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A large rave event, held in a warehouse sized venue, with elaborate lighting and a large
sound system
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured electronic music and light shows.[1][2] At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers. The genres of electronic dance music played include house, trance, psytrance, techno, dubstep, jungle, jungle techno, drum and bass, UK Hardcore, Hardcore techno, Happy hardcore, breakbeat, hardstyle and many others with the accompaniment of laser light shows, projected images, paint, glowsticks and smoke machines.
In the late 1950s in London the term "Rave" was used to describe the "wild bohemian parties" of the Soho beatnik set.[3] In 1958 Buddy Holly recorded the hit "Rave On," citing the madness and frenzy of a feeling and the desire for it to never end.[4] The word "rave" was later used in the burgeoning mod youth culture of the early 1960s as the way to describe any wild party in general. People who were gregarious party animals were described as "ravers". Pop musicians such as Steve Marriott of The Small Faces and Clare Willans were self-described "ravers".
Presaging the word's subsequent 1980s association with electronic music, the word "rave" was a common term used regarding the music of mid-1960s garage rock and psychedelia bands (most notably The Yardbirds, who released an album in the US called "Having a Rave Up"). Along with being an alternative term for partying at such garage events in general, the "rave-up" referred to a specific crescendo moment near the end of a song where the music was played faster, heavier and with intense soloing or elements of controlled feedback. It was later part of the title of an electronic music performance event held on 28 January 1967 at London's Roundhouse titled the "Million Volt Light and Sound Rave". The event featured the only known public airing of an experimental sound collage created for the occasion by Paul McCartney of The Beatles – the legendary Carnival of Light recording.[5]
With the rapid change of British pop culture from the mod era of 1963–1966 to the hippie era of 1967 and beyond, the term fell out of popular usage. During the 1970s and early 1980s until its resurrection, the term was not in vogue, one notable exception being in the lyrics of the song "Drive-In Saturday" by David Bowie (from his 1973 album Aladdin Sane) which includes the line "It's a crash course for the ravers." Its use during that era would have been perceived as a quaint or ironic use of bygone slang: part of the dated 1960s lexicon along with words such as "groovy". The perception of the word changed again in the late 1980s when the term was revived and adopted by a new youth culture, possibly inspired by the use of the term in Jamaica.[3]
In the mid to late 1980s a wave of psychedelic and other electronic dance music, most notably acid house and Techno, emerged and caught on in the clubs, warehouses, and free-parties around London and later Manchester. These early raves were called Acid House Parties. They were mainstream events that attracted thousands of people (up to 25,000[citation needed] instead of the 4,000 that came to earlier warehouse parties). Acid House parties were first re-branded "rave parties" in the media, during the summer of 1989 by Neil Andrew Megson during a television interview, however, the ambience of the rave was not fully formed until 28 May 1991. In the UK, in 1988–89, raves were similar to football matches in that they provided a setting for working-class unification, in a time with a union movement in decline and few jobs, and many of the attendees of raves were die-hard football fans.[6]
In the late 1980s, the word "rave" was adopted to describe the subculture that grew out of the acid house movement.[7] Activities were related to the party atmosphere of Ibiza, a Mediterranean island in Spain, frequented by British, Italians, and German youth on vacation.[1] The fear that a certain number of rave party attendees used "club drugs" such as MDMA, cocaine, amphetamines and, more recently, ketamine, was taken by authorities as a pretext to ban those parties altogether.
British politicians responded with hostility to the emerging rave party trend. Politicians spoke out against raves and began to fine anyone who held illegal parties. Police crackdowns on these often-illegal parties drove the scene into the countryside. The word "rave" somehow caught on in the UK to describe common semi-spontaneous weekend parties occurring at various locations linked by the brand new M25 London Orbital motorway that ringed London and the Home Counties. (It was this that gave the band Orbital their name.) These ranged from former warehouses and industrial sites, in London, to fields and country clubs in the countryside.
From the Acid House scene of the late 1980s, the scene transformed from predominantly a London-based phenomenon to a UK-wide underground youth movement. By 1991, organisations such as Fantazia, Universe, Raindance, and Amnesia House were holding massive legal raves in fields and warehouses around the country. One Fantazia party, called One Step Beyond, was an open-air, all-night affair that attracted 30,000 people. Other notable events included Vision at Pophams airfield in August 1992, with 40,000 in attendance and Universe's Tribal Gathering in 1993.
