onetwothreefour
Bluelight Crew
so it doesn't cover *everything* that i would have liked it to (it had to be between 2,000 and 2,500 words, and i was already over!), but it's as good as i can do 
remember, also, that it's related specifically to the rave scene in my home town - melbourne, australia.
i'm quite happy for people to piss on it/complement it/whatever. basically say whatever you want, i'm not gonna be offended. what kinda mark do you think i'll get...should get it back in a few weeks.
also, is there a way to indent my text (as in the long quoted stuff that's in italics)? 'cause that would be handy
What exactly is rave culture? In fact, is it even possible to define such a thing? Despite what the mainstream media has been telling us for the last decade or so, ravers actually aren’t a homogenous group of irresponsible druggies conforming to such stereotypes – instead, rave attendees come from all walks of life, and are quite often unidentifiable outside of the environment itself. Some ravers are drug users, some are not. Ravers are students, doctors, journalists, businessmen, kids, drop-outs. They could be your neighbours, your friends or your relatives. That said, my job – in writing this essay – is to identify the common thread that runs through the raving community and discern what makes this scene so unique. Rave culture, of course, is a combination of all these things – the people (and the communities they form), the music, the fashions and yes, the drugs. They all form an integral part of what is rave culture, and I shall herein attempt to discuss these aspects in an understandable and cohesive fashion.
As Eric Stiens (who undertook a similar research task as my own) identified,
“Rave culture can be traced back as far as you want to trace it. It can be traced back to Native American religious ceremonies. It can be traced back to the sixties Be-Ins and Love Ins and Acid Tests. It can be traced back to anarchist revolutions in Italy and France. It pulls energy from many different directions.”
In short, rave culture has drawn on many hundreds of different influences – from the last few decades to the time when the first drum was pounded thousands of years ago – raves are truly the ultimate post-modern melting pot, incorporating a massive variety of influences and instigators.
Music
Musically, raves still draw on a vast history, though more tenable links (such as the advent of electronica as a genre of its own, then spawning dozens of its own subgenres) did not begin until the late 1970s, when pioneering artists such as Germans Kraftwerk began to experiment with the quirky noises their electronic gadgets and devices could make – incidentally, Kraftwerk survive to this day, having just released their first album (of new material) in thirteen years.
As is clear, giving anything more than this brief overview of the musical growth of the scene would be far too time consuming, so I will concentrate now on what is relevant to the particulars of my discussion. Though to the untrained eye the two may seem inexplicably linked, it is important to note how much the music of the rave scene tends to differ from its clubbing counterpart. Broadly, clubbers like to think that their tastes are more refined, whereas the raver seems to focus more on the visceral emotional aspects of his or her environment – an issue that will become clearly linked in with various other aspects of rave culture later in this essay.
As demonstrated by Chris Brookman’s Honours paper on the Sydney rave scene, musical taste is not entirely consistent in terms of geography, even in the (relatively) small rave communities of Australia. Sydney’s scene seems to be a predominant mix of Trance (please refer to the Musical Glossary) nights, and Hardcore or Happy Hard genres. Melbourne, on the other hand, is dominated by harder styles of all dance music (ranging from Hard NRG, Hard Trance, Hard Dance and Hard House – though differentiating between them can be a difficult task), along with the usual Melodic and Uplifting Trance and a smattering of Techno, Breaks and assorted others. This Trance, both Melodic and Uplifting, is so-called because it tries to provide an uplifting state of mind – the hair-standing-on-end feeling of euphoria from this music is linked absolutely with the rave. This is another reason why drugs such as MDMA, amphetamines and cocaine are also popular – they induce similar feelings.
Strangely, club nights are often at odds with the actual rave scene in Melbourne, with a vast amount of clubs employing House DJs. Evidently, the laid back dynamics of the House music scene (and the slowed-down pace of the music itself) might suggest a more hedonistic rave crowd, something which is corroborated by the more expressive fashions of raves and ravers.
