Rave New World - Commercialisation of Rave
The commercialisation of rave culture into
British mainstream - by Rory Finnegan
The area of sociological and cultural interest I
have chosen to focus on for this paper is that of youth subculture,
with the branch of study being rave culture. I first outline the how
rave culture came to be such a dominant subculture of its time and
why it continues to shape the leisure activities of British youth. A
chapter is devoted to the association drug use and in particular
ecstasy has with the subculture. Media representations of rave and
an ethnographical study of three rave nights help us to understand
how this process of commercialisation has come about. I conclude
with the ways in which rave has been commodified, drawing on comment
from previous chapters.
Contents:
Introduction
Chapter one : The birth of rave culture
Chapter two: Ecstasy and rave culture
Chapter three: Media Representations of rave culture
Chapter four: An Ethnographical study of rave culture
Bibliography
The concept of the subversive youth subculture
has been derived from the work conducted in the 1970’s by the
Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (C.C.C.S), to
whom we owe much for their theorising on this societal phenomenon.
C.C.C.S saw youth as stylish yet somehow deviant in relation to
mainstream society and working class youth were much more likely to
participate in these subcultures. Hall et al (1976) wanted to
examine why and how youth groups were formed. Youth as a cultural
category only really came into existence after the second world war
when, with the advances in industrialization and technology, it was
no longer necessary for people to go straight into a working life at
an early age and there was much more leisure time available. As Hall
et al argue: “’Youth’ appeared as an emergent category in post-war
Britain, one of the most striking and visible manifestations of
social change in the period” (Hall et al p9,1976). The youth
subculture’s operate in a wider society in which they are part of
many differing social groups, however all of whom are set in
opposition to the dominant culture. At the time when members of the
C.C.C.S. were investigating youth cultures they believed that these
different groups are always a result of different classes within
society, “in modern societies, the most fundamental groups are the
social classes” (Hall et al p13, 1976) and the creation of youth
subcultures was a response to the breaking down of class barriers at
the time. Phil Cohen (1972) argued that when working-class
communities are undergoing change and displacement – when the
‘parent culture’ is no longer cohesive – youth (and the focus here
is always on working-class youth) responds by becoming subcultural.
The period of youth in a person’s life is one of “maturation” (Malbon,
p13, 1999) during which a person would learn how to act within their
youth community and how to progress through this community into
society as an adult with responsibilities. Part child, part adult
but in neither societal group, becoming actively involved in a youth
subculture provides a way for the subject to prolong their
transition into mainstream society. Epstein argues that youth
undergo “processes and mechanisms of socialization into the dominant
culture” (Epstein p3, 1998) Youth culture’s differences and
mysteries when compared to the adult mainstream has often aroused
suspicion from its parent culture and given the notion to scholar’s
that it is possibly part of a wider societal problem. Post war youth
subculture is significant as economic and social factors have
allowed it to become part of the capitalist phenomenon of
commodification. Redhead holds that “in this period a specifically
youth ‘style’ became commodified as consumer culture progressively
swamped the advanced economies of the West.” (Redhead p1, 2000)
The youth subculture I have chosen for the focus of this study is
that of rave culture. Since its inception in Britain in 1987 and the
so called “Second Summer Of Love in 1988, rave culture has arguably
become one of the most dominant youth subcultures to have ever
existed in our society. From causing moral panic amongst the tabloid
press and being perceived as a threat to the very moral fabric of
society to certain sectors of society embracing it as part of the
mainstream, this subculture has and perhaps continues to split
societal opinion. What is particularly of interest is the
circumstances in which this subculture flourished and continued to
do so to the point of its commercialisation in Britain and
eventually its export as a global ‘brand’. While other subcultures,
except perhaps hip hop culture, have died out in within a few years,
rave culture has successfully been commodified yet has maintained
its popularity amongst British youth. Such commercialisation of
youth subcultures has normally spelt the end of them, however this
has not been the case with rave culture.
It is my intention to investigate the factors which have caused this
process to occur within the subculture using a variety of
methodology’s in order to get to grips with this task. I shall first
outline the formation of this subculture from its obscure beginnings
in Ibiza, to its place as a worldwide cultural phenomenon. The
method that lends itself most to understanding rave culture is that
of participant observation. Only by attending these raves and
immersing oneself in its night time culture can we hope to ascertain
its true status in society as a commercialised subculture. One
chapter will be given over to the intimate relationship drugs have
with the participation in rave culture. Arguably it would not exist
in the current form we know it, if it all, were it not for the rave
drug Ecstasy; as Redhead argues: “Ecstasy and rave culture go hand
in glove” (Redhead p13, 2000). Originally perceived as something
that threatened to corrupt British youth beyond repair, the media
has in general taken a dim view of this subculture and the drug use
associated with it. Moral panics abounded throughout the late
eighties and into the nineties of the perceived social menace that
was rave culture. As it became assimilated into licensed clubs the
media softened their perspective until the tragic death of Leah
Betts in 1995 brought the
question of drug use and rave culture back onto the public agenda.
Ecstasy was vilified in the media to the extent that we were lead to
believe that one ecstasy tablet has the power to kill its user. How
misinformed or accurate were the media? Has the music itself brought
about this representation of ‘getting off your head’ in the dance.
The sheer depth and variety of club nights, record stores, artists
and studio’s that have sprung from rave culture only serve to show
that the subculture has a strong, loyal following that appears to
show no sign of abating. Has this youth subculture left us with a
chemical generation, only looking for a quick fix and a way to get
off their heads on the weekend or does it run deeper than this? Has
the process of commercialisation within rave culture left us with a
lasting legacy?