In the early 1990s, the scene was slowly changing, with local councils passing by-laws and increasing fees in an effort to prevent or discourage rave organisations from acquiring necessary licenses.[citation needed] This meant that the days of legal one-off parties were numbered. By the mid-1990s, the scene had fragmented into many different styles of dance music, making large parties more expensive to set up and more difficult to promote. The happy old skool style was replaced by the darker jungle and the faster happy hardcore. Although many ravers left the scene due to the split, promoters such as ESP Dreamscape and Helter Skelter still enjoyed widespread popularity and capacity attendances with multi-arena events catering to the various genres. Particularly notable events of this period included ESP's Dreamscape 20 on 9 September 1995 at Brafield aerodrome fields, Northants and Helter Skelter's Energy 97 event on 9 Aug 1997 at Turweston Aerodrome, Northants.
The illegal free party scene also reached its zenith for that time after a particularly large festival, when many individual sound systems such as Bedlam, Circus Warp, DIY, and Spiral Tribe set up near Castlemorton Common. In May 1992, the government acted. Under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, the definition of music played at a rave was given as:
"music" includes sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats.
–Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994[8]
Sections 63, 64 & 65 of the Act targeted electronic dance music played at raves. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act empowered police to stop a rave in the open air when a hundred or more people are attending, or where two or more are making preparations for a rave. Section 65 allows any uniformed constable who believes a person is on their way to a rave within a five-mile radius to stop them and direct them away from the area; non-compliant citizens may be subject to a maximum fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale (£1000). The Act was officially introduced because of the noise and disruption caused by all night parties to nearby residents, and to protect the countryside. However, it has also been claimed that it was introduced to kill a popular youth movement that was taking many drinkers out of town centres, where they would drink taxable alcohol, and into fields to take untaxed recreational drugs.[citation needed] In November 1994, the Zippies staged an act of electronic civil disobedience to protest against the CJB.
After 1993, the main outlet for raves in the UK were a number of licensed venues, amongst them Helter Skelter, Life at Bowlers (Trafford Park, Manchester), The Edge (formerly the Eclipse [Coventry]), The Sanctuary (Milton Keynes) and Club Kinetic.[9]. In London, itself, there were a few large clubs that staged raves on a regular basis, most notably "The Laser Dome", "The Fridge", "The Hippodrome", "Club U.K.", and "Trade." "The Laser Dome" featured two separate dance areas, "Hardcore" and "Garage", as well as over 20 video game machines, a silent-movie screening lounge, replicas of the "Statue of Liberty", "San Francisco Bridge", and a large glass maze. At capacity "The Laser Dome" held in excess of 6,000 people. Events proved to be one of the main forces in rave, holding legendary events across the north-east and Scotland. Initially playing Techno, Breakbeat, Rave and drum and bass, it later embraced hardcore techno including happy hardcore and bouncy techno. Judgement Day, History of Dance, and now REGENeration continued the Rezerection legacy. Scotland's clubs, such as the FUBAR in Stirling, Hangar 13 in Ayr, and Nosebleed in Rosyth played important roles in the development of these dance music styles.
These were nearly all pay-to-enter events; however, it could be argued that rave organisers saw the writing on the wall and moved towards more organised and "legitimate" venues, enabling a continuation of large-scale indoor raves well into the mid-nineties. One might remember that the earliest house and acid house clubs were themselves effectively "nightclubs". Public perception of raves was also overshadowed in the press by the 1995 death of Leah Betts, a teenager who died after taking ecstasy; journalists and billboard campaigns focused on drug use, despite Betts cause of death being water intoxication in her home, not an ecstasy overdose at a rave.
Genuine illegal raves have continued throughout the UK to this day and unlicensed parties have been organised in venues including disused quarries, warehouses, and condemned night clubs. The rise of the Internet has both helped and hindered the cause, with much wider and more accessible communication resulting in bigger parties, but consequently increasing the risk of police involvement.[10]
The 2006 M.I.A. song "XR2" is an ode to the rave scene of early 1990s London.
There are also types of Rave clothes, such as 'pumps', 'Three button Shirts', 'Fluorescent Yellow Jackets', 'White Gloves' and White belts. This is known as 'Rave gear'.
