ProXeater
Bluelighter
Raves, rooted within the Native American culture reflect this generations needs and
expressions, although most “ravers” participate in popular social use of Ecstasy, the music
and dance is what the rave culture is truly about.
“Ravers are a unique crowd. While rave culture espouses individualism, a come-as-you-are mentality,
there are definitely many similarities among ravers in general. The typical raver is between 17 and 25.
He is equally likely to be a she. He or she is probably white. He or she probably came from a
middle-class family, and is reasonably well educated.”(Hakim Bey) Rave fashion could be the topic of
an entire paper.
There is a definite sense of individualism within the rave fashion scene-you are likely to see
someone in jeans, someone in black vinyl pants, or someone in costume. However, many people fit
into a definite "typical raver" mold. For males, baggy pants are the norm. Many people claim that this
is because they are easy to dance in, but I offer a different perspective. Baggy pants are not practical.
They are not professional. At a distance, they look like pants, but close-up they are absurd. They
cannot be worn to work. Baggy pants have long been associated with deviant cultures, from hip-hop, to
skateboarding, to snowboarding, to raving. A very tight shirt, no shirt, or a sweatshirt is also common
for males. For females, it gets more interesting. The typical rave girl has short hair; it is often in
barrettes. She wears a baby doll dress, or pants and a cut off tee shirt. She is often sucking on a
pacifier. Infantilism in general is very predominant among ravers. Pacifiers are common, stuffed
animals are common, lollipops are common, shirts emblazoned with cartoon characters are common.
In a sense, this embodies the culture. It is a regaining of innocence and forgetting about problems for a
while. It is a recreation of that time in our lives when play was the most important thing and it didn’t
matter that mom and dad were fighting or having money problems or that there was a hole in the ozone
layer.
Outside of a rave, many ravers appear ‘normal’. Many have jobs in technological fields like
computer programming. Many are college students. Raving is not an ‘all-the-time’ culture, as the
hippie movement was and is. There are no ravers that simply go from rave to rave and hope to get
money by selling tee shirts in the parking lot. (Except for maybe DJs, promoters, and venders who
make their living at raves). Rather, raving is a temporary activity separate from the daily lives of these
individuals.
“One of the most influential aspects of the rave culture is the drugs. In England, the rave scene
originated with MDMA or Ecstasy. In America, it was LSD or acid. It was common to see blotter art
on flyers. Raves were named Dose or Acid Test. DJ Frankie Knuckles once said “All you need for a
rave is some techno music, about some 500 kids, and as many hits of acid”(DJ Knuckles) Raves can
provide a change in the psychological state of a human being bringing them into a different plane of
existence.”(Bey) Now, I am not saying when you go into a rave you will “change” in a sense. But,
when you step out of the club or warehouse that the rave was at you will feel “different” about
yourself. You will look at life in a new perspective.
“MDMA (3,4 -Methylenedioxymethamphetamine), the pleasurable effects of MDMA are: ego
softening; neurotically based fear dissolution; feelings of emotionally based love and empathy.
Lucidity retained, in-depth communication facilitated. Present moment awareness is heightened.”(Karl
Borst & Sandra Bornn) When on Ecstasy all these are true you love the world, you love the person that
just bumped into you, you are just happy to be put her on Earth. The reason why all this happens is that
your brain has seratonin which is what controls you mood and Ecstasy just merly releases all of it.
Which makes you happy.
“There is side effects with MDMA and they are: appetite loss; stimulation; mild jaw-clenching(this is
why some people choose to suck on pacifiers); mild to moderate post-session fatigue. Initial
restlessness, nervousness, nausea, shivering or tremor. It may induce inappropriate and unintended
emotional-bond imprinting.”(Borst & Bornn) The worse part of Ecstasy use in the “come-down” you
just feel like nothing you are “cracked out” which is all the negatives about Ecstasy use. The reason
why you fell like crap is because you seratonin is gone and you will feel weird until your seratonin
restroes. But you do remember the night, you do remember the music, you do remember the people,
and you also remember the Love.