In 1987 four working class males, Paul Oakenfold,
Danny Rampling, Nicky Holloway and Johnny Walker found themselves in
clubs across Ibiza, listening to the music which was to make them
legends in the dance scene and transform the face of youth
subculture in Britain. Not only did they discover the musical genre
of Acid House, played by legendary house DJ’s Alredo Fiorillio and
Jose Padilla in clubs such as Amnesia and Pacha, they were also
crucially introduced to the drug MDMA, more commonly known as
ecstasy. Johnny Walker describes the experience:
“It was almost like a religious experience; a combination of taking
ecstasy and going to a warm, open-air club full of beautiful people
- you’re on holiday, you feel great and you’re suddenly being
exposed to entirely different music to what you were used to in
London. This strange mixture was completely fresh and new to us, and
very inspiring” (Collin p53, 1998)
Walker’s succinct description here perhaps sums up neatly the
factors which allowed rave culture to flourish upon their return to
the U.K. The Ibizan atmosphere was a world away from the mundane
Thatcherite Britain. As Redhead points out: “The Ibizan reveller
high on Ecstasy, abandoned to the beat, lost under strobe lights
consumes the radically different space of Dionysian pleasure: dance,
music and drugs” (Redhead p32, 2000). This experience is the
antithesis to what being a young person in 80’s Britain was like;
the fact that the Ibiza experience was so enthralling, it meant it
gave these four pioneers the inspiration to recreate the Ibiza scene
in dreary South London. We could almost draw a comparison between
the difference found in London and Ibiza to what Baudrillard found
between Europe and its transatlantic neighbour America. In America
everything is just as it seems, there is no meaningful fulfillment
to be found from its culture. Disneyland is there to propagate a
mythical status in the average American’s perception of the White
House. In the same way Ibiza clubs offer a sense of hyperreality to
its tourist consumer. The dance floor is the focus for the weary
British holidaymaker; here one “submits to the loss of cultural and
self identity” (Redhead p33, 2000)
Collin describes life in Britain in 1987:
“The country had just entered its third consecutive term of
Conservative rule, a period which compounded the break with the
collective values of the past. The last battalions of class
warriors, the miners and the printers, had been vanquished after
long turbulent strikes, socialism was in terminal retreat, and
Thatcher’s “economic miracle”, a consumer boom fuelled by wild
spending on credit and a mood of uninhibited individualism, was
entering its final phase before the shuddering stock market crash of
“Black Monday” heralded a plunge back into recession.” (Collin p55
1998)
Ibiza on the other hand was seen by these young musicians and
countless other travellers as a place where you could lose any form
of self and cultural identity. The dancefloors of Ibizan clubs were
a mix of rich and poor, trendy and unfashionable, male and female.
It was a place to lose yourself free from society’s watchful,
judgmental gaze. This ‘Balearic’ experience had such an effect on
British revellers that it was recreated in the dancefloors of South
London on their return from Ibiza. Whilst Johnny Walker, Paul
Oakenfold, and Nicky Holloway started up their own nights along
Streatham high Road and other South London hotspots, Danny Rampling,
along with his sister Jenny created a new night catering for this
unique Balearic sound which was coined as “Shoom”. The night was a
resounding success. As Jenny pointed out: “People came cos they can
relax and freak out as much as they want without anybody standing
and watching them.” (Godfrey 1988 p.33, Redhead 2000). It was
perhaps this sense of freedom from society where Acid House won its
original following. This is indeed an interesting point as although
ravers seemed to be distancing themselves from the identity of a
nine to five blue or white collar worker and losing that aspect of
their identity on the dancefloors, they were slowing carving out the
identity of the raver, a community of people that come together at
the weekend to dance to a beat, an identity late eighties British
society would struggle to comprehend, let alone integrate. The
attire of choice was indeed deviant from the dominant culture and
marked the raver out as part of a subordinate subculture: As Collin
states: “a gaggle of brightly dressed extroverts in baggy
sweatshirts, dungarees, ethnic accoutrements, strings of beads
around their necks, hair grown long over the summer and caught up in
a little ponytail with an elastic band. Compared to the drab uniform
of London clubland at the end of the eighties-MA-1 flying jackets,
Doctor Martens and Levis 501s-they looked and acted like freaks from
another dimension.” (Collin 1998, p.55). The yellow smiley face logo
was used as a sign for secret membership to this raving community,
an example of the use of innocuous signs to represent the membership
of a subculture, comparisons can be made with Hebdige’s criticism of
the apparel worn by punks: “These ‘humble objects’ can be magically
appropriated; ‘stolen’ by subordinate groups and made to carry
secret meanings: meanings which express in code, a form of
resistance to the order which guarantees their continued
subordination” (Hebdige 1979 p,17-18). This was a golden age for
Acid House and its culture, this period of time in the summer of
1988 came to be known as the second of summer of love, paying
tribute to the hippy ideology of the late sixties which was evident
across the dancefloors of London house nights.
Moral panics of drug taking, sensationalized by the tabloid press,
amongst this “chemical generation” of British youth were fuelling
the government to take action against this new so-called menace to
society. By now it was 1989 and Acid House promotion was big
business. Ironically under Margaret Thatcher’s new policies of
entrepreneurial business, people such as Tony Colston-Hayter, the
man behind Sunrise (one of the biggest promotions in the land at the
time) were now making thousands of pounds by organising huge raves
in fields around London’s M25 orbit . Having moved out of the clubs
that were limited to a 3am closing time, entrepreneurs such as
Colston-Hayter were now moving the rave into a into warehouses and
fields and charging anything from five to twenty pounds for the
pleasure. As Colston-Hayter put it: “Surely this ridiculous 3a.m.
curfew on dancing is an anachronism in today’s enterprise culture.”
