records and rare singles from the 1960s to the 1980s: everything from Tamla-Motown and Northern Soul to crossover 45s and back.
Cover is $8; for those 21 and older, $5 will do the trick.
Doors open at 9:30 p.m. for those brave enough to step out of their musical box and dance to some amazing, if obscure, music unlikely to be heard anywhere else.
The Ann Arbor Soul Club
Friday at 9:30 p.m.
At The Blind Pig