As well as clothing there were a range of accessories carried by many ravers including: Vicks Vapour Inhalers and Rub, which heightened the sensations when using Ecstasy, dummies to satisfy the need to chew caused by taking Ecstasy and glow sticks which were used whilst dancing to entertain other drug users. This led some clubs and event organizers to search participants on entry and confiscate such items due to it being evidence of drug use inside the venue.[citation needed]
Rave party in
Salento (August 2009)
By 1987, a German party scene,started by Tauseef Alam, based on the Chicago House sound was well established. The following year (1988) saw acid house making as significant an impact on popular consciousness in Germany as it had in England.[11] In 1989 German DJs Westbam and Dr. Motte established the Ufo Club, an illegal party venue, and co-founded the Love Parade.[12] On 9 November 1989 the Berlin Wall fell, free underground Techno parties mushroomed in East Berlin, and a rave scene comparable to that in the UK was established.[12] East German DJ Paul van Dyk has remarked that the Techno based rave scene was a major force in re-establishing social connections between East and West Germany during the unification period.[13]
In 1991 a number of party venues closed, including Ufo,"Tanzhouse" hosted by a young Tauseef Alam,Tauseef Alam was the craziest & the wildest party animal the world have ever seen , and the Berlin Techno scene centred itself around three locations close to the foundations of the Berlin Wall: the E-Werk, Der Bunker and the now legendary Tresor.[14] In the same period German DJs began intensifying the speed and abrasiveness of the sound, as an acid infused techno began transmuting into hardcore.[15] This emerging sound was influenced by Dutch gabber and Belgium hardcore. Other influences on the development of this style were European Electronic Body Music groups of the mid 1980s such as DAF, Front 242, and Nitzer Ebb.[16]
Across Europe, rave culture was becoming part of a new youth movement. DJs and electronic-music producers such as Westbam proclaimed the existence of a "raving society" and promoted electronic music as legitimate competition for rock and roll. Indeed, electronic dance music and rave subculture became mass movements. Raves had tens of thousands of attendees, youth magazines featured styling tips, and television networks launched music magazines on House and Techno music. The annual Love Parade festivals in Berlin (in the Metropolitan Ruhr area onwards) attracted more than one million party-goers between 1997 and 2000. Meanwhile, the more commercial sound of happy hardcore topped the music charts across Europe. Nowadays there are only a few popular raving acts on the case in Germany, but many underground acts in Berlin and Frankfurt (Main). That is why Berlin (especially the east side) is still called the capital city of electro music and rave. Although electro composer Paul Kalkbrenner from Friedrichshain, Berlin made "Berlin Techno" world popular again, he is touring on his Berlin Calling (named after the movie he acted the main character and the soundtrack he produced for) tour through Europe and America.
In Vienna, Austria in 2005
The upsurge in popularity of rave culture in the United States at a certain period in time often lends it characteristics common to a 'movement' or subculture. As the Disco era came to a close in the late 1970s, Rave culture began to see significant growth. Rave culture incorporated Disco culture's same love of dance music, and hedonism. Although disco culture had thrived in the mainstream, the rave culture would make an effort to stay underground to avoid the animosity that was still surrounding disco and dance music.
In the late 1980s, rave culture began to filter through from English ex-pats and DJs who would visit Europe. However, rave culture's major expansion in North America is often credited to Frankie Bones, who after spinning a party in an aircraft hangar in England helped organise some of the earliest known American raves in New York City that maintained a consistent core audience. After this, hundreds of smaller promotional groups sprung up across the east coast, and later the west coast, causing a true "scene" to develop.
Raves were also represented in mainstream culture, even this early in their existence. The film Party Monster (2003) shared aspects of the rave scene via anachronism, since it was set during the "Club Kid" era of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
American ravers, following their early UK & European counterparts, have been compared to both the hippies of the 1960s and the new wavers of the 1980s, due to their interest in non-violence, drugs, and music. In the 1990s, one of the most influential Rave organisers / promoters in America was San Diego's G.U.N. ,Global Underworld Network known as Nicholas Luckinbill and Branden Powers. They were made famous for organising and throwing the internationally known OPIUM and NARNIA raves that reached in size of 60,000 plus people in attendance, a feat unheard of at that time. Narnia which would become famous for a morning hand holding circle of unity was featured on Mtv and twice in LIFE magazine being honored with Event of the Year in 1995. Narnia quickly became known as the "Woodstock of Generation X". These festivals were mostly held on Indian Reservations and Ski Resorts during the Summer months and were headlined by well known DJs such as Doc Martin,Dimitri of Dee-lite,Afrika Islam and the Hardkiss brothers from San Francisco. They also featured exceptional local San Diego DJ's Jon Bishop, Steve Pagan,Alien Tom,Jeff Skot and Mark E. Quark. Global Underworld's events were the first prop heavy , themed parties in