Ostensibly, my own and research of others suggests that people attend raves specifically for the music. Each individual experiences this on a different level of course, though the music does seem to ‘unite’ attendees. Take this particular quote for instance:
“I was at a rave in the middle of nowhere. I had driven over six hours by myself to get there. It was about four o’clock in the morning. I was dancing to incredible music, when, suddenly all of the bass dropped out. I was sweaty. I was exhausted. The bass started to come back in slowly and I turned to the girl dancing next to me. We made eye contact and we both smiled a knowing smile. In that brief second, I knew that we were in the same place, that we were there for the same reasons, that we loved each other, that we loved the world, that we loved what we were doing.”
Though this sentiment might not be echoed by everyone, my experience tells me that most ravers have encountered the same thing at one stage in their ‘raving life’.
This love for the music - and the love for each other – is not entirely coincidental, nor is it entirely a result of the drug use within the scene. Rather, it stems from one of the original doctrines of the rave scene, as demonstrated by one of the earliest manifestations of the American rave - in December of 1992 - when New York-based DJ Frankie Bones
“held a party at an abandoned loading dock in Queens that drew over 5000 kids from New York and neighboring states. According to rave myth, this was when Frankie made his speech about peace, love, unity, and respect, which were to become PLUR, the foundation of the American rave scene.”
Ravers: who are they?
Contrary to popular opinion, not everyone in attendance at a rave is a “PLUR” advocate, though. Again, ravers are not a homogenous group. PLUR is seen by some of the “old skool” ravers (who often label themselves “jaded,” in a bid to separate themselves from the perceived naiveties and immaturity of “new skool” ravers) as one of the defining “newbie” characteristics. Though these people might also advocate an approach wherein we treat others with equal respect, labelling such behaviour “PLURRY” is seen unambiguously as a decidedly ignoble thing to do.
To draw a common thread through the rave community is a possibility though. Whilst not everyone fits inside the categorisation, a vast amount of rave attendees are young (“between 17 and 25” ), and most are still in some form of education institution, whether it be high school or university. What’s most interesting is that the majority of rave attendees seem to be quite well educated, which, as one raver described it, prompts many uninitiated to remark that “these kids with their funny clothes and weird music appear to be very smart,” upon actually experiencing a rave crowd first hand. An unexpected maturity among these young crowds is also evident, with one raver responding to the “suggestion that the rave kids need some old, mature voices: in my experience plenty of those kids are wiser and more mature than most of us old timers will ever be” .
Despite this maturity though (and also despite such prominent rave activist groups as “Ohms not Bombs” and the like), the rave community seems strangely inactive on the political front. In fact, though “the movement … involves music, fashion, religion (spiritual awareness), technology, art, what is really lacking is a political impact” . Whilst some accredit this to things such as this generation’s (supposedly) apathetic outlook toward such things, or the lack of any real political cause to embrace, I see it more as an indication of the diversity of the scene. Despite the fact that dance music is often synonymous with left-wing, activist and organic politics, my own personal experience tells me that raves attract an entire cross-section of the community (and therefore an entire cross-section of political views), which then makes the task of any all-embracing political agenda virtually impossible.
Resistance and Oppression: Raves outside the Mainstream
Regardless of the scene’s apparent inclusiveness and peaceful ideals, raves and ravers seem to have always been up against the law. Undoubtedly, illegal drug use within the scene might account for some of this (and to discount the importance of this would be plain naïve), but there are certainly other aspects of rave culture which also clash with the “mainstream” ideology. The rejection of “pub culture” (a far more macho and testosterone-driven philosophy than rave culture) results in a sort of mainstream wariness of rave culture amongst Australians. “The dance culture prides itself on a lack of aggression,” and though the pub culture does not strictly advocate of violence, the peace loving philosophy of ravers is often at odds with what mainstream Australia is accustomed to.
This marginalisation (seemingly also encouraged by the reports from the mainstream media) continues to reinforce the idea that raves and ravers are some how supposed to be excluded from the mainstream. And though “marginality may be a condition of oppression…it may also be a site of resistance” . As I will detail later in regard to fashions, rave culture often preys upon the mainstream culture, taking artefacts from other areas and “reappropriating” or “reinterpreting” them. This touches upon the issue of legitimate and illegitimate purpose – the reappropriation of consumer items for their “illegitimate” (unintended) use at raves – the paradigm of post-modernity it would seem. Examples of this within the rave community exist in glow sticks (which were originally tools used by fisherman to light up the seas, but now exist as a dancing accessory), fashions (as I will address), and baby powder (used to lubricate the floor for dancing), amongst others.
