Overview:
The rave culture started legally in England, but it went through delegallization and legalization several times and different places. This timeline keeps track of the development of the rave culture and the way it was viewed at different times.
Who:
Ravers Around the world.
Why:
To be in a community of Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect through music.
When:
1972-present.
Where:
United States, Canada, England.
What:
The presence and development of the rave culture.
How:
Commitment to the rave culture and fighting for it to continue and develop.
Timeline:
1:
In 1972 the first Windsor Free Festival was held in Britain. In 1974 the first Stonehenge Free Festival was held. The festivalgoers were interested in both the music and the spiritual & sacred space of Stonehenge. Music was only one aspect of the festival. The young people who attended these events wanted retreat from society, they wanted to be in a place that is simply about “love, community, spirituality, and relationship to the land” (p 41). These festivals became the utopian model of society. 2
People switched from rock and punk to dance music, they stopped caring as much about the album and started caring more about the DJ’s total flow. It was like a “magic/tragic cycle of living for the weekend and paying for it with the midweek comedown” (Generation ecstacy, page 4) 1
2:
The rave scene was first seen in America in the early eighties in the nightclubs and bars of Texas, more specifically in Dallas and Austin. The rave scene was an innocent fun thing to get into in Texas because MDMA (a different form of ecstasy, the raving drug of choice at the time) was legal, and was sold over the counter in gay clubs until 1985. (Generation Ecstasy, p 143). 1
3:
Ecstasy started spreading, and after it wasn’t exclusively sold in gay bars, the problems started emerging. Rich, straight, SMU students started buying big amounts of ecstasy and consuming it all, and then their parents would complain using their resources. This was the cause of the cases that illegalized ecstasy in the United States. 1
4:
“X paties” were very common, and they had “one of the defining aspects of rave”. Alcohol and ecstasy were consumed and ecstasy was not considered a drug, kids as well as parents were naturally taking ecstasy. In the summer of 1985, when MDMA became illegal, the dance scene moved to warehouses and underground locations. The prices for MDMA rose extremely as the quality became worse. The newer form of the drug, methamphetamine, became more popular in the United States rave scene in the 90’s because it was less expensive and more reliable. 1
5:
In 1989 the 23 year old DJ/producer Frankie Bones went from the United States to England for an Energy Rave where he continued playing until 6 am to 25 thousand people, he was immediately taken away by the sensations and the energy of that rave scene, he produced a track called “Energy Dawn” as an attribute to that experience. He said “It happened so big and so fast that nobody knew what it was right away; everything was peace, love, and unity”. 1
6:
After playing at raves in England all summer he decided that he had to bring this back to America. His first party back in America was in Brooklyn, he played videos of the rave scene in England, which was kind of like a “training film”. His partied were small, but word of mouth helped them get to hundreds, these parties were all unofficial “outlaw parties”, they started calling them STORMrave, and they happened almost every month. The events were free, but they did ask for donations to pay for the generators, people would gladly contribute, the less money they asked the people for, the more they would get. (144) 1
7:
In 1991 Lord Michael Caruso, a thug entourage, started throwing parties in Manhattan. He got a working-class crowd attending his parties; they formed a “new breed” of ravers. In 1992 Caruso started working with clubs, the scene changed, the dancing changed from rave-style to slamdancing, the boys started taking their shirts off in events, and cocaine was being consumed in the corners. (147) 1
8:
As Caruso’s crew started trying to get rid of competition by ruining STORMrave events and trying to steal their crowds, STORMrave found an ally with NASA. In 1992 NASA was a “full-blown rave” they brought in a new version of music that was popular in England at the time. They had lines around the block; they became very popular, but only for about 4 months. The style that the NASA crowd invented became the dominant rave style in the United States (flowers in their hair, lollipops, backpacks, etc.). People loved going to those events because of the group energy, the positive vibes and the unity in feelings and love. (148). 1
9:
1999 and 2000 there was an increase in tension and surveillance by authorities in the Toronto rave scene. This created moral panic and led to prohibiting raves on city-owned property from mid-May to August 2000. 3
10:
In response, many ravers formed a group called he PartyPeopleProject (PPP) “a youth-run organization, whose mandate is to ‘celebate electronic music culture, promote the well-being of community members, and encourage public understanding of the beauty and diversity of the rave community […] Their multi-faceted education campaign aimed at inclusion rather than further criminal and social alienation of their raving bodies (416)”. The campaign was successful and the rave scene in Toronto went from being an underground form of escape to becoming a regulated, safe culture. 3
1 Reynolds, Simon. Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture. Boston: Little, Brown, 1998. Print. <http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=tGaRJiXe74UC&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=rave+culture&ots=NVZ6m4pms6&sig=8fao_kjkvqyzQXap8NPGyc7FXwI#v=onepage&q=rave%20culture&f=false>
2 Christopher Partridge (2006) The Spiritual and the Revolutionary: Alternative Spirituality, British Free Festivals, and the Emergence of Rave Culture, Culture and Religion: An Interdisciplinary Journal <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01438300600625408>
3 Marsh, Charity. “‘Understand Us before You End Us’: Regulation, Governmentality, and the Confessional Practices of Raving Bodies.”Popular Music 25.03 (2006): 415. Print. <http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.uoregon.edu/stable/3877664?seq=3&Search=yes&searchText=rave&searchText=culture&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Drave%2Bculture%26amp%3BSearch%3DSearch%26amp%3Bgw%3Djtx%26amp%3Bprq%3D%2528understand%2Bus%2Bbefore%2Byou%2Bend%2Bus%2529%26amp%3Bhp%3D25%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Baori%3Da%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff&prevSearch=&resultsServiceName=null>
Source Analysis:
Name of source:
Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture
Why did you choose it?
It showed the transformation of the rave culture year by year.
How did you find it?
Google Scolar.
Analyze the source’s authority:
The author wrote abouthis own journey, I believe he has authority because he is talking about something he went to and things saw and took part in.
Analyze the source’s objectivity:
Analyze the source’s quality:
It was well written and executed.
Analyze the source’s currency:
It was written in 1998.
Analyze the source’s relevancy:
Very relevant, because it talks about the rave culture history, explaining the development of the culture by year and place.
Introduce me to myself 