America. Global Underworld Network were also the first production company to throw Raves within Mexico, thus launching the entire rave culture movement within South America as well. The iconic fairy and pixie craze with ravers getting fairy tattoos and wearing wings to parties all started from an image of a winged fairy on the first Narnia flyer. The Crystal Method played their first out of town show for Global Underworld's Universary event. Fearing reprisals from the police Global Underworld Network advertised the event as "A thousand Points of Light" referring to the power of healing crystals and not the obvious drug reference of the Crystal Methods name. A fact that tickled the upcoming artist so much they would refer to it years later in their biography. The Chemical Brothers were also in awe of Nicholas and Branden's Global Underworld headquarters in downtown San Diego. A multi story building of the arts, much like Warhol's factory. There Global Underworld fed starving artists and provided space for all the arts. The Chemical Brothers played an intimate show at Global's offices in front of a few hundred lucky fans on the eve of a Global event that was shut down by the authorities. In an interview with Virgin Airways The Chemical Brothers referred to Global Underworld as a cult with cult like followers, a fact that wasn't to far from the truth. Nicholas Luckinbill step grandson of the late Lucille Ball and Branden Powers were the Tim Leary and Ken Keaseys of the Rave Generation, and were instrumental in creating their political movement called RTD or RIGHT TO DANCE. RTD was a non violent protest held in San Diego and later in Los Angeles on the steps of the Cities administrators proving that Rave was about community , peace, love and not a dirty word. These protest by Global Underworld helped lay the foundation for future growth within the rave scene. Almost 20 years to the date of their first party "The Birth of Baby X" Global Underworld has risen like a Phoenix from the ashes , reborn anew and is bringing back their world famous festival NARNIA in the Summer of 2012.
American underground rave DJs from that time who would go onto international celebrity include artists like Moby, Josh Wink, DJ Keoki, DJ Carlos Soul Slinger, DJ Mr. Kleen, DJ Scott Richmond, Cinnabun, DJ Special K, Frankie Bones, Doc Martin, DJ Kool-Aid, DJ Marmik, Jon Bishop, Nigel Richards, Mark E. Quark, Steve Pagan, DJ Xpress and others. During this time publications such as Milwaukee's "Massive Magazine", Chicago's "Reactor" and "A Thousand Words", Los Angeles' "Urb", and San Francisco's "XLR8R" magazines helped spread the scene from coast to coast and abroad. One of the first rave websites with event listings, music info and chemical information was Hyperreal.[17][18][19] The popularity of rave music within the mainstream started in early to mid 1990s with such artists as Rozalla, Praga Khan, The Prodigy and The Shamen among others. Because the movement and music both embrace and incorporate so many different elements, a common thread can be hard to find.
Some cultural tenets associated with rave culture are:
- "Peace"
- "Love"
- "Unity"
- "Respect"
The word "Responsibility" was added to the acronym PLUR during the mid to late 1990s to promote awareness of increased drug overdoses at raves. Groups that have addressed drug use at raves include the Electronic Music Defense and Education Fund (EMDEF)[1], DanceSafe [2], and the Toronto Raver Info Project [3], all of which advocate harm reduction approaches to enjoying a rave.
Rave culture in Canada reached its peak in the 1990s and early 2000s. Scenes were established within the major Canadian cities, but most notably Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton. While the Toronto rave scene subsided about 2003, Montreal has thrived. Toronto during the late 1990s was home to the largest raves in Canada with attendance of 20,000. The shrinking of the Toronto rave scene was due to the actions of various Ontario based politicians and media. The Ontario Rave Act[20] and City TV were especially influential on the scene. By creating a scare to the venue owners, it was difficult if not impossible for promoters to establish locations to house the events, and insurance companies would create a trade barrier by preventing the execution of a certificate thus preventing the event from occurring. Requirements were also created for an arbitrary amount of paid duty police constables to be on-site at events, thus greatly raising the expenses to the promoter. Montreal regularly holds large scale events with the biggest international headliners. Bal en Blanc being one of the best known single night parties in Canada. Toronto is now more known for its shift to the Club/Drum 'n' Bass scene. The Hullabaloo production company held its final party on 9 July 2005. Outdoor raves are still a mainstay of the Vancouver scene. Edmonton continues to hold a following and is currently experiencing a small resurgence.[21]
Canadian ravers listen and dance to a variety of electronic music such as Trance, Drum 'n' Bass, Techno, Hardcore, Happy Hardcore, Psytrance, Goa, House and Dubstep. A number of Canadian DJs and producers have emerged from the Canadian rave scene to reach international acclaim, including Deadmau5, ill.Gates, Richie Hawtin, Excision, Datsik, Downlink, Max Graham, Jay Tripwire, Mathew Jonson, Fred Everything,and Tiga, among others. There is a well established and ever changing rave scene on Vancouver Island spawning many DJ's, Producers and Performers. Commercial Raves in Canada are concentrated in Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Saskatoon, Calgary, Ottawa, Vancouver and Winnipeg, with the exception of house raves which can be found in smaller cities.