Drugs
It can’t be denied – ravers use drugs. From Frankie Knuckles’ infamous statement that "all you need to have a rave is some techno music, about 500 kids, and [just] as many hits of acid" to the obvious drug imagery and symbolism that permeates event names and rave décor, drug use has an undeniable position within rave culture. Of course, not all ravers take drugs, and not all drug-takers attend raves (Four Corners reported that ecstasy use has spread widely beyond the rave community in its rave documentary, “Beneath the Mirrorball” ), but there is a significant crossover.
Despite protestations by those outside of rave culture, most drug use within the rave environment seems to be used (or is at least intended to be) to compliment other more important components, such as the music or social aspects. Clearly, this works both ways, with music, décor and so on all focused on increasing the visual, auditory and sensual experience of the audience. Says one raver, “in taking ecstasy, I dance just to dance. I realised that the action of dancing and letting go and freely moving is great. Being myself, enjoying the moment and the feelings, ecstasy almost puts you in a meditative trance.”
The main drugs that seem to be consumed at raves range from the “obvious” – “Ecstasy” (MDMA, MDA), “Speed” (Amphetamine, Methamphetamine), and “Acid” (LSD) to the more obscure, such as GHB, 2C-B and Ketamine. Of course, drug use is not limited strictly to these in particular, nor is the use of any one of these necessarily as prevalent at one rave as another. Coupled with the information that the rave audience is mostly young and well educated, along with the prevalent online Harm Minimisation communities such as Bluelight (www.bluelight.ru), Dancesafe (www.dancesafe.org), Ravesafe (www.ravesafe.com) and Erowid (www.erowid.org), one can see that the use of drugs within the rave community is no where near as perilous as the mainstream media might have us believe.
Media
Though not a major issue in relation to this essay’s actual purpose, the concern of raves and their representation in the media and general public is at least worth touching on, not least for the fact that these representation seem often to be at odds with the scene itself. And as a fellow researcher also discovered, “things written about the rave scene are very chaotic” .
Jesse Desenberg (world-renowned Sydney DJ Kid Kenobi) says that the media is “acting out its own dreaded self-fulfilling prophecy,” in that the way it portrays raves and ravers is only discouraging toward improving understanding of it, and only serves to keep the rave community separate from mainstream culture. ”In painting Anna Wood [the teenage girl who died after attending a Sydney rave and taking ecstasy] as the corrupted middle class innocent,” says Desenberg, “the media had both represented rave culture as a site of resistance and guaranteed its continued subordination of dominant society” . In short, the media acts to perpetuate its own pessimistic vision of rave culture, when the opposite might actually be far closer to the truth.
One thing which really seems to come through in rave literature and film is a lack of understanding of the culture; discounting films such as Greg Harrison’s Groove (2000), most media seems out-of-touch with realistic depictions of the sub-culture. X-Stacy, a play examining the issues of drug use among teenagers, demonstrates this trend also, with often unrealistic characterisations of rave “archetypes”. This, even after the play was apparently well researched, according to playwright Margery Forde . No, the DJ is not a “jukebox,” but crowd requests are certainly common. Go, Doug Liman’s 1999 seminal Generation-X film, seems to have difficulty portraying the drug issue realistically also.
Of course, one can’t expect an ultra-liberal approach to the rave scene in any Hollywood movie, but the portrayal of this sub-culture in the mainstream media certainly leaves a lot to be desired. By ignoring this though, the media “places [the rave scene] outside the realm of comprehension of dominant society,” thereby ensuring its unfortunate position as “one of the least understood of modern sub-cultures” .
Fashion
Often a negligible focus in many other cultural outlets, rave fashion actually exists as a hugely noticeable and functional representation of the rave community. Though the fashion trends are by no means mandatory, as prominent DJ Mark Dynamix says, “[fashion is] important, it gives an identity. Each genre of dance music has its own identity, and that’s backed up by what people wear. Clubbers wear more sophisticated stuff, the ravers wear more colourful things, glow sticks hanging round their necks” . Again touching on the issue of clubbers versus ravers, this quote emphasises the importance of identity and individualism within the rave scene – raves encourage one to behave without social stigmas hindering them.
