Although black American and Caribbean sounds and style became increasingly evident in our society, the British desire for the rare, the obscure and the downright soulful continued with the same intensity.

Amidst the dreariness of north England, white working class youth reinvented their lives at Northern Soul all-nighters, dancing to forgotten black American soul singles from the 1960s. Down South, as Mods metamorphosed into skinheads, this cult focused more on Caribbean sounds - ska, rocksteady and reggae. They jerked to these itchy Jamaican rhythms in youth clubs from Catford to Croydon, Dagenham to Deptford.

But it wasn't just the fans who sought out the new, the fresh and the vital. UK musicians were now breaking away from the imitative British soul sounds of the 1960s to create startling music of their own. Cymande, an 8-piece band of West Indian immigrants, mixed reggae and funk with breathtaking originality - but the British soul public couldn't handle it coming from the UK. Like them, the Scottish Average White Band also achieved their greatest triumphs in the States. It was the Real Thing whose huge number one classic, "You To Me Are Everything," over the summer of '76, showed the British public that indigenous soul was now a major contender.

But the apolitical strains of that hit were soon drowned out by the rioting at 1976's Notting Hill Carnival. As race relations intensified in the second half of the 1970s, British Jamaican music reflected this. UK sound systems criticized Babylon the oppressor. Even the Clash got a reggae fix and threw a rude boy pose. Although the sweet soulful sounds of Lovers Rock emerged as an antidote to the racial politics, up in Coventry the Specials decided to go back to go forward - mixing Sixties ska with a punk attitude to create the multi-racial 2-Tone phenomenon.

In the early '80s, soulfulness also surfaced with increasing regularity in great British pop bands - Dexys, Culture Club, Simply Red - whose lead singers had thrived on black music during their teens. Simultaneously, UK soul acts like Eddy Grant, Imagination and Loose Ends grew in originality and popularity as they capitalized on the struggles of their predecessors.

But into Britain's growing mid-1980s racial melting pot, a new technology and fresh musical culture - hip-hop - was about to burst. It would change the sound of British soul forever, allowing us to attain unprecedented, innovative heights and achieve a global reputation.

Key Artists featured in this episode include Pete Townshend, Paul Weller, Boy George, Kevin Rowland, Mick Hucknall, Lee John and Beverley Knight.

Series Producer/Director: Jeremy Marre

See also:
See artists featured in this episode at the Barbican's related concert