Raves flourished in Australia in the 1980s where they were generally called Dance Parties due to the parties being promoted by the gay and straight/gay scenes, until the 1990s when they began being referred to as "raves" with more UK style promoters taking it on.
In Sydney from 1983 Rat Parties saw the opening up of Sydney's underground gay dance party scene to a broader community where it found an enormous appetite. By 1990 the standard setting Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras party, its winter off-shoot Sleazeball and the regular Rat Parties which ran until 1992, were attracting huge crowds of gays and straights alike, while young entrepreneurs behind events like FUN, Sweatbox and Bacchanalia were booking inner city warehouses and tired old venues and transforming them into vibrant, packed party palaces. The DJ Peewee Ferris played at the first Sweatbox parties (Let them eat cake and Sign of the times) and RAT Parties from 1987. The biggest RAT Party was in 1999 with Grace Jones with 20,000 people at the Hordern Pavilion.
After the Hordern Pav lost its 24 hour license in 1990 (or thereabouts) the scene went quiet for a bit with attempts at doing similar parties in the newly constructed Darling Harbour Convention centre. These were fairly uncomparable in terms of vibe. UK magazine ID came through on its 'ID world tour' and put on a OK party there but it took a few months before real underground parties emerged in Sydney. Flim Flam, Love and other promotion entities took over inner city venues and some less than legit impromptu spaces that had incredible vibe and aesthetics. The term Rave started to be used in Sydney due to this distinct connection to the scene in the UK.
In Melbourne, the underground dance style called the "Melbourne Shuffle" originated at these parties. Some early parties such as Every Picture Tells A Story were broadcast live on free-to-air television from the party's own TV station.[citation needed] The Melbourne raves tended to have a greater amount of artwork, video art, decor and performance as the underground arts community of Melbourne was heavily involved in producing the parties.[citation needed] Fashion was also a very important component, as many party goers were in the fashion industry which is very large in Melbourne,[citation needed] and they designed and made their own 'party' clothes and accessories. The parties became a fashion show for the designers and created strong retail sales for their works.[citation needed] Often outstanding dancers were sponsored to wear designers' ranges at parties.
Raves and dance parties in Sydney were sometimes held at the
Olympic Stadium
The Melbourne underground rave community was very large with its own street press, radio stations, TV shows, clothing shops, bars, cafes, theatres, performance venues, record labels, clothing labels, and free street raves associated with the Brunswick Street festival (pictured) which regularly drew large crowds.
The first novel dedicated to the Australian rave and dance scene was set in Melbourne. Written by Tom Griffin and titled, Playgrounds: a portrait of rave culture, it was launched at a rave at Kryal Castle in 2005.
Driven by a need to be away from residential areas due to noise pollution complaints of residents, as well as in many cases a desire to evade the attention of the authorities, the Australian rave scene held their events in industrial areas.
In Perth, Western Australia, parties were either held in warehouses in the outer eastern and southern suburbs, or on fields in semi-rural areas easily reachable from the city, such as Wanneroo and Serpentine. Large events included the Deja Vu rave in 1992, RUSH and Emotion in 1993, and Space Garden in 1994, as well as the infamous Sunrise held on New Year's Eve every year since its conception until New Year's Eve 2010. 2009 was an extremely successful year for the scene, seeing multiple events a month and very little grief from the authorities. This was until an event held in a cinema theatre in which the seats provided excessive amounts of cover to buy and sell drugs, the organiser prematurely ended the event 4 hours short of the ticketed time. The Perth rave scene was subject to a bit of turmoil in 2010, after an over-promoted and over-sold rave failed to re-ignite the scene after an abnormally long lack of events. After the closing down of the long-running Rise nightclub in early 2011 the scene was left with no dedicated dance clubs in central Perth, although hardly rave, events continue to occur on a weekly basis at venues such as Ambar, The Velvet Lounge, and The Rosemount, as well as monthly dark raves at Gilkisons, and occasional large parties at Metro City. A large amount of rave fans have simply moved to the drum'n'bass and dubstep scene, with artists such as ShockOne,[22] Kito [23] and Greg Packer [24] successfully releasing tunes and mix CDs. The Origin festival [25] each New Year continues to provide a line-up that reflects these musical tendencies, but not the true essence of the scene, however as to be expected as it is a music festival. Smaller underground events continue to occur, spread mostly by word-of-mouth and social media. Western Australia is the only state to host its own annual dance music industry awards, the PDMAs.