Fashion also exists (quite often) as a form of resistance too – t-shirts which ‘reinterpret’ well known brand name imagery (“Enjoy Coca-Cola” changed to “Enjoy Cocaine;” “NRMA” to “MDMA” and so on) are common at raves, and much of the clothing worn is far outside societal norms . “Bright colours are preferred, which may include orange roadwork vests or loose brightly coloured T-shirts,” “Phat Pants” – oversized jeans designed for uber-comfortable dancing and aesthetic purposes – are worn, and ravers are often adorned with “kandy” (beaded bracelets).
By some, glow sticks are even used to differentiate between the two (prevalent) dance music communities – often ravers use them, but (the more sophisticated) clubbers find them unnecessary. Of course, as with any generalisation, this attitude of course is not all-encompassing - rave-focused club nights (such as Bass Station or Hard Kandy, amongst others) attempt to recapture the mood of a rave, wherein attendees are encouraged to continue the ‘rave ethos,’ including fashion and philosophy.
Conclusion
So, what have we found? Well, typically, raves are a culture of resistance – most attendees (whether they realise it or not) are performing in some form of resistance and/or subversion of the mainstream; whether it be through fashion and other forms of self-expression, drug use, political activism or the spectrum of other means. Secondly, though the rave environment ultimately provides a hugely compliant space for people to “escape” from the real world, immersing themselves in something so totally different and illusory that the worries of the world disappear, this is not always the case. As demonstrated by S-11 protesting and rave-affiliated environmental activist groups like “Ohms not Bombs” and “Vibe Tribe” , a strong political undercurrent (wherein the worries of the world become directly related to the rave and rave attendees themselves) is certainly present – though the troubles of diversity (as I discuss) are naturally still relevant. It could even be argued that this sentiment has always existed, stemming from the 1960s hippy movement. Paradoxically, this ideology within the culture has actually been fostered by this escapist paradise and the subversive elements within it. Raves encourage you to escape the grind of the mainstream, and express what you truly feel about things, in a whole variety of ways.
remember, also, that it's related specifically to the rave scene in my home town - melbourne, australia.i'm quite happy for people to piss on it/complement it/whatever. basically say whatever you want, i'm not gonna be offended. what kinda mark do you think i'll get...should get it back in a few weeks.
also, is there a way to indent my text (as in the long quoted stuff that's in italics)? 'cause that would be handy
What exactly is rave culture? In fact, is it even possible to define such a thing? Despite what the mainstream media has been telling us for the last decade or so, ravers actually aren’t a homogenous group of irresponsible druggies conforming to such stereotypes – instead, rave attendees come from all walks of life, and are quite often unidentifiable outside of the environment itself. Some ravers are drug users, some are not. Ravers are students, doctors, journalists, businessmen, kids, drop-outs. They could be your neighbours, your friends or your relatives. That said, my job – in writing this essay – is to identify the common thread that runs through the raving community and discern what makes this scene so unique. Rave culture, of course, is a combination of all these things – the people (and the communities they form), the music, the fashions and yes, the drugs. They all form an integral part of what is rave culture, and I shall herein attempt to discuss these aspects in an understandable and cohesive fashion.
As Eric Stiens (who undertook a similar research task as my own) identified,
“Rave culture can be traced back as far as you want to trace it. It can be traced back to Native American religious ceremonies. It can be traced back to the sixties Be-Ins and Love Ins and Acid Tests. It can be traced back to anarchist revolutions in Italy and France. It pulls energy from many different directions.”
In short, rave culture has drawn on many hundreds of different influences – from the last few decades to the time when the first drum was pounded thousands of years ago – raves are truly the ultimate post-modern melting pot, incorporating a massive variety of influences and instigators.
Music
Musically, raves still draw on a vast history, though more tenable links (such as the advent of electronica as a genre of its own, then spawning dozens of its own subgenres) did not begin until the late 1970s, when pioneering artists such as Germans Kraftwerk began to experiment with the quirky noises their electronic gadgets and devices could make – incidentally, Kraftwerk survive to this day, having just released their first album (of new material) in thirteen years.