“The most dangerous side effect of MDMA is reversible nerve cell toxicity has been reported in
laboratory animals at a dose equivalent to human consumption of 175 mg or more, which means brain
damage.”(Borst & Bornn) Brain damage occurs when your seratonin is gone and the dophamine comes
in where your seratonin should be and breaks down which causes the brain damage but if taken in
moderation it is safer for you then smoking tobacco and drinking alchocol.
“MDMA is chemically an amphetamine, but psychologically its whats known as an
empathogen-entactogen. There is some amphetamine stimulant quality left, which enhances the
empathogenic quality. The stimulating quality and the empathogenic effect are what most recreational
users seem to be after.”(Borst & Bornn) The empathogenic is the feeling of emoniol closeness to
others coupled with a breakdown of personnal communication barriers. This is why some people seek
MDMA so they can let out there feelings. Therapist used Ecstasy for people with problems that
couldn’t say how they felt and Ecstasy was used to break down the social boundaries.
“The actual concept of raves is not new-it is as old as time itself. At the base level, raves are
very comparable to American Indian ceremonies…where music is the key towards pulling oneself into
a unique emotional and psychological state."(DJ Knuckles) Native Americans dance can be a form of
prayer, a way of expressing joy or grief, and a method of becoming closer with man and
nature.
“This is the basis of rave culture. It is a very spiritually aware culture that focuses on an altered state of
mind that is caused by music and, in many cases, drugs.”(Eric Steins) It is the rediscovery of music as a
spiritual tool. The emphasis in [techno] music and rave culture on physiologically compatible
rhythms…is the rediscovery of the art of natural magic with sound, that sound properly understood,
especially percussive sound, can actually change neurological states in large groups of people that are
getting together in the presence of this…music. [They] are creating a telepathic community-a bonding
that hopefully will be strong enough then to carry out into mainstream society. Lets not also forget the
Natives that used and still use Peyote(Mesculine) for the sprituial needs. They use this drug because
it is part of their religion.
“Rave culture is where I see most of the evolutionary conscious forms of spirituality today. It is a place
where science, technology, global culture and youth culture meet as a spiritual pagan ritual”(Douglas
Rushkoff) The rave scene uses technological means to recreate ancient ceremonies in which dancing to
music was used as a spiritual tool. It is a conjoining of ancient beliefs with the tools of today. It is not a
culture that denies where we are at as a society today, but rather uses where we are at today to go
somewhere else. This is the essence of the "vibe" so commonly talked about in circles of ravers. There
is a tangible energy that goes along with dancing to extremely loud beats with hundreds of other
people.
I will use a story by Jeff Sorenson to relate to this. “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 and 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. Raves are a shared experience. A sense of unity often develops among ravers in
which personal creeds, race, gender, age, sexual preference and everything else that our society places
so much emphasis on simply fades into the background.”(Sorenson) There is a magic moment that can
happen at a rave…when everyone is dancing you experience a feeling of collective organism, and I
think people that have had this experience view the world differently afterwards…the world is not
made up of individuals vying for power, but rather…one throbbing thing.
“The rave culture is definitely a culture of paganism and, to an extent, hedonism. It is a religion
based on shared experience. Individual religious beliefs are integrated into the larger, unified
experience. Many rave flyers use pagan and religious symbols. Enlightenment is a common theme, as
well as love and kindness. There is a sense of discarding dogma in favor of karma. You can have your
rules and your prayers, we have this.”(Bey) The religions do share some common tendencies.
Religion tends to be closely related to the natural world. The local terrain is elevated with
supernatural meaning, and natural objects are imbued with sacred presence’s. Ceremonial
rituals involving these supernatural-natural objects are meant to ensure communal and
individual prosperity. These common underlying features unite a diversity of contemporary
Native American sects.