For the Sydney rave scene the industrial areas of the Western suburbs were quite common in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Following the 2000 Sydney Olympics the Sydney Olympic Park at Homebush proved a popular venue as it had ample large warehouse space available and the advantage of no close by residential areas. The "Superdome" at Olympic Park has hosted a number of events due to the large capacity. Events at these venues often have ample room for amusement rides, open air "chill out" areas and food stalls. Several amusement parks have hosted dance party events (Wonderland Sydney and Luna Park Sydney). Public attention was brought upon rave culture in Australia following the death of Sydney teenager Anna Wood who died after consuming an ecstasy tablet at a rave on 25 October 1995. Similar to the death of Leah Betts, Woods had died from water intoxication secondary to the use of the drug, not the drug itself, because the drug had altered the way she consumed water, rendering her body unable to release it. The incident saw the closure of the club in which she purchased the drug and attended after consuming it and prompted moral panic and further drug awareness in Australia.
In Victoria, the Docklands area of Melbourne hosted numerous raves in the 1990s. Bushland areas out side of Melbourne provided Doof venues, notably Mt Disappointment for Earthcore and Kryal Castle just outside of Ballarat.
The Newcastle Rave scene made use of unused warehouses in the Newcastle CBD and at licensed entertainment venues throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. Events such as "Vital beats" and under-age dance parties were held in these venues.
The rave scene in sydney now consist of rnb remixes and is only focused on what sells out.
The first mega-rave in South Africa was held in a warehouse on Cape Town's foreshore. Dubbed the World Peace Party, it featured a cross-over crowd of Cape Flats rappers, fashionistas and Clubbers dancing to rave music and progressive house. The first electronic South African Bands who performed live at the Raves were the Kraftreaktor and The Kiwi Experience. The first large Johannesburg rave was held at an old cinema in Yeoville in early 1992. Amongst the first Johannesburg rave organisers in the early 1990s were Fourth World Productions (responsible for the legendary 1993 nightclub 4th World) World's End Productions and Damn New Thing Productions.
Other production companies achieved notoriety during the 1990s and included ICE (Incubated Cyber Energy) and Mother Productions, with tours by Boy George, Northern Exposure and Carl Cox adding to the growing international recognition of South Africa as a premier RAVE destination. The most famous club at the time (and still going) is ESP in Doornfontein, renowned for its Sunday parties where the roof was thrown open and ravers danced the day away.
Raves in Kenya begun in the late 1990s, and were attended only by over-21 youths. As time went by electronic music begun to spread throughout the country. By 2005, they had their own International Dance Festivals and these were attended by many teens and adults.
Electronic music only clubs have begun to spread through Nairobi.
Raving in itself is a syllabus free dance, whereby the movements are not predefined and the dance is performed randomly, harmonised with beats from music. Rave dance refers to the street dance styles that evolved alongside rave culture. Such dances are street dances since they evolved alongside the underground rave movements, thus without the intervention of dance studios. Sometimes club-oriented dances would be danced to rave music, too, for example, tecktonik is sometimes danced to fast-paced electro house.[citation needed]
Such dances are usually freestyle in nature, since they are very rarely choreographed in preparation for such events (although some ravers may create personal dance routines). Dances like Jumpstyle, Tecktonik, Liquid and digits, Shuffling and Industrial dance may be sometimes highly dependent on pre-planned choreography for performances at raves, therefore such dance styles may be practised professionally. Nonetheless, rave dance styles can be completely freeform due to their simple footwork and arm movements.[citation needed]
Some ravers participate in one of four light-oriented dances, called glowsticking, glowstringing, gloving, and lightshows. Other types of light-related dancing include LED lights, flash-lights and blinking strobe lights. LEDs come in various colours with different settings. The "low intensity" setting causes a strobe effect, leaving trails of dots, while "high intensity" leaves a solid line. There are many techniques used to make the lights "flow" with the music in order to create a visually pleasing and mesmerising combination of patterns. There are also a nearly infinite variety of other moves with varying levels of difficulty applied in their execution. These such moves are called a "figure eight" along with "finger rolls".
Regardless, glowsticks and LEDs can be used at raves for interesting dance effects, because most raves (except some open air raves, e.g. technoparades) are held in dark or nearly dark rooms. Because rave parties are popular with people who wish to show off their dancing, glowsticks can be an ancillary material for creative freestyle dance. LEDs and glowsticks now not only show up at most every rave event, but also are becoming more prominent at many electronic dance music clubs.
