Popcorn (sometimes Belgian popcorn or oldies popcorn) is a style of music and dancing first established in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

in the 1970s and 1980s. The style includes a wide variety of mostly American and British recordings of R&B and

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

made between the late 1950s and mid 1960s, often relatively obscure, and characterized by a slow or medium, rather than fast,

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

. The style has been described by musician and writer Bob Stanley as "possibly the last truly underground music scene in Europe."

Overview

According to Stanley, "the purity of Belgian Popcorn is its very impurity. R&B, Broadway numbers, tangos, Phil Spector-esque girl groups and loungey instrumentals, they are all constituent parts of a rare, and still largely undiscovered scene." By the 1990s, the Popcorn dance scene retained a core of aficionados even outside Belgium, having a level of recognition in venues and specialist clubs in Britain, Germany, and the US, with at least 30 compilations of American R&B and pop music in the Belgian Popcorn style being re-issued in Europe. Examples of highly prized popcorn records include "Sweetheart" by

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local r ...

, "Image" by Hank Levine, "Now I Lay Me Down to Weep" by Simone Dina, "The Tingle" by Jackie Weaver, "Who's Got the Action" by Phil Colbert, "Heartless Lover" by Dick Baker, "La Tanya" by Jay Abbott, "Carmelita" by Jeff Lane, "I'm Crying in the Rain" by

Major Lance Major Lance (April 4, 1939, – September 3, 1994) was an American R&B singer. After a number of US hits in the 1960s, including " The Monkey Time" and "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um", he became an iconic figure in Britain in the 1970s among foll ...

, "

You Beat Me to the Punch "You Beat Me to the Punch" is a soul single by Motown singer Mary Wells, released on the Motown label in 1962. It was co-written by Smokey Robinson of the Miracles, who was responsible for most of the hits released by Wells, along with another Mir ...

" by

Mary Wells Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s. Along with the Supremes, the Miracles, the Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the F ...

, "

Comin' Home Baby "Comin' Home Baby" is a song originally written as an instrumental by Ben Tucker and first recorded by the Dave Bailey Quintet for their album '' 2 Feet in the Gutter'' in 1961, and shortly thereafter by Herbie Mann on his live album '' Herbie M ...

" by

Mel Tormé Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "the Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arrangement, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roa ...

, and "Twine Time" by

Alvin Cash Alvin Cash (born Alvin Welch; February 15, 1939 – November 21, 1999) was an American pop singer and actor. Biography Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Cash was a graduate of St. Louis's Sumner High School (also attended by Luther Ingram, Billy Davi ...

Origins

The Popcorn music scene first developed from dances held at the Groove

discotheque A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighting displays, and ...

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

, where mid-tempo

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

and

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

music played by DJ Freddy Cousaert became popular in the late 1960s.Michel Scarpone, "History of Belgium Popcorn", first published in ''Discoveries'' magazine
. Retrieved 6 February 2014 "Brief overview of the birth of 'Popcorn' oldies.", PopcornOldies.be
Retrieved 6 February 2014 Cousaert was later responsible for

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...

's move to Belgium in the early 1980s. Bob Stanley, "Belgium's 'Popcorn': the last underground music scene in Europe", ''The Guardian'', 5 February 2014
Retrieved 6 February 2014 In September 1969, a café, De Oude Hoeve, opened in a converted farm barn at

Vrasene Vrasene is a village in the municipality of Beveren in the Belgian province of East Flanders. It is located about west of Antwerp. History Vrasene is located on a hill which is a remnant of an old dune stretching from Stekene to Zwijndrecht. Th ...

near Antwerp, and began holding dance competitions on Sunday afternoons. Soon up to 3,000 people began attending each week, dancing in a "slow swing" style to soul and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

records. The café was renamed the Popcorn – after the

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

hit "

The Popcorn "The Popcorn" is a 1969 instrumental written and recorded by James Brown. It was the first of several records Brown made inspired by the popular dance of the same name. Released as a single on King Records, it charted #11 R&B and #30 Pop.White, ...

"—and DJ Gilbert Govaert began playing more early soul and other records from the 1960s to suit the dance style. According to Stanley: "The beat was slow and slightly rickety, martial drums rolled under melancholy minor chords—

The Marvelettes The Marvelettes were an American girl group formed in Inkster, Michigan, Inkster, Michigan in 1960, consisting of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who was ...

' ' Please Mr Postman' (1961) would have been typical."Bob Stanley, "A voyage of discovery to Belgium's Popcorn clubs", ''Frieze'', no. 147, May 2012
. Retrieved 6 February 2014 Following the Popcorn club's popularity, other clubs sprang up playing music in a similar style. These included the Festival in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, the Gatsby in Vliermaal, and the Versailles, beside the beach at Ostend. As well as Cousaert and Govaert, other leading DJs included Jeff Callebaut, Gerry Franken, and Georges Toniotti. Radio stations were set up to play the music, and rare music on obscure labels became especially prized. The scene in Belgium, in many ways, paralleled the

Northern soul Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...

scene in Britain, but with a slower swing style of music favoured, rather than the fast dance styles characteristic of Northern soul. In some cases, DJs slowed down records, by

pitch control A variable speed pitch control (or vari-speed) is a control on an audio device such as a turntable, tape recorder, or CD player that allows the operator to deviate from a standard speed (such as 33, 45 or even 78 rpm on a turntable), resulting ...

and by playing 45 rpm discs at 33 rpm, to achieve the desired tempo and rhythm. The range of the music also broadened, to include some British and Italian pop music from the early 1960s, and eventually local bands were formed to emulate the style.

References

External links

Belgian Popcorn: short documentary

Popcorn Oldies site

Popcorn City radio station
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popcorn (music style) Musical subcultures Culture of Belgium Pop music genres

Overview

Origins

See also

References

External links