(Redhead p.47. 2000, Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven, LSD and the
American Dream, (1989) Paladin, p.487) Fields and warehouses were
turned into night time theme parks, however this was all highly
illegal territory and these entrepreneurs came to be seen as the
‘folk devils’ of their day. Police were given powers to shut down
these illegal events, however promoters did not take this lying
down. Perhaps the attraction in these raves was that there was a
sense of adventure, a game of cat and mouse between raver and
policeman, pirate radio stations gave out false information to deter
the police as ravers rang various numbers to find the secret
location of the rave. However, in 1990, these raids eventually
brought the illegal parties back into the clubs as promoters where
powerless to prevent the police closing them down at a great
financial loss to the promoter. And it is in the clubs that rave
culture has now flourished. Perhaps the Hacienda in Manchester is
responsible for this. The Hacienda was now the home of Acid House as
ravers travelled across the country to experience the super club in
the country’s clubbing capital, then known as “Madchester”.
Since this move back into clubs, rave culture has gone from strength
to strength, the Hacienda was eventually closed due to spiralling
violence in the club, however violence in clubs has been reduced
massively with technologal advances in surveillance and increased
security presence. Perhaps the only other threat in recent times was
the tragic death of teenager Leah Betts on November 16th 1995. This
received intense media coverage and her parents set up a campaign
with Leah’s face plastered across billboards the length and breadth
of the country. Beneath her face was the slogan “Sorted” with the
grim warning below it “Just one ecstasy tablet took Leah Betts”.
Although the cause of death was given as Ecstasy poisoning, after
the coroners inquest, Dr. John Henry claimed that death was more
likely as a result of water intoxication: delusional hyponatremia.
Opponents to this claimed that if Leah Betts had not taken ecstasy
she would not have died, while the ‘ecstasy evangelists’ claimed
that it was not the MDMA and that if information was readily in
available in the public domain, there would be fewer deaths as a
result of ecstasy. Undeterred by such events many clubbers continued
to take ecstasy. The largest ever survey done on the subject by
Lifeline and Mixmag in 1996, suggested that more and more people
were experimenting with the drug and few anticipated giving it up in
the near future. (Collin, 1998, p.299-305). In 2006, this grim
episode in rave culture’s history seems long ago, yet it should
serve as a reminder for the risks partaking in drugs as part of the
subculture can bring.
Rave culture has brought not only new genre’s of music into our
domain, it has also provided us with new forms of lifestyle and job
opportunities. Like the hippie and punk movements before it, it was
seen as deviant, threatening, and subversive, yet now it is part of
a major number of youth’s social activities. It has become
mainstream, normally this is the death knell for many subcultures,
yet it has retained an underground feel for the most part, peeking
into the mainstream every now and again. The song ‘Things Can Only
Get Better” was used by New Labour as they won the general election
of 1995, it was penned by D-Ream, themselves ravers and known for
making house tunes. What a departure from the Conservative
governments attempt to censure this new, exciting sound. Jungle,
Drum and Bass, Happy Hardcore, Old Skool, Progressive House, Trance,
Garage, Gabba, Grime, Hard House, Techno, and many more
genre-defying tunes have sprung from the initial invasion of Acid
House to Great Britain. The sheer depth and variety of club nights,
record stores, artists and studio’s that have sprung from rave
culture only serve to show that this subculture has a strong, loyal
following that shows no signs of abating.
The drug, commonly known as ecstasy, known
chemically as 3,4 Methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA, was made
illegal in Britain in 1977, under the misuse of Drugs Act of 1971,
over reports of it being sold on the American Black Market (Redhead,
p9, 2000). On account of this thousands of young, mostly law abiding
although some clearly not, Britons were committing a criminal
offence every weekend. Redhead argues that “ Ecstasy and rave
culture go hand in glove” and it was this combination of youth and
drug taking that alarmed the dominant order so much. It is difficult
to argue which came first but it is irrefutable that ecstasy plays a
major role in the weekends of ravers even to this day. It may be
argued that ecstasy use in raves is a way of legitimising “getting
off your head”, pursuing a hedonistic pleasure. Redhead argues :”It
is associated with a politics of pleasure, a hedonism (in hard
times) - a pleasure for its own sake in times when moral regulation
of youth is pervasive and deep economic recession is rife” (Redhead
p7, 2000). This politics of pleasure was not a unique phenomenon to
rave culture, it was also appropriated in the sixties through
hippies use of marijuana and LSD and the use of amphetamines and
purple hearts by those in the punk movement (Madge p145, 2000). With
rave culture and indeed hip hop culture’s promotion of marijuana in
the 90’s to present day (Cypress Hill: Hits from the Bong, Afroman:
Because I got High) it could be argued that we live truly in a
chemical world where our stresses and strains may from time to time,
only find relief in whatever drug we can obtain. This information
from The office of National statistics give us an indication into
the drug consumption in recent society:
“In 2001/02, 15 per cent of men and 9 per cent of women aged 16 to
59 in England and Wales said that they had taken an illicit drug in
the previous year. Among young people (those aged 16 to 24), 35 per
cent of men and 24 per cent of women said they had done so in the
previous year.