As is clear, giving anything more than this brief overview of the musical growth of the scene would be far too time consuming, so I will concentrate now on what is relevant to the particulars of my discussion. Though to the untrained eye the two may seem inexplicably linked, it is important to note how much the music of the rave scene tends to differ from its clubbing counterpart. Broadly, clubbers like to think that their tastes are more refined, whereas the raver seems to focus more on the visceral emotional aspects of his or her environment – an issue that will become clearly linked in with various other aspects of rave culture later in this essay.
As demonstrated by Chris Brookman’s Honours paper on the Sydney rave scene, musical taste is not entirely consistent in terms of geography, even in the (relatively) small rave communities of Australia. Sydney’s scene seems to be a predominant mix of Trance (please refer to the Musical Glossary) nights, and Hardcore or Happy Hard genres. Melbourne, on the other hand, is dominated by harder styles of all dance music (ranging from Hard NRG, Hard Trance, Hard Dance and Hard House – though differentiating between them can be a difficult task), along with the usual Melodic and Uplifting Trance and a smattering of Techno, Breaks and assorted others. This Trance, both Melodic and Uplifting, is so-called because it tries to provide an uplifting state of mind – the hair-standing-on-end feeling of euphoria from this music is linked absolutely with the rave. This is another reason why drugs such as MDMA, amphetamines and cocaine are also popular – they induce similar feelings.
Strangely, club nights are often at odds with the actual rave scene in Melbourne, with a vast amount of clubs employing House DJs. Evidently, the laid back dynamics of the House music scene (and the slowed-down pace of the music itself) might suggest a more hedonistic rave crowd, something which is corroborated by the more expressive fashions of raves and ravers.
Ostensibly, my own and research of others suggests that people attend raves specifically for the music. Each individual experiences this on a different level of course, though the music does seem to ‘unite’ attendees. Take this particular quote for instance:
“I was at a rave in the middle of nowhere. I had driven over six hours by myself to get there. It was about four o’clock in the morning. I was dancing to incredible music, when, suddenly all of the bass dropped out. I was sweaty. I was exhausted. The bass started to come back in slowly and I turned to the girl dancing next to me. We made eye contact and we both smiled a knowing smile. In that brief second, I knew that we were in the same place, that we were there for the same reasons, that we loved each other, that we loved the world, that we loved what we were doing.”
Though this sentiment might not be echoed by everyone, my experience tells me that most ravers have encountered the same thing at one stage in their ‘raving life’.
This love for the music - and the love for each other – is not entirely coincidental, nor is it entirely a result of the drug use within the scene. Rather, it stems from one of the original doctrines of the rave scene, as demonstrated by one of the earliest manifestations of the American rave - in December of 1992 - when New York-based DJ Frankie Bones
“held a party at an abandoned loading dock in Queens that drew over 5000 kids from New York and neighboring states. According to rave myth, this was when Frankie made his speech about peace, love, unity, and respect, which were to become PLUR, the foundation of the American rave scene.”
Ravers: who are they?
Contrary to popular opinion, not everyone in attendance at a rave is a “PLUR” advocate, though. Again, ravers are not a homogenous group. PLUR is seen by some of the “old skool” ravers (who often label themselves “jaded,” in a bid to separate themselves from the perceived naiveties and immaturity of “new skool” ravers) as one of the defining “newbie” characteristics. Though these people might also advocate an approach wherein we treat others with equal respect, labelling such behaviour “PLURRY” is seen unambiguously as a decidedly ignoble thing to do.
To draw a common thread through the rave community is a possibility though. Whilst not everyone fits inside the categorisation, a vast amount of rave attendees are young (“between 17 and 25” ), and most are still in some form of education institution, whether it be high school or university. What’s most interesting is that the majority of rave attendees seem to be quite well educated, which, as one raver described it, prompts many uninitiated to remark that “these kids with their funny clothes and weird music appear to be very smart,” upon actually experiencing a rave crowd first hand. An unexpected maturity among these young crowds is also evident, with one raver responding to the “suggestion that the rave kids need some old, mature voices: in my experience plenty of those kids are wiser and more mature than most of us old timers will ever be” .
