Why is the European rave scene so much better than the American (IMO)?

Yeah Dj Mad Dog is great. I know a lot of people in this section don't care for the hard shit but I dig it.



Had the chance to see Tiesto this month but I missed it because all of the other artists were trap basically. I don't mind a little of it mixed into a dj's set, but I didn't really want to shell out the cash to sit through multiple acts of artists that are pretty much exclusively trap.
 
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My take on it is that the European electronic music scene pays a lot more attention and respect to both the old-schoolers (Carl Cox, Chemical bros, Prodigy etc.) and the newer indie producers/DJs that try out interesting stuff (Jamie XX, Daft Punk, Justice etc.). As opposed to the American scene that's mostly just fixated on whatever mainstream DJ had a hit on Beatport. Because of this the American scene is addicted to familiarity (they'll only play it if it sounds like a variation of Darude - Sandstorm), whereas the European scene celebrates familiarity AND alternative stuff.

It also has to do with how profitable generic EDM festivals are in the US. They make fat businessmen a lot of money and they mainly attract douchey guys that know or respect little about electronic music. It's a pity seeing as how important the US was to the development of house music back in the 80s, but times change I guess.

Obviously this depends on where you go. There's plenty of crap clubs in Holland that just play generic big-room house and some great underground places in NY that plays some mind-blowing electronica. But the general consensus is that Europe is a lot more free-spirited when it comes to the electronic music scene.
 
^All quite true, I think, esp the bit about familiarity. Reminds me of that bit in Futurama in the Bender Should Not Be Allowed On Television ep, 'This is executive Alpha, programmed to like things it has seen before'.

Europe (particularly the UK) was the birthplace of rave culture so it's really not surprising it's played out this way. The US also has that fanatical anti-drugs thing going on, which doesn't help - I got my packet of cigarettes emptied out and searched when I went to a club in NY ffs, the hell is with that?
 
The UK is in a state of flux at the moment. Things started going downhill around 2006 when most of the best clubs outside of London couldn't attract the crowds on a weekly basis, so the biggest nights such as Cream, Gatecrasher and Godskitchen reduced their regular nights down to monthly events, and then as the scene continued to wane they reduced the frequency of their parties even further to 5 or 6 times a year, looking to the Americas, Asia and Eastern Europe where they continued to put on showcase events.

There have always been good nights to be had and still are, but the UK dominance of the superclub and showcase rave scene that stretched from 1987 - 2005 dissipated as a new generation of youngsters started to get into other things and by then dance music was no longer the big thing in youth culture, which was primarily responsible for driving the industry through the glory years, and it's always young folk that drive the zeitgeist.

By last Christmas it was looking like it was truly game over. The Nation in Liverpool (home of Cream) saw it's last party on NYE following a compulsory purchase order on the area in which it was located, leading to it's demolition. If you scroll up a few posts, you will see my picture of Godskitchens last ever party in their home city of Birmingham after which they bowed out with dignity, acknowledging that they are now yesterdays news but simultaneously providing the city with one of the best weekends in years, turning the area around the club into a 48 hour street carnival. Then, a couple of weeks ago, Fabric was closed for local political reasons (which I have posted about) and with Space being demolished and CreamIbiza @ Amnesia being the last UK night on an Island that was DOMINATED by UK promoters for 10 years, things were looking even more depressing than ever.

But with the loss of 3 of the countries most established clubs, the vacuum left has seen a sudden explosion in new nights, especially in Birmingham where the response to Godskitchens departure demonstrated how much of an appetite the city has for this culture, and Gatecrasher, while also being a Birmingham based promoter, had their greatest success through their weekly Saturday night parties at The Republic in Sheffield, and have finally returned to a new venue in the city where they have blown up again. It's all probably going to be a flash in the pan though, as it just isn't the 90's any more, the interest just isn't as widespread and with all the new venues and nights suddenly opening up again the saturation point that started the downslope in the first place will in all likelihood be reached again by the new year.

Central (Lowlands) and Eastern Europe are where it's at now, as Belgium, Germany and Holland have always had good scenes and are now showcasing our best jox at their events as a pose to the late 90's, where the UK clubs I have cited above were driven by the flood of new talent coming from these countries (Tiësto, Paul Van Dyk and Mauro Picotto just being 3 examples of many DJ's who made their name on our tiny spit of rock at the start of their careers).

And there is still always Ibiza, Space or no Space, as despite the lack of a UK presence on the Island, all the clubs are still there and now rock to a fine selection of mainland European based clubs nights and good music over there is still in plentiful supply.
 
steewith2ees said:
Then, a couple of weeks ago, Fabric was closed for local political reasons (which I have posted about) and with Space being demolished
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Absolutely gutted I never got to go to either of these. Stupid isolated colonial outpost, 18,000km away from everything
 
It's sort of like Disco in a way. Used to be huge genre with a huge movement behind it and then they killed it off so only a few Disco influences were left in music afterwards. A genre holocaust if you will. Although I'd say in Disco's case, the genre actually got better once it's popularity went downhill (Post-Disco) because it had to impress a tougher audience in order to survive. When it comes to electronic music however, the audience has only become more easily impressed with whatever cookie-cutter stuff comes out.
 
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