The R & B’s Northern Soul

Posted by admin in Soul Music on July 12, 2011

The term Northern Soul was termed by Dave Godin, a journalist for the “Blues and Soul” magazine back in 1968. Godin came up with the term when helping employee’s stock music on the shelves of his record shop in London England. As newer music Rhythm and Blues (R&B) music was arriving, he wanted to be able to differentiate the smoother sounds of early R&B from the newer funkier sounds that was hitting the airwaves. The term northern soul now refers to the golden oldies of Rhythm and Blues that are played at many of the most popular nightclubs in Northern The United States was flooded with R&B musicians, however, in England opened another new venue for R&B artist to make it big, and big they did England today.

Back in the 60′s when most clubs where changing up their beats to the more modern genres of music, many Northern England nightclubs chose to keep the rare soul music beats. This has not slowed business down for these well-established clubs today, if anything it brought in more patrons then ever before. Patrons knew what they liked and did not feel the need to follow the fads of the time.

Northern Soul music played a huge role in the beginning of the DJ culture in England. The United States was filling up with R&B artist and England opened up a whole new venue for artist to not only collect on but for some make it big in the music industry who wouldn’t of had a chance otherwise in the States due to the huge amount of R&B artists already circulating. Artist like Tammi Lynn, The Fascinations, The Velvelettes, The Tams, and many others made top hits in the UK due to the love of the Northern Soul.

So just who makes up the Northern Soul genre one may ask, the answer is simple yet vast, as thousands make up the Northern Soul genre. This genre includes top R&B artist to one hit wonders. Northern Soul music isn’t a style, voice, musical instrument choice, or even topic of song, northern soul music is a feel, a beat, and the ability to dance to it. Some of the Northern Soul choices are very rare and even hard to come by today, others more popular, some had a slow groove beat while others have a upbeat tempo. Read the rest of this entry »

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Turbonegro – Mixing Up Glam Rock, Punk and Heavy Metal Music

Posted by admin in Online Music on July 12, 2011

Originally to be named Nazipenis, this band has so many listed influences, it’s hard to place them in any single genre category. If I had to, I guess I would categorize Turbonegro as punk, but that would not do their style justice. Hailing from the heavy rock scene in Oslo Norway, these 5 metal slayers are the Vikings of Norwegian punk!

Turbonegro has a definite anti-racist and anti-nationalist, yet their name implies the opposite. Why did they select the name Turbonegro? According to guitarist Euroboy, fellow band mate Pal saw the term graffitied on a subway wall and explains: “It’s actually two Latin words, it means fast and black and we thought that was a cool name for a band. Because our music is very fast and very dark. And also, it’s a name for a color. In the car-industry, it’s the name for the paint, for the darkest paint. If you want to paint your car black, the most black color of all is Turbonegro.”

But if you were to ask Turbenegro founder Tom Seltzer (aka Happy-Tom), the name takes on a whole different persona. He states that “A turbonegro is a large, well-equipped, armed black male in a fast car, out for vengeance. We are his prophets.” Still, it is an interesting moniker that isn’t soon forgotten.

The band has successfully blended the genres of glam rock, hard core punk and heavy metal into a signature sound. To craft that sound, they have influences as diverse as KISS, New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, AC/DC and the Stooges, among many others. Add a couple of Norwegian bands such as the Dumdum Boys and Jokke and Valentinerne and you arrive at…TURBONEGRO!

Tom Seltzer formed the original lineup in 1989 enlisting the talents of Vegard Heskestad, Pal Bottger Kjaerne, Rune Gronn, Pal Erik Carlin and Tor-Kristian Jensen aka “TK.” Later that first year in March 1989, the band played their first live show in Copenhagen, Denmark at the Ungdomshuset club. Then a live show in their hometown of Oslo in April. Read the rest of this entry »

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