"We live hard…we commune with the midnight hour and ride it out until daybreak armed with lights
and lasers and booming bass. While our parents are in bed, we hug [each other] and hear a sound so
moving that we throw ourselves into it…seeking to [break] that barrier that tries…to keep the body
separate from the sound…Hemingway had his bullfights. We…have our music…we live passionately."
(Rebecca Kerins) When she says “we” she is talking about todays generation that has steped into the
rave culture. This doesn’t mean all young people this means everybody who has came into the rave
culture in this generation. She is just sort of saying how we live free, how the rave culture has effected
us with music, dancing and drugs. It will always be around.
Another phrase commonly thrown around in circles of ravers is that of PLUR, which stands for Peace,
Love, Unity and Respect. Its origins are unclear, many people claim that Frankie Bones talked about it
when throwing one of his Stormraves. However, it is now common jargon among ravers. “Peace, love,
unity, and respect are the four pillars of the rave scene.”(Kerins)
“In many senses, PLUR is the dogma that ravers believe in. It is the belief that for one night, a
community can be created that does not function for the same reasons that larger society does. It is the
belief that peace and love are worth trying to bring back into a society that now seems so devoid of
them. It is most definitely a culture of escape. It is an escape from mainstream society into a utopian
world for a few hours.”(Kerins) Plur is a creation of space where love and happiness exist beyond
everything else, and is not bounded by the laws or rules or unhappiness found in everyday society.
“Reality does not exist within a rave. In relating this to earlier things I have mentioned, one needs only
to look around to see this escape. The music is not "real" in the sense that it exists only for that
moment. There are no originals; everything heard is a hybrid of things that were already hybrids of
other things. The clothes are not real; it is not often that we see an 18 year-old girl sucking on a pacifier
in mainstream society.”(Helen Mead) A rave is a phenomenon that does not exist within the rules of
society; it is the creation of a separate space.
Beyond the culture of escape though, is a culture based on hope. The core of this separate
space is the knowledge that it is a temporary separate space. There is knowledge that tomorrow I will
work on homework, and Monday I will go to work or school, but right now, right now I am going to
play. There is an emphasis on a focusing of energy, that what happens during this rave is positively
affecting all of the energy on the planet. PLUR is also seen as something that goes beyond the rave
scene. I would like to quote a recent poster to the mid-west raves listserver. "No matter what happens
in popular culture, YOU keep the vibe alive.”(Bey) This isn’t specific to our little scene. PLUR is in all
aspects of life. When you’re walking down the street, do the same thing for strangers that you would at
a rave. When you’re at a rock-and-roll club, do the same thing there. And then, instead of the freaking
mainstream changing our culture, our culture is changing the mainstream…isn’t that the point of a
movement? To affect the world?
In an attempt to sum up, rave spirituality takes on many forms. “A group called the New
Moon Collective in California throws a rave every new moon and builds a communal altar that
anyone at the rave can add to. Drop Bass Network, in Wisconsin, actually throws ‘evil’ raves focusing
on Satanism, while still espousing love and respect through their actions. Many ravers pass out candy
to other ravers, or water. Rave spirituality, while taking many different forms (even dark forms
sometimes) can be boiled down to PLUR.”(Steins) Even Native Americans had their own kind of
PLUR. Take the medicine men for instance the “healers” of the tribe thats PLUR all on its own. Taking
care of the others that were sick. It is a general feeling of respect for the earth, respect for each other,
and respect for oneself while being immersed in total bliss for one night. It is tapping into the
communal vibe that is present. It is the creation of a temporary space where the only rule is love and
the only preaching is loud music. The rave scene has always existed as separate from mainstream
society, an underground movement, a movement labeled as deviant by those in the mainstream. It has
been a subculture of escape. It is because it existed apart from mainstream society, that people could
escape to it. It is because it has existed apart from mainstream society that it could set up its own value
system, its own morality, and its own rules or lack thereof.
