Young Soul Rebels: A Personal History of Northern Soul

Nothing will ever compare to the amphetamine rush of my young life and the night I was nearly buggered by my girlfriend’s uncle in the Potteries…The opening line of Stuart Cosgrove’s Young Soul Rebels sets up a compelling and intimate story of northern soul, Britain’s most fascinating musical underground scene, and takes the reader on a journey into the iconic clubs that made it famous – The Twisted Wheel, The Torch, Wigan Casino, Blackpool Mecca and Cleethorpes Pier – the bootleggers that made it infamous, the splits that threatened to divide the scene, the great unknown records that built its global reputation and the crate-digging collectors that travelled to America to unearth unknown sounds.The book sweeps across fifty years of British life and places the northern soul scene in a social context – the rise of amphetamine culture, the policing of youth culture, the north-south divide, the decline of coastal Britain, the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry, the rise of Thatcherism, the miners’ strike, the rave scene and music in the era of the world wide web. Books have been written about northern soul before but never with the same erudition and passion.Young Soul Rebels nails a scene that is aspopular today as it was in its heyday in the 1970s.

Reviews of Young Soul Rebels: A Personal History of Northern Soul

'A thoughtful and impassioned memoire, complete with sociopolitical analysis' – Herald; 'an enjoyable account of the northern soul scene…It's not just first-hand memories here, we also get a detailed history from the scene's root to the present day…fascinating' **** – Mojo; 'it simply scintillates' ***** – Record Collector; 'Sheer poetry…it truly is a personal history, but it weaves its way through our own history as well. Buy the book, you won't regret it' – Dave Rimmer, soul-source.co.uk