The most commonly used drug by young people was cannabis, which had
been used by 33 per cent of young men and 21 per cent of young women
in the previous year.
Ecstasy was the most commonly used Class A drug, with higher use
among the 16 to 24 year olds than those aged 25 to 59. In 2001/02, 9
per cent of men and 4 per cent of women aged 16 to 24 had used
ecstasy in the previous year.
Since 1996 there has been an increase in the use of cocaine among
young people, especially among young men.” (Office of National
Statistics)
There is no age limit in this search, or desire. Although youth is
still overwhelmingly associated with drug use, especially over-use,
it is only because of the twin and universal aspects of youthful
desire to try anything once, with often equal desire for
inconsequential over indulgence. Adult society worries itself sick
over youth and its indulgences, whilst continuing to provide the
means by which youth can (legally) get off their heads (using
alcohol), adding an envious tinge to whatever excesses make the
morning papers or breakfast television. At the same time adult
society frets, as it must, over the image portrayed by youthful
icons such as sports (Diego Maradona) or pop stars (Pete Docherty)
and their thoughtless, not to say downright stupid, commentaries on
their over indulgent lives.
However I would like to argue that rave culture runs deeper than
pure intoxication. An offshoot of the explosion in Dance music was
the need to provide services, services such as record shops, more
clubs, record labels, websites and thousands of individual promoters
catering to every taste of a clubbers musical diet. Would all of
this have emerged if rave culture was purely about illegal drug use?
I think it is clear that a significant number of people within the
subculture who have a passion and love for certain forms of dance
music. Cynical commentators could argue that this merely comes from
wrongly associating the good times felt by ecstasy’s grip with the
music itself, however I find this point a step too far. For every
raver who takes ecstasy there is one who chooses not to, it is left
as the choice of the individual to break the law and consume drugs
at a rave. Many do so and many do not. Rave and clubbing culture
runs much deeper than simple drug use. However the tabloid press
would struggle to see it from this point of view.
The national press' initial coverage of the Acid
House scene was a positive one, with The Sun promoting the famous
craze of 'Acid Smiley Face T-Shirts', now accredited with 1988/89
E-culture, as the latest fashion to impress your friends with. They
described Acid House itself as 'cool and groovy', but this would
soon change. Increased pressure from the subcultural press about the
'drug crazed world' of Acid House, and the Dance scene's desire for
a moral panic soon meant that Acid House hit the headlines in the
biggest possible way. Indeed, what followed may have been the single
biggest contributing element in Acid/Rave's explosion as young
people's most popular form of entertainment at the turn of the
decade.
Moral panic broke out in October 1988. Only two weeks after running
the positive story about Acid House, the Sun linked the scene with
rumours of new horror drug ecstasy, bearing the headline 'Evil of
Ecstasy' on October 19th. The other tabloids including The Post and
Today all ran similar stories, many on their front pages along with
photographs of writhing masses of sweaty teenagers. One Sun headline
entitled 'Spaced out!' is accompanied by such a photo, along with a
caption saying, 'Night of ecstasy... thrill seeking youngsters in a
dance frenzy at the secret party attended by more than 11,000.' The
ravers in the photo look hot, crazed and quite demented. The use of
an exclamation mark in a headline is usually reserved for only the
most shocking of subjects. The moral panic had begun.
Because of this media coverage, the 'smiley face' T-Shirts promoted
by the press only months before were recalled from the shops and
some Acid nightclubs such as Trip club changed their names so that
they would not be associated with drugs and closed down. However,
the climax of Acid House's media coverage was marked by it's first
ecstasy related death on July 14th 1989. Clare Leighton collapsed
and later died after taking a pill at the Hacienda Club in
Manchester. She was aged just 16. Ecstasy was no longer a menace to
society, it was a severe threat to the well being of thousands of
Britain's young people, and in extension, so was Acid House.
This hit a big blow to the more commercial Acid scene that had
emerged as a result of media attention and many of the new nights
closed down while big nights had to lower their profiles and prove
to the authorities that they had cleaned up their acts. By the end
of 1989 the scene seemed to be shrinking away and tabloid stories
began to lose their news value. Acid was, for most mainstream Djs
dead and was rarely played out any more. Acid was not dead however,
it had returned underground - to what it had been before the moral
panic - and when it would resurface in 1991 it would be known as the
Rave scene.
Thanks to the hype created by Acid's music press, they had in
essence instigated the wave of negative exposure themselves - some
would argue deliberately. In her research, Sarah Thornton argues the
theory that subcultures target young people by purposefully creating
misleading or sensationalised negative views of their cultures. In
the case of Acid/Rave, the music press seemed to have preyed on the
fact that youngsters desire what is forbidden by barraging the
tabloids with tales of drug induced parties and freedom from
parental restrictions. (Thornton p135, 1995)
As this extract from i-D magazine explains, every youth movement
since the 1950's has consisted of a media panic fuelled by
association with drugs:
'Every sub-culture breeds its own moral panic, every moral panic is
stereotyped by its own devil drug. Think of all those headlines in
the past that have screamed themselves horse: mods on speed, freaks
dropping LSD, punks sniffing glue, blacks smoking dope, even
cocaine-crazed yuppies.' (i-D June 1990)
This was by no means the first time moral panic had fuelled a youth
uprising in Great Britain. Stanley Cohen (1972) states that media
panic and exposure was what caused the famous clashes between the
mods and rockers of the early 1960's. He argues that it was because
of the hype created by tabloids and other national mass media that
antagonisms arose and the riots occurred.