“When the scene started, everything was done on an illegal basis. Someone would call a friend, who
would call another friend and 100 kids would show up at an abandoned warehouse, break into it, set up
their speakers, and dance. As it became larger and larger, the forces that were trying to contain it grew
larger also.”(DJ Knuckles) The reason they did this was because there was no place to go for a rave it
was truly underground up until 1997 when the rave scene broke out so after a year or so of straight
illegality, promoters made a conscious effort to secure spaces where their parties would not be busted.
However, the underground pathos remains part of the scene today. It is impossible to find out what
raves are going on, unless you are actually at a rave and pick up the flyers (or know where to look on
the Internet). Even then, usually only a telephone number is given. When the night of the event comes,
the telephone number will often direct you to a checkpoint where you can finally pick up directions on
where the party is. In this way, the rave scene tries to insulate itself from the forces of mainstream
society. It becomes a self-containing culture where the only way to get to a rave for the first time is to
have someone take you. The only way to continue being a part of the scene is to be a part of the scene.
"The idea that [rave] culture has no politics because it has no manifesto or slogans, it isn’t saying
something or actively opposing the social order, misunderstands its nature. The very lack of dogma is a
comment on contemporary society itself…its definition is subject to individual interpretation: it could
be about the simple bliss of dancing; it could be about environmental awareness; it could be about race
relations and class conflict…it could be about reasserting lost notions of community – all stories that
say something about life in the nineties." (Matthew Collin ) It is because rave culture is so personal,
that it can exist the way it does. It is a culture with many different options instead of rules. At its heart
is a concerted attempt to suspend normal transmission, if only for one night…to invent, however
briefly, a kind of utopia.
This brief utopia is what anarchist philosopher Hakim Bey refers to as a Temporary Autonomous Zone
(TAZ).
The phrase TAZ is thrown around a lot in rave circles, many not knowing where it originally came
from. (I have even been to rave called TAZ, in which there were seminars during the day discussing the
politics of our scene.) Hakim Bey was the first to write at length about it is his essay on the Temporary
Autonomous Zone.
Bey writes that the TAZ is something that slips through the cracks of society. It is "a guerilla operation
which liberates an area (of land, time, imagination) and then dissolves itself to reform
elsewhere/elsewhen before the state can crush it." (Bey )
Bey writes at length, but never really defines exactly what a TAZ is. However, he does give many
examples and characteristics of these ‘pirate utopias’. First, he speaks of the anthropology of the TAZ.
He claims that a TAZ by nature includes not a family, but a band. "The family is closed, by genetics,
by the male’s possession of women and children, by the hierarchic totality of agriculture/industrial
society. The band is open, not to everyone of course, but to the affinity group, the initiates sworn to a
bond of love. The band…is part of a horizontal pattern of custom, extended kinship, contract and
alliance, spiritual affinities, etc.” (Bey ) When I examine this in the context of rave culture, it is
immediately clear that this describes the rave scene exactly. Ravers are a ‘band’-a group that is at once
both closed off from society, but open to newcomers. They gather at raves for the same reason, to
party.
"The TAZ [is a] festival…The essence of the party: face-to-face, a group of humans synergize their
efforts to realize mutual desires, whether for good food and cheer, dance…or to attain the very
transport of bliss—in short, a "union of egoists"…or else…a basic biological drive to "mutual aid."
(Bey ) Native Americans did all of this at their PooWoos there was groups of them and they synergized
there feelings for one another. They still dance, eat and cheer to attain bliss.
"The party is always "open" because it is not "ordered"; it may be planned, but unless it happens it’s a
failure. The element of spontaneity is crucial." (Steins) This can also be examined within the context of
the rave scene. Raves are, in a sense, planned spontaneity. Sometimes, they are even spontaneous in
and of themselves. (One raver on the fl-raves listserver recently talked about an experience of hers. She
was on her way to a rave with some friends when they got stuck in standstill traffic. All of the sudden
30 ravers or so on their way to the party got out of their cars, turned on music, and danced in the
middle of the interstate.) Raves are people gathering for the attainment of mutual bliss.