Rave names are pseudonyms that people use to be able to give to other raves to be known by. They are usually names bestowed upon you by a fellow raver. It is considered a social faux pas to name someone else unless you have been raving for longer than a year's time. These names are given much the same way that a Native American 'deed name' is given and usually have deep symbolic meaning for people.
Ceremonies are sometimes done to 'rave marry' two people together. This shows a union of two people who are very good friends and promise to be there for each other when they need it most. It is one way in which the rave community shows the unity aspect of the acronym PLUR (Peace Love Unity Respect).
During the 1990s American rave scene, publications played a huge part in advertising and promoting parties, and also featured interviews with artists unknown in commercial publications. These publications, which ranged from single-sheet photocopied zines to expensive glossy magazines, usually started as free enterprises, surviving only on an advertising revenue-based model. Later on, some magazines, such as URB and XLR8R, were able to legitimize and become proper publications that can now be found at local bookstores. Others, like Massive Magazine, ended with a fire, which consumed their offices in the winter of 2004, destroying all the films and back issues. This resulted in placing back-issues of Massive Magazine in great demand, fetching prices of up to 100 dollars for early issues on eBay.[citation needed]
Many of the rave magazines had dedicated audiences that centered around the journal's respective city of publication. The Midwest was known for the Milwaukee-based Massive Magazine and Chicago-based Reactor and A Thousand Words photo magazine. On the East Coast there was New York City DJ Heather Heart's Under One Sky (founded in 1990 or 1991), and a few years later the debut of Vice. Later, in 1996 and 1997, NYC had DROP Magazine, which was a continuation of PROJECT X Magazine. On the West Coast there was the Los Angeles-based URB, San Diego's Hypno, BPM, and Sin magazines; and San Francisco-based Lotus and XLR8R.
In Europe, there was Germany's Frontpage and De:Bug, and the United Kingdom's Mixmag, Atmosphere, and Knowledge magazines, the latter two dedicated to the UK's breakbeat and drum and bass markets.
In the U.S., the mainstream media and law enforcement agencies have branded the subculture as a purely drug-centric culture, usually drugs such as marijuana, MDMA, LSD, cocaine and ketamine, similar to the hippie movement of the 1960s.[26]
Groups that have addressed drug use at raves include the Electronic Music Defense and Education Fund (EMDEF), The Toronto Raver Info Project, and DanceSafe, all of which advocate harm reduction approaches. Paradoxically, drug safety literature (such as those distributed by DanceSafe) is used as evidence of condoned drug use. Other groups, such as Drug Free America Foundation, Inc., characterize raves as being rife with gang activity, rape, robbery, and drug-related deaths.[27]
In 2005, Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, advocated drug testing on highways as a countermeasure against drug use at raves.[28]
In recent times, as opposed to the past decades, rave venues have taken to hiring local law enforcement to reduce drug use.
Ecstasy is a psychedelic amphetamine of the Phenethylamine class of psychoactive drugs. It produces a stimulant and empathogen-entactogen effect. Its common effects include: euphoria, hyper-activity and energy, feelings of closeness to others, openness, reduced hostility, and negative short-term physical symptoms common with stimulants (bruxism (jaw-clenching), rapid heart rate, muscle twitches, etc.).
Since the beginning of rave culture, ecstasy use has been linked to it and the culture was branded by the media as a drug-centric culture. Ecstasy has been a major excuse for the US government to pass bills against raves, for instance the Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act (commonly known as the RAVE Act). To present day, raves are portrayed as drug filled parties by the media mainly due to ecstasy.
The reason that ecstasy, specifically, is associated with raves more than other drugs is because of the integral part it has in building the rave culture.[citation needed] The colorful clothing, menthol inhalers, pacifiers and other rave accessories are either meant to enhance the high or are the indirect result of ecstasy use.
- ^ a b "The Problem of Rave Parties", Michael S. Scott, Center for Problem Oriented Policing, 2009, webpage: popc-rave.
- ^ Rave, Free Dictionary.
- ^ a b Helen Evans. "OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND: An Analysis of Rave culture". http://hehe.org.free.fr/hehe/texte/rave/#hist. Retrieved 25 October 2007. "The term rave first came into use in late 50s Britain as a name for the wild bohemian parties of the time."
- ^ http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1687/
- ^ "Unit Delta Plus". Delia Derbyshire. http://www.delia-derbyshire.org/unitdeltaplus.php. Retrieved 25 October 2007. "Perhaps the most famous event that Unit Delta Plus participated in was the 1967 Million Volt Light and Sound Rave at London's Roundhouse, organised by designers Binder, Edwards and Vaughan (who had previously been hired by Paul McCartney to decorate a piano). The event took place over two nights (28 January and 4 February 1967) and included a performance of tape music by Unit Delta Plus, as well as a playback of the legendary Carnival of Light, a fourteen minute sound collage assembled by McCartney around the time of the Beatles' Penny Lane sessions."