Admittedly, Cohen's research, and indeed much of the subcultural
study of that time ignores the contribution of subcultural
publications - an element that clearly sparked the tabloid coverage
of Acid/Rave in 1988 - however the principles still hold their
ground. As Thornton states:
'...without tabloid intervention, it is hard to imagine a British
youth movement. For, in turning youth into news, the tabloids both
frame subcultures as major events and also dissemble them. A tabloid
front page, however distorted, is frequently a self-fulfilling
prophecy; it can turn the most ephemeral fad into a lasting
development.' (Thornton 1995: 132)
In the view of other research including that of Stuart Hall in 1978,
it is suggested that media panics may be created in order to
distract from other more serious social inadequacies. In a study of
moral panic over muggings in the early 1970's it is suggested that
the media sensationalised the rise in attacks beyond what any
statistics could support in order to divert attention away from the
government's failure to curb crime and unemployment. In other words,
the media, as a hegemonistic tool of the state diverted the public's
attention to that of the young, black and poor and away from the big
issue.
Similarly it could be said that the media panics over video nasty,
child abuse, dole scroungers, welfare cheats, pornography and in
this research paper's case, drugs and ravers, were in fact
sensationalised by the press in the 1980's and early 1990's to
distract public attention from the clear problems of recession and
social disorder at the time.
Thatcher's Tory government was beginning to struggle and they began
to target Acid House and the ravers as a social scapegoat and a high
profile battle they could win. The Sun was, until recent years an
self-admitted Tory newspaper and was indeed, one of the greatest
attackers of Acid House from 1988-1989. While this article from
Touch magazine suggests that the Sun's treatment of Acid/Rave may
come down to selling as many copies as possible - one of the main
theories behind moral panics- it also suggests that the Sun's
coverage of rave culture may have had some political agenda behind
it as well:
'10,000 DRUG CRAZED YOUTHS' This was the headline carried by the Sun
newspaper during the Summer of 1988. It was part of an
uncompromising effort to bring disrepute and destruction upon the
rave scene that was growing at rapid rate across the country... now
three years after that headline was printed, the Sun has launched
'Answers' - its so called comprehensive guide to weekend raving...
What audacity! How dare they? On approaching the Sun about their
change in attitude we were informed by some clueless dimwit that the
rave scene is now, in their opinion, a respectable, clean and drug
free zone. Anyone who has been to the major clubs recently will know
that drugs are still very much a part of the club rave culture.
We're not saying that this is a good thing, but it does prove that
the Sun knows absolutely fuck all about what's happening on the rave
scene, just as they knew fuck all in 1988 and 1989. The truth is
that the Sun is run and staffed by a bunch of hypocritical, no good,
Tory band-wagon jumping wankers. (Touch December 1991)
It could be argued here that there was a political agenda being
employed by The Sun newspaper. By focusing on the seemingly deviant
activities of those involved in the Acid House movement it shifted
the focus from the economic problems being experienced in Britain at
the time. These ravers were considered to be a reason for these
problems not a direct result of them
When the Rave scene emerged from the underground in 1991, the media
panic it had experienced up until 1990 did not emerge with it. While
scare stories about ecstasy deaths still appeared in the news, much
of the tabloids' coverage of this new 'Hardcore' Dance scene had
begun to take on a far more positive angle. Articles entitled 'High
on Life', 'Bop to burn: Raving is the perfect way to lose weight'
and 'Raves are all the Rage', as well as actual coverage of top
Dance nights in the UK (as described in the Touch article above) all
featured in the press and gave the impression that the Rave scene
had cleared up its act.
When ecstasy was referred to, it was still in a negative light and
in these cases, Rave culture was usually mentioned as well. In
effect, the press dealt with Rave as suited them best, depending on
the subject of an article. With increasing numbers of laws coming in
to force Rave into the clubs and control free parties, many people
saw the growing clubland as a future commercial venture. The press
could now capitalise on this new money, and with the split of Dance
into Happy Hardcore, Drum & Bass and House in 1993, the press found
themselves in a much more convenient situation.
While raves playing Hardcore and Drum & Bass continued to be put on
across the country, House found itself well established in the clubs
and licensed venues. House nights seemed well organised, clean, safe
and an acceptable form of entertainment. Meanwhile, free Rave
parties became associated with drugs and social outcasts - often
happening in illegal venues and attracting large numbers of working
class young people and degenerates such as travellers. Dance seemed
to have an easily reported on good and bad side now.
Large illegal Raves such as that at Castlemorton Common in May 1992
and Castle Donnington a few months later brought Rave into the
limelight again - tabloids branded ravers as public menaces and
called out for new laws to stop parties from happening without a
licence. While the Club scene developed and grew, the Rave scene was
almost stopped in its tracks in December 1993 when the Government,
approaching a general election, created the high profile Criminal
Justice Bill and Public Order Act. Rave once again shrank and became
restricted to organised, legal events while the culture relied on a
new breed of music press to support the scene and help it grow.
National press coverage of rave diminished greatly until the death
of Leah Betts in 1995 - while this event rocked clubland far more
than it did raveland, which had become highly low profile, it
brought ecstasy back into the public domain and proved to the media
that drug related teenage deaths really grabbed the attention of
readers, listeners and viewers. The media panic that followed Leah's
death was immense and threatened to damage Club culture's relatively
clean image forever. Ecstasy, whether associated with clubbing or
raving would prove to be a powerful area for newspapers to cover.