Hakim Bey discusses at length the Internet, not as a TAZ, but as a tool for creating a TAZ, for
disseminating information. The rave scene has embraced the Internet wholeheartedly, with mailing
lists, chat rooms, and electronic flyers. Ravers can discuss issues relating to their scene, trade tapes of
DJs, or give party reviews. Chris Gibson discusses this in his paper "Subversive Sites: Rave Culture,
Empowerment, and the Internet." "Utilizing the discourse of TAZ, sites are constructed by rave music
collectives, artists, and rave participants…attempting to initiate figurative spaces of empowerment that
embody principles of community and local resistance to commodification. [The Internet]…forms a sort
of support system for a subculture that relies on utilizing free-floating events that are momentarily
rooted down in physical space in distinct ways." (Chris Gibson )
Bey also (surprisingly) writes about music as an organizational principle of Temporary Autonomous
Zones. "I believe that if we compare Fiume (an 18 month anarchic city in the early 1900’s) with the
Paris uprising of 1968, as well as with the American counterculture communes…we should notice
certain similarities, such as: the importance of aesthetic theory…’pirate economics’, living high off the
surplus of social overproduction, and the concept of music as revolutionary social change…and finally
their shared air of impermanence, of being ready to move on, shape-shift, re-locate…keep on the move
and live intensely" (Bey) When we examine this in the context of the rave scene, we find a perfect
mesh, an almost uncannily perfect mesh. Aesthetic theory plays a central role in the rave movement,
indeed it is the rave movement. Rave flyers are often a work of art themselves. The blending of
different sounds to create a musical wall and combining that with lasers and strobes to create a
perfectly synchronized, overwhelming space of light and sound is taking aesthetic theory to its limits.
Pirate economics, as Bey calls it, also plays a central role. There’s a reason many raves were first held
(and are still held) in abandoned warehouses. There are tons of them! Ravers take old shells of
buildings that are monuments to the evil of Capitalism and turn them into a TAZ. The drug economy is
also a central part of the rave scene, adding to this illicit economy.
"Techno was made not only to be played, but to be listened to loud…[we are being called not to listen,
but to feel]…not the chord, the melody, the terraced dynamic or recapitulation-but the pulse, the
ambience, the cycle, the metaphysical ‘vibe’…techno is at once both music of the body, and music of
the electronic body…technology, once dry, representative, and extremely hard, is at last stripped back
to its nakedness…it becomes freshly ‘malleable’ and ‘organic’- the ‘humanness’ of [techno] is
less…control…and more of the imperfect, the random, the hands-on and the unpredictable. These
elements form a cerebral sound-scape and space that are constantly unpredictable and evolving-voices
of power and imagination that surely cannot be ignored." (DJ Knuckles) We can tie all this into Native
American dance where they use the drum to move to the beat. They play it loud so everybody can hear
it and dance however they want to dance to preach who ever they ever want to preach to. Its a sound
just like techno where you just want to get up a dance for the Love of the music. Natives are sort of like
us “ravers” we love the music, we love the surrondings, and we most defintely love the “vibe”.
Lastly, raves are surely impermanent. They are usually one night, at the most they are one weekend.
They change spaces constantly, often a rave is held in a space only one time. They embody Bey’s
words, "keep on the move…and live intensely." Raves are pure intensity, aural and visual overload,
loud music, lasers, strobes, and hundreds of people blurring into one primal energy.The TAZ involves
a kind of ferality, a growth from tameness to wild(er)ness, a "return" which is also a step forward. It
also demands a "yoga" of chaos, a project of "higher" orderings (of consciousness or simply of life)
which are approached by "surfing the wave-front of chaos," of complex dynamism. The TAZ is an art
of life in continual rising up, wild but gentle—a seducer not a rapist, a smuggler rather than a bloody
pirate, a dancer not an eschatologist.
expressions, although most “ravers” participate in popular social use of Ecstasy, the music
and dance is what the rave culture is truly about.