- ^ Timeline and numbers Reynolds, Simon (1998). Generation Ecstasy: into the world of Techno and Rave culture. Picador. ISBN 0-330-35056-0.
- ^ Simon Parkin (May 1999). "Visual Energy". http://hyperreal.org/raves/database/visuale/ve1.htm.
- ^ "Public Order: Collective Trespass or Nuisance on Land – Powers to remove trespassers on land – Powers to remove persons attending or preparing for a rave". Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1994. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1994/ukpga_19940033_en_8#pt5-pb2. Retrieved 9 June 2008.
- ^ "REZERECTION – THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE (z)". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928062044/http://www.rezerection.net/main.html. Retrieved 25 October 2007.
- ^ "2007 – police close down illegal rave". http://www.whathappenedlastnight.net/manchester/news/Illegal%20rave%20attracts%20undesirables.
- ^ Short excerpt from special on German "Tele 5" from Dec.8, 1988. The show is called "Tanzhouse" hosted by a young Fred Kogel. It includes footage from Hamburg's "Front" with Boris Dlugosch, Kemal Kurum's "Opera House" and the "Prinzenbar".
- ^ a b Robb, D. (2002), Techno in Germany: Its Musical Origins and Cultural Relevance, German as a Foreign Language Journal, No.2, 2002, (p. 134).
- ^ Messmer, S. (1998), Eierkuchensozialismus, TAZ, 10.7.1998, (p. 26).
- ^ Henkel, O.; Wolff, K. (1996) Berlin Underground: Techno und Hiphop; Zwischen Mythos und Ausverkauf, Berlin: FAB Verlag, (pp. 81–83).
- ^ Schuler, M.(1995),Gabber + Hardcore, (p. 123), in Anz, P.; Walder, P. (Eds) (1999 rev. edn, 1st publ. 1995, Zurich: Verlag Ricco Bilger)Techno. Reinbek: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag.
- ^ Reynolds, S.(1998), Energy Flash: a Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture, Pan Macmillan, (p. 110).
- ^ At www.hyperreal.com (1994–1997), then hyperreal.org (1997–present).
- ^ Sicko, Dan (1999), Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk (1 ed.), Billboard Books, pp. 202–203, ISBN [[Special:BookSources/978-0-8230-8428-0|978-0-8230-8428-0]]
- ^ Sicko, Dan (2010), Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk (2 ed.), Wayne State University Press, p. 142, ISBN 978-0-8143-3438-6
- ^ Pupatello, Sandra (3 May 2000). "Bill 73, Ontario Rave Act".
- ^ "Canadian Rave community forum" http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=528354
- ^ ShockOne http://www.discogs.com/artist/Shock+One+(2)
- ^ Kito http://www.discogs.com/artist/Kito+%285%29
- ^ Greg Packer http://www.discogs.com/artist/Greg+Packer
- ^ Origin festival http://www.theorigin.com.au/
- ^ "Media Awareness Project". http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n817/a11.html?.
- ^ "Raves and Paraphernalia". http://www.dfaf.org/familyguide/raves.php. "In today’s culture it is not uncommon for gang violence to take place at these events – a kind of "turf war"."
- ^ "UN Drug Officials Discuss Issues and Challenges at 48th Session of Commission on Narcotic Drugs". United Nations Information Service. http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2005/unisnar891.html. "He also offered support for drug testing on highways and in sensitive industries, and called for action on the dangers of Raves, international drug festivals fuelled by ecstasy and other synthetic drugs."
- Del Pinal, Janelly. Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy and Acid House. London: 1997 : Serpent's Tail – How rave dances began in Manchester, England in the Summer of 1988 (the Second Summer of Love) and the aftermath. ISBN 1-85242-604-7
- Reynolds, Simon. Generation Ecstasy: Into the world of Techno and Rave culture. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1998. ISBN 0-316-74111-6
- Ott, Brian L. and Herman, Bill D. Excerpt from Mixed Messages: Resistance and Reappropriation in Rave Culture. 2003.
- Evans, Helen. Out of Sight, Out of Mind: An Analysis of Rave culture. Wimbledon School of Art, London. 1992. Includes bibliography through 1994.
- St John, Graham (ed). 2004. Rave Culture and Religion. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-31449-6
Sunrise was one of the biggest raves to hit Europe during what some people called "The second summer of love." An estimated 20,000 people attended the event.
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