Indeed, Rave's appearance in the national press from Leah's death up
until present day is scarce and almost entirely in association with
MDMA related subject, and predominantly fatalities. Headline's from
the Telegraph alone include 'Rave rules tightened to fight drug
sales' (19th December, 1995), 'Disco boy took ecstasy to feel alive'
(8th November 1996), 'Ecstasy may have killed 'rave' youth' (2nd
January, 1997), 'Senior Tory's son leapt to death after taking
ecstasy' (29th January, 1997), 'Doctors correct to deny drug girl a
transplant' (23rd July, 1997), 'Sleep-over turns into drug rave with
300 gatecrashers' (30th April, 1999) and 'Ecstasy tablets killed
lying teenager' (14th November, 2000).
In a recent article on drug prices in the UK, printed in the
Guardian, the piece is accompanied by a photograph of two people in
a club. The caption reads, 'A rave in Liverpool, among the cities
identified as cheapest for illegal drugs.' Out of dozens of Dance
nights in Liverpool, less than a handful could be described as a
rave. The people in the photo are well dressed, the man in a suit
like jacket and the woman a smart dress - hardly the clothes worn to
a rave night. It would seem in the media that the word 'rave' has
now become synonymous with drugs, and in particular, Ecstasy, just
as 'Northern Ireland' has been associated with violence and
'Westminster' with politics.
Indeed it seems that rave culture is rarely covered by the tabloid
press any more. The coverage by the mass media as a whole has become
less extensive and believes its because people are less shocked by
rave culture - rave culture is no longer sensational enough for
tabloid editors. This is an indication of the successful integration
of rave culture into British mainstream.
The qualitative research method used in this
study provides a micro-level perspective, based on case studies or
data collected from groups and individuals. Emphasis is placed on
smaller scale events exploring the meaning that events and
situations have for participants. The method that lends itself most
to understanding rave culture is that of participant observation.
Only by attending these raves and immersing oneself in its night
time culture can we hope to ascertain its true status in society as
a subculture. It is important that observations are made not only
from an objectivist perspective, that is to say the material space
and actions that I see as an observer. The research in this instance
must also take the form of a subjectivist perspective, that is to
say we must give credence to social interactions, we must progress
from merely observing the participants to actively participating
with them in the subculture in order to gain a better understanding
of its members.
In order to gain a broader focus, I have chosen to observe three
differing aspects of the rave scene. The first being Detonate, the
biggest Drum and Bass and Breaks promotion in Nottingham and indeed
one of the biggest in the U.K. Having run for over seven years and
progressed from humble beginnings at the small club Dubble Bubble,
it now showcases monthly nights at Nottingham super club Stealth and
twice yearly events at Rock City. The event I undertook my research
in was at one of these Rock City events The night was entitled as
Detonate: The Next Level, held on 15th October 2004 and was one of
the biggest rave nights to be seen in Nottingham. Over years spent
in Nottingham as a student I have come to know the two promoters
Kath and James Busby on a personal level and so was able to gain
access to the VIP area in order to make this research a little
easier to carry out. The time was 1:15a.m. I first decided to focus
on the dance floor as this is where the majority of the packed out
Rock City crowd could be found. It was a mass of sweaty heaving
bodies jumping up and down in time to the bass heavy, pounding beat,
years later almost vindicating Adorno’s description of the
predictable jazz beat on the dance floor. As far as I could tell the
majority of the crowd were male although there was still a
significant proportion of females, if I were to give an estimated
figure I would say a 65% male to 35% female ratio. The crowd express
their delight when a well mixed tune or just a pleasing tune on its
own gets played by responding to the DJ by waving their fist in the
air and calling for the DJ to rewind or reload, as is the common
parlance, the track. The main room is so packed that people are
dancing on the stairs, near the bar, even on seats. After ten
minutes of dance floor observation I turned my attention to the bar
area, it is a heavy point of socialisation as the participants are
getting more intoxicated and hence less inhibited. The bar is
seemingly unable to cope with the vast amount of ravers searching
for a drink. Bottles or cans are the preferred receptacles for
holding drink as they are less prone to spillage in the chaos of the
dance floor. Interestingly, bottles of water are purchased with as
much if not more regularity as alcoholic produce. Does this indicate
a surrogate use of the raving drug ecstasy? Judging from the
stereotypical gurn and profuse sweat the researcher has no other
conclusion but to confirm that there are drugs being consumed.
