Warning: this television ad (or, “advert,” as they apparently say in England) will make your heart melt.
Apparently just released within the past week, this Shredded Wheat cereal commercial profiles a father and son who go out dancing at the all-nighters together. In Post #3 of the series about my lifelong-learning/self-education project, I wrote about how Northern Soul’s sense of community embraces all ages, all races. This ad captures some of that.
If you’d like to read other posts in my Northern Soul Project, you can link to them below.
- The Northern Soul Project
- The Northern Soul Project – Some Background (Post #2)
- The Northern Soul Project – Sociology of an Underground Music Culture (Post #3)
- The Northern Soul Project – Streaming 24/7 Northern Soul Radio (Post #4)
Katherine Wikoff 
What a terrific commercial!
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And really long, like a little film. I love that it’s all about the son and dad and Northern Soul, and then incidentally about how Shredded Wheat can help keep you fit to do what you love. (Although they worded it more cleverly with the “heart” references!)
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Very cool! Like a mini documentary!
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It’s never too late to enjoy life.
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Amen, brother!
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I think this chap appeared on regional TV when he hired a cinema for all his family / friends to see the film “Northern Soul ” which was huge in 2014. The advert – which is mercifully much shorter on telly – has picked up on its success .
I’m still into keep fit but I’m not sure anybody who was there would ever suggest NS is a healthy life style choice !
Katherine – forgot to mention NS on your doorstep
https://www.facebook.com/UpAllNightMilwaukee
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Oh my, I had no idea! Thanks for pointing me in their direction. I’ve “liked” them on Facebook now (I only just recently got an account myself), so I’ll be able to follow the action.
So it sounds as though the father and son are the real deal, not just actors. That’s really neat to know, along with your background on them hiring the theater for the movie screening. I need to buy that film and watch it myself.
Thank you for all your info and insight! I appreciate all I’m learning from you!
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Katherine – Mass your Milwaukee Funkateers for June – destination Chicago….Oh and I also found a boring old thesis about Northern soul 🙂
http://www.soul-source.co.uk/soulforum/calendar/event/36953-soul-togetherness-usa-rare-soul-weekender-2015/
http://windycitysoulclub.com/
https://storify.com/JoshBannister/is-northern-soul-one-of-the-most-underrated-sub-ge
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Thank you!!!!!
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Thank you for posting the Shredded Wheat Northern Soul Commerical, I’d never seen it as I live in Zakynthos Greece, however, I do a weekly Northern Soul Show on a UK Radio Station and this little ad really encapsulates, what Northern Soul is all about, taking mainly black music from America, where a lot of the Artists, who were very talented, never found the success or encountered bad luck, which they didn’t deserve or because of that’s the way America was at that time, with segregation, civil rights and just getting ripped off by the record companies, and management.
However, that this music from Detroit, New York, Alabama, the Deep South and even Texas, was found and saved by working-class British People, who saw it for what it was and heralded it as something that truly touched the soul and should be revered, and those artists and their stories not forgotten, and their records now treated like gold and sold for very large sums of money.
Some of these artists had careers their careers saved by the Faithfull, even though they had successful careers, that started to decline, Frankie Valli, Edwin Star, Jerry Williams, and Geno Washington, to name a few who came to the UK to tour and regain their musical credibility with the Northern Soul Clubs, The Torch (Stoke on Trent), Twisted Wheel (Manchester), The Wigan Casino and The Blackpool Mecca
.
I’ve not read your essay’s yet, as I’m about to record my Northern Soul Show, for this week, but I will and give a mention.
Thank You and Keep The Faith
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Thank you for leaving this beautiful comment! It perfectly articulates what captured my imagination about Northern Soul. The really excellent BBC specials on Northern Soul that I embedded in at least one of my posts will disappear from time to time, so I should go in and do some maintenance to make sure the video is still there and find another link if not.
Does the radio station that carries your show stream its music online?I’d love to listen to your show if I can find it. Isn’t the Internet a wonderful place? To think that I was able to discover Northern Soul from my home in Wisconsin, that you were able to find my blog from your home in Greece, and that I will be able to listen to your UK show from the American Midwest—just amazing to me!
Thank you for giving my blog a mention on your show. I hope my posts don’t disappoint once you have a chance to read them. I’m no expert on Northern Soul, but I’m definitely a fan!
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