Despite this maturity though (and also despite such prominent rave activist groups as “Ohms not Bombs” and the like), the rave community seems strangely inactive on the political front. In fact, though “the movement … involves music, fashion, religion (spiritual awareness), technology, art, what is really lacking is a political impact” . Whilst some accredit this to things such as this generation’s (supposedly) apathetic outlook toward such things, or the lack of any real political cause to embrace, I see it more as an indication of the diversity of the scene. Despite the fact that dance music is often synonymous with left-wing, activist and organic politics, my own personal experience tells me that raves attract an entire cross-section of the community (and therefore an entire cross-section of political views), which then makes the task of any all-embracing political agenda virtually impossible.
Resistance and Oppression: Raves outside the Mainstream
Regardless of the scene’s apparent inclusiveness and peaceful ideals, raves and ravers seem to have always been up against the law. Undoubtedly, illegal drug use within the scene might account for some of this (and to discount the importance of this would be plain naïve), but there are certainly other aspects of rave culture which also clash with the “mainstream” ideology. The rejection of “pub culture” (a far more macho and testosterone-driven philosophy than rave culture) results in a sort of mainstream wariness of rave culture amongst Australians. “The dance culture prides itself on a lack of aggression,” and though the pub culture does not strictly advocate of violence, the peace loving philosophy of ravers is often at odds with what mainstream Australia is accustomed to.
This marginalisation (seemingly also encouraged by the reports from the mainstream media) continues to reinforce the idea that raves and ravers are some how supposed to be excluded from the mainstream. And though “marginality may be a condition of oppression…it may also be a site of resistance” . As I will detail later in regard to fashions, rave culture often preys upon the mainstream culture, taking artefacts from other areas and “reappropriating” or “reinterpreting” them. This touches upon the issue of legitimate and illegitimate purpose – the reappropriation of consumer items for their “illegitimate” (unintended) use at raves – the paradigm of post-modernity it would seem. Examples of this within the rave community exist in glow sticks (which were originally tools used by fisherman to light up the seas, but now exist as a dancing accessory), fashions (as I will address), and baby powder (used to lubricate the floor for dancing), amongst others.
Drugs
It can’t be denied – ravers use drugs. From Frankie Knuckles’ infamous statement that "all you need to have a rave is some techno music, about 500 kids, and [just] as many hits of acid" to the obvious drug imagery and symbolism that permeates event names and rave décor, drug use has an undeniable position within rave culture. Of course, not all ravers take drugs, and not all drug-takers attend raves (Four Corners reported that ecstasy use has spread widely beyond the rave community in its rave documentary, “Beneath the Mirrorball” ), but there is a significant crossover.
Despite protestations by those outside of rave culture, most drug use within the rave environment seems to be used (or is at least intended to be) to compliment other more important components, such as the music or social aspects. Clearly, this works both ways, with music, décor and so on all focused on increasing the visual, auditory and sensual experience of the audience. Says one raver, “in taking ecstasy, I dance just to dance. I realised that the action of dancing and letting go and freely moving is great. Being myself, enjoying the moment and the feelings, ecstasy almost puts you in a meditative trance.”
The main drugs that seem to be consumed at raves range from the “obvious” – “Ecstasy” (MDMA, MDA), “Speed” (Amphetamine, Methamphetamine), and “Acid” (LSD) to the more obscure, such as GHB, 2C-B and Ketamine. Of course, drug use is not limited strictly to these in particular, nor is the use of any one of these necessarily as prevalent at one rave as another. Coupled with the information that the rave audience is mostly young and well educated, along with the prevalent online Harm Minimisation communities such as Bluelight (www.bluelight.ru), Dancesafe (www.dancesafe.org), Ravesafe (www.ravesafe.com) and Erowid (www.erowid.org), one can see that the use of drugs within the rave community is no where near as perilous as the mainstream media might have us believe.
Media
Though not a major issue in relation to this essay’s actual purpose, the concern of raves and their representation in the media and general public is at least worth touching on, not least for the fact that these representation seem often to be at odds with the scene itself. And as a fellow researcher also discovered, “things written about the rave scene are very chaotic” .
