John White – too cool for school Keele University
John White and I quite often did our sixties soul discos when DJ-ing at Keele. Those “happenings” are among our favourite memories of spinning the plates at Keele.
My diary entries didn’t always mention the style of disco involved, but my diary entry for 11 May 1985 was specific:
Saturday 11 May 1985 – Got up lunchtime and came into office to meet Ashley [Fletcher] etc. Went for walk with Petra [Wilson] in early evening – came to union and did 60’s disco [with John White].
John and I have stayed in touch ever since we left Keele. Indeed, as I write this up 40 years on (23 May 2025), we’ll be seeing each other tomorrow.
These past few weeks we have been liaising over the sounds that we played at those sixties soul discos. People sometimes referred to them as Northern Soul discos, but in truth most of the stuff we liked and played was not quite so rare as Northern Soul purists would like – mostly Motown and Atlantic/Stax. We were somewhat constrained by the content of Keele SU’s impressive but not all that unusual record collection.
Intriguingly (for us), we separately listed the stuff we remembered playing back then before pulling this playlist together – the overlap was extensive.
Anyway, dear readers and listeners. You can decide for yourselves what you think of this three-and-a-half hour marathon sixties soul disco. Janie (my wife) and I have been dancing around the living room to it – no doubt John & Mandy have too.
Click here or the image below for that playList on YouTube Music.
Comments from people who remember these discos, or from people who wish they had been there, or simply from people who love this kind of music will be most welcome.