The second rave event I have focused on is also based in Nottingham
but it has more of an underground feel to it due to the venue in
which it is located. This event is known as Firefly and is to Techno
in Nottingham what Detonate is to drum and bass. As a promotion it
has been running for five years with its original home being the now
defunct The Bomb; it too is now located in a monthly position at
Stealth. However Firefly also hosts bi annual events at The Marcus
Garvey Centre (MGC), a community centre in Lenton, Nottingham built
for the use of its residents and to honour Jamaican nationalist
Marcus Garvey. The layout of the MGC is less your standard club
which has a fixed dancefloor, bar area and chill out zone, more one
big hall with a stage for the DJ’s and a stack of speakers either
side. It is much more comparable to the raves which occurred in
disused warehouses during the Acid House phenomenon than to club
nights which are found at Steath and Rock City. Using a similar
methodology to the one employed at Rock City I first observed the
activities of the crowd on the dance floor, or in this instance the
area in front of the stage that was assumed to be the dance floor,
at 1am. Although the musical genre may be different here than was at
Detonate, the crowd reactions are the same. The hall is a mass of
sweaty ravers, all gazing at the DJ in awe of his tune selection and
mixing abilities. The DJ is occasionally called upon to rewind the
track if it is an especially popular or classic tune, although not
as frequently as was the case at Detonate. The gender mix here is
split more evenly and there appears to be less ‘shady’ characters
than there were to be found at Detonate. By this I mean there
appears to be less attitude and more fun loving vibes, a return to
the principles on which rave was founded upon in the late 80’s. At
1:20am I shift my focus on to the small bar located right at the
rear of the venue. The alcohol selection is sparse while the supply
of water bottles and lucozade is plentiful. As was noted at Detonate
the majority of the crowd are buying and consuming water bottles and
judging from their behaviour it appears as though ecstasy
consumption is preferable to that of alcohol. The smell of marijuana
is just as noticeable as it was in Rock City. A quick trip to the
toilet provides me with an interesting insight into the manner in
which drugs are dealt within the venue. Just in front of the
entrance there are three men offering me ‘pills’ or ‘weed’ by
thrusting a bag containing both these drugs in my face. What is
surprising here is the blatant nature of the way in which these
drugs are offered for sale, as if I had entered some legal
marketplace. Naturally I declined but it was clear that many people
within the venue were only too happy to purchase these drugs in such
a blatant manner.
An interesting pattern emerges here when we consider that not just
Detonate and Firefly have been relocated to Stealth from The Bomb
but also Camouflage, Product and Spectrum whose genre of music they
champion are hip hop, House and break beat respectively. In 2005 The
Bomb closed down after these major promotions moved to newly opened
Stealth due to its superior capacity of 1500 as opposed to The
Bomb’s capacity of 800. With Stealth monopolising the major
promotions of the city, The Bomb could not compete and its weekend
audience gradually declined. This is yet further evidence of how
club’s have capitalised on the popularity of rave culture and that
these promotions are commodities to be consumed by the clubbing
populus of Nottingham and indeed across the U.K. Rave culture is big
business.
The final night I shall focus on for this chapter is one based in
London known as Bangface @ Electrowerkz. This is a slight departure
from my previous two observations not only by its location but also
the musical genre’s. Bangface does not employ a strict musical
policy as the following genre’s are stated on the flyer; neo rave;
acid; jungle; old skool rave; drum & bass; house; techno; break core
and abstract dance. I decided it would be essential to include a
night from London in this paper as this was after all the birthplace
of the Acid House phenomenon in Britain. Taking the same methodology
as has been used previously, I fixed my attention on the dance floor
at 1am. What was surprising at this club was that the crowd did not
seem to be interacting with the DJ as much, there was much more
interaction between fellow ravers on the dance floor. The crowd also
seemed a fair few years younger here with ages looking to range from
late teens to early twenties rather than a mix of people in their
twenties which was to be found at Detonate and Firefly. The dance
floor was teeming with the sounds of whistles and horns being blown,
inflatable toys and beach balls were thrown into the air with
delight from one raver to the next; ironic signs were held aloft
displaying the slogans “I’m raving innit” and “I’m here with my nan”
adding to the festival spirit to be found here. As was found at
Detonate the crowd present has a male bias although women are
represented also. The chill out area was also located directly next
to the bar and so this is where I chose to shift my focus to at
1:15am. As was found at the previous venues there is a plentiful
supply of water bottles and energy drinks but here there is also a
well stocked bar for alcohol as ravers seem to consume an equal mix
of soft and alcoholic beverages. What is interesting also is that
drug consumption is not as blatant as was found at the previous two
venues. No discernable smell of cannabis smoke lingers anywhere in
the club and nor am I offered the chance to purchase any drugs
inside the venue.
Having observed the behaviour of ravers at three differing venue, it
if fair to say that the claims that millions of the nation’s youth
go raving each
weekend on a cocktail of drugs are plausible. Ecstasy is just one of
the many at their disposal. What can society do to stop this?
Legalisation is not the answer in my opinion. This would open the
floodgates to drug abuse. However how can the law continue if it
shown to be an ass? I believe it takes a general shift in the
consciousness of society as to the perceptions of what drugs really
are and what their effects can do. The “Talk to Frank” adverts we
have recently seen are a step in the right direction. Rather than
warn people off drugs, which only causes people to rebel against
these warnings, it is a more prudent to display the facts and make
as much information as is possible available to the potential drug
consumer. The declassification of marijuana to Class C seems to be a
green light for its use throughout society, as walking down a city
centre its pungent odour can be picked up. Indeed the three crowd’s
observed in this paper appear to treat it liberally just as they
would with legal drugs sold on the premises such as alcohol and
tobacco. Indeed at Firefly class A drugs were offered up for sale
just as any commodity is offered in any marketplace across the
country.
The lack of serious, informed debate in government with regard drugs
policy only serves to perpetuate this black hole in the law. The
media are quick to pounce on any major comment from a public figure
on drugs and inevitably giving it a negative spin. Without a
serious, informed debate how can we hope to tackle the social
menaces of the consumption of hard drugs.
Chapter Five: Survival through Commodification:
Rather than stagnating into self parody, as British youth cultures
had traditionally done after brief years of vitality, rave culture
has remained in a state of constant creative flux, regenerating
itself year after year with fresh blood and influences. Although the
culture has itself been commodified through various businesses and
entrepreneurs, its apolitical hedonist heart has slowly been
assimilated into the British leisure industry.