Jesse Desenberg (world-renowned Sydney DJ Kid Kenobi) says that the media is “acting out its own dreaded self-fulfilling prophecy,” in that the way it portrays raves and ravers is only discouraging toward improving understanding of it, and only serves to keep the rave community separate from mainstream culture. ”In painting Anna Wood [the teenage girl who died after attending a Sydney rave and taking ecstasy] as the corrupted middle class innocent,” says Desenberg, “the media had both represented rave culture as a site of resistance and guaranteed its continued subordination of dominant society” . In short, the media acts to perpetuate its own pessimistic vision of rave culture, when the opposite might actually be far closer to the truth.
One thing which really seems to come through in rave literature and film is a lack of understanding of the culture; discounting films such as Greg Harrison’s Groove (2000), most media seems out-of-touch with realistic depictions of the sub-culture. X-Stacy, a play examining the issues of drug use among teenagers, demonstrates this trend also, with often unrealistic characterisations of rave “archetypes”. This, even after the play was apparently well researched, according to playwright Margery Forde . No, the DJ is not a “jukebox,” but crowd requests are certainly common. Go, Doug Liman’s 1999 seminal Generation-X film, seems to have difficulty portraying the drug issue realistically also.
Of course, one can’t expect an ultra-liberal approach to the rave scene in any Hollywood movie, but the portrayal of this sub-culture in the mainstream media certainly leaves a lot to be desired. By ignoring this though, the media “places [the rave scene] outside the realm of comprehension of dominant society,” thereby ensuring its unfortunate position as “one of the least understood of modern sub-cultures” .
Fashion
Often a negligible focus in many other cultural outlets, rave fashion actually exists as a hugely noticeable and functional representation of the rave community. Though the fashion trends are by no means mandatory, as prominent DJ Mark Dynamix says, “[fashion is] important, it gives an identity. Each genre of dance music has its own identity, and that’s backed up by what people wear. Clubbers wear more sophisticated stuff, the ravers wear more colourful things, glow sticks hanging round their necks” . Again touching on the issue of clubbers versus ravers, this quote emphasises the importance of identity and individualism within the rave scene – raves encourage one to behave without social stigmas hindering them.
Fashion also exists (quite often) as a form of resistance too – t-shirts which ‘reinterpret’ well known brand name imagery (“Enjoy Coca-Cola” changed to “Enjoy Cocaine;” “NRMA” to “MDMA” and so on) are common at raves, and much of the clothing worn is far outside societal norms . “Bright colours are preferred, which may include orange roadwork vests or loose brightly coloured T-shirts,” “Phat Pants” – oversized jeans designed for uber-comfortable dancing and aesthetic purposes – are worn, and ravers are often adorned with “kandy” (beaded bracelets).
By some, glow sticks are even used to differentiate between the two (prevalent) dance music communities – often ravers use them, but (the more sophisticated) clubbers find them unnecessary. Of course, as with any generalisation, this attitude of course is not all-encompassing - rave-focused club nights (such as Bass Station or Hard Kandy, amongst others) attempt to recapture the mood of a rave, wherein attendees are encouraged to continue the ‘rave ethos,’ including fashion and philosophy.
Conclusion
So, what have we found? Well, typically, raves are a culture of resistance – most attendees (whether they realise it or not) are performing in some form of resistance and/or subversion of the mainstream; whether it be through fashion and other forms of self-expression, drug use, political activism or the spectrum of other means. Secondly, though the rave environment ultimately provides a hugely compliant space for people to “escape” from the real world, immersing themselves in something so totally different and illusory that the worries of the world disappear, this is not always the case. As demonstrated by S-11 protesting and rave-affiliated environmental activist groups like “Ohms not Bombs” and “Vibe Tribe” , a strong political undercurrent (wherein the worries of the world become directly related to the rave and rave attendees themselves) is certainly present – though the troubles of diversity (as I discuss) are naturally still relevant. It could even be argued that this sentiment has always existed, stemming from the 1960s hippy movement. Paradoxically, this ideology within the culture has actually been fostered by this escapist paradise and the subversive elements within it. Raves encourage you to escape the grind of the mainstream, and express what you truly feel about things, in a whole variety of ways.