Following government legislation such as Bright’s Entertainment Bill
in 1991, licensed raves began to prosper and have continued to do so
up to present day. A nocturnal economy has prospered through the DJ
agencies, records shops and labels that came arose from the Acid
House movement. In the mid 90’s three major house brands; Cream,
Ministry of Sound and Renaissance commodified and commercialised the
culture further through DJ mix CD’s ( now a legal alternative to the
bootleg mixtape), merchandise and clothing ranges, opening bars and
shops, promoting nationwide club ‘tours’ and package holidays to
destinations such as Ibiza and Ayia Napa. As Collin argues : “The
Ministry refined the idea of club culture as pure product, and the
nightclub as the marketing tool” (Collin p269 p270 1998). What was
originally intended as an alternative to the mainstream nature of
raves has now generated a new mainstream; a high street dance-drug
culture.
Major music labels have sought to cash in on the largely independent
dance music scene. They have launched subsidiary dance operations
headed by scene heroes such as Paul Oakenfold and Goldie, bought out
or affiliated themselves with cutting edge independent labels,
issued mix compilations, and marketed DJ’s as celebrity superstars.
Leisure opportunities for young people outside the capital have
altered fundamentally since the eighties and pleasures that were
previously only available to a bohemian elite are now open to all.
As Patrick Mignon argues: “Popular music and drugs are two products
which by their very success, indicate the spread of behaviour
previously reserved for the elites: the right to explore one’s
interior or social space. They are tied to the growth of the
industries of dream and relaxation” (Mignon, Redhead p176, 2000). It
is hedonism distilled to its purest essence. The lack of any
ideology bar the ceaseless pursuit of sheer pleasure has made it
even more accessible. The weekend dance session is no longer
considered subversive or extraordinary, merely a natural option for
a night out.
While back in 1988 acid house was roundly banned by Radio 1, now the
rave genres it has spawned enjoy many prime time slots with Pete
Tong’s essential selection, Fabio and Grooverider and Mary Anne
Hobbs show’s considered to be the most exciting on commercial radio.
As Tomlinson argues: “once a music is co-opted into the mass
culture, it can no longer be considered confrontational” (Tomlinson,
Epstein p207, 1998). And this is perhaps where we find rave culture
in society nowadays. The music itself does not strike fear into the
government of the day, instead it is applauded for the diversity and
aesthetically aural qualities.
However, the question of liberal ecstasy use is still something that
draws and indeed warrants the attention of the authorities. Just
recently on 16th April 2006 the nightclub Fridge in Brixton was
raided by 200 policeman as part of an attempt to target class A drug
dealing. There were 11 arrests. John Roberts, the Metropolitan
Police Authority's lead member for Lambeth, said the operation was
part of a wider attempt to end the misery that drug dealing caused
to the community. Mr Roberts said: "By listening to the community
and responding to their concern we can tackle drug dealing in
Lambeth. He said the operation was "part of a much bigger picture"
which involved targeting "the anti-social criminality that drug
dealing breeds and the misery that is causes". He added: "People
come to Brixton to have fun and enjoy the nightlife, they do not
want to come to clubs where they are being peddled drugs." (Source:
www.bbc.co.uk/news)
The ongoing search for meaning amongst the generations of post war
youth will continue as long as there is a feeling of not belonging
to their adult society. Youth’s search for meaning through music
becomes linked to their alienated state. Each resistive activity is
countered by the co-optation of that activity into the marketing of
a particular music. The alientation of youth becomes a marketing
strategy to which rave culture continues to be bought into.
Cohen, S. (1972) Folk Devils and Moral Panics:
The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. St. Martin’s Press: New York.
Cohen, P. (1972) cited in Gelder, K. and Thornton, S. eds (1997) The
Subcultures Reader. Routledge: London
Collin, M. (1998) Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and
Acid house.
Serpent’s Tail: London
Epstein, J (1998) Youth Culture: Identity in a Postmodern World.
Blackwell: London
Hall, S. and Jefferson, T. (1976) Resistance through Rituals: Youth
subcultures in post-war Britain. HarperCollins: London.
Hall, S. and Jefferson, T. (1976) Resistance through Rituals: Youth
subcultures in post-war Britain. HarperCollins: London.
I-D, June 1990
Malbon, B (1999) Clubbing: dancing, ecstasy and vitality, Routledge:
London
Madge, T (2001) White Mischief: A Cultural History of Cocaine
Mainstream: Edinburgh
Office of National Statistics
Redhead, S (2002) Rave off : politics and deviance in contemporary
youth culture
Ashgate: Aldershot
Touch, December 1991
The Daily Telegraph, December 19, 1995
The Daily Telegraph, November 8, 1996
The Daily Telegraph, January 2, 1997
The Daily Telegraph, January 29, 1997
The Daily Telegraph, July 23, 1997
The Daily Telegraph, November 20, 2000
The Daily Telegraph, July 23, 1997
The Sun, October 5, 1988
The Sun, October 19, 1988
The Sun, November 24, 1988
The Sun, June 26, 1989
Thornton, S (1995) Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural
Capital, Cambridge: Polity
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4913328.stm
Additional References Consulted:
Arnold, D (1970) Subcultures Glendessary Press: Berkeley
Hammersley, R, Khan, F and Ditton, J (2002)Ecstasy and the rise of
the chemical generation Routledge: London
Knowledge, December 2004
Mixmag, December 2004
Reynolds, S. (1999) Generation Ecstasy: Into the world of Techno and
Rave culture Little, Brown and Company: LondonReproduced with permission of the author.
The views expressed are not necessarily those of Fantazia.
For more information on this article contact:
jayfin83@hotmail.com
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