“Ravers are a unique crowd. While rave culture espouses individualism, a come-as-you-are mentality,
there are definitely many similarities among ravers in general. The typical raver is between 17 and 25.
He is equally likely to be a she. He or she is probably white. He or she probably came from a
middle-class family, and is reasonably well educated.”(Hakim Bey) Rave fashion could be the topic of
an entire paper.
There is a definite sense of individualism within the rave fashion scene-you are likely to see
someone in jeans, someone in black vinyl pants, or someone in costume. However, many people fit
into a definite "typical raver" mold. For males, baggy pants are the norm. Many people claim that this
is because they are easy to dance in, but I offer a different perspective. Baggy pants are not practical.
They are not professional. At a distance, they look like pants, but close-up they are absurd. They
cannot be worn to work. Baggy pants have long been associated with deviant cultures, from hip-hop, to
skateboarding, to snowboarding, to raving. A very tight shirt, no shirt, or a sweatshirt is also common
for males. For females, it gets more interesting. The typical rave girl has short hair; it is often in
barrettes. She wears a baby doll dress, or pants and a cut off tee shirt. She is often sucking on a
pacifier. Infantilism in general is very predominant among ravers. Pacifiers are common, stuffed
animals are common, lollipops are common, shirts emblazoned with cartoon characters are common.
In a sense, this embodies the culture. It is a regaining of innocence and forgetting about problems for a
while. It is a recreation of that time in our lives when play was the most important thing and it didn’t
matter that mom and dad were fighting or having money problems or that there was a hole in the ozone
layer.
Outside of a rave, many ravers appear ‘normal’. Many have jobs in technological fields like
computer programming. Many are college students. Raving is not an ‘all-the-time’ culture, as the
hippie movement was and is. There are no ravers that simply go from rave to rave and hope to get
money by selling tee shirts in the parking lot. (Except for maybe DJs, promoters, and venders who
make their living at raves). Rather, raving is a temporary activity separate from the daily lives of these
individuals.
“One of the most influential aspects of the rave culture is the drugs. In England, the rave scene
originated with MDMA or Ecstasy. In America, it was LSD or acid. It was common to see blotter art
on flyers. Raves were named Dose or Acid Test. DJ Frankie Knuckles once said “All you need for a
rave is some techno music, about some 500 kids, and as many hits of acid”(DJ Knuckles) Raves can
provide a change in the psychological state of a human being bringing them into a different plane of
existence.”(Bey) Now, I am not saying when you go into a rave you will “change” in a sense. But,
when you step out of the club or warehouse that the rave was at you will feel “different” about
yourself. You will look at life in a new perspective.
“MDMA (3,4 -Methylenedioxymethamphetamine), the pleasurable effects of MDMA are: ego
softening; neurotically based fear dissolution; feelings of emotionally based love and empathy.
Lucidity retained, in-depth communication facilitated. Present moment awareness is heightened.”(Karl
Borst & Sandra Bornn) When on Ecstasy all these are true you love the world, you love the person that
just bumped into you, you are just happy to be put her on Earth. The reason why all this happens is that
your brain has seratonin which is what controls you mood and Ecstasy just merly releases all of it.
Which makes you happy.
“There is side effects with MDMA and they are: appetite loss; stimulation; mild jaw-clenching(this is
why some people choose to suck on pacifiers); mild to moderate post-session fatigue. Initial
restlessness, nervousness, nausea, shivering or tremor. It may induce inappropriate and unintended
emotional-bond imprinting.”(Borst & Bornn) The worse part of Ecstasy use in the “come-down” you
just feel like nothing you are “cracked out” which is all the negatives about Ecstasy use. The reason
why you fell like crap is because you seratonin is gone and you will feel weird until your seratonin
restroes. But you do remember the night, you do remember the music, you do remember the people,
and you also remember the Love.
“The most dangerous side effect of MDMA is reversible nerve cell toxicity has been reported in
laboratory animals at a dose equivalent to human consumption of 175 mg or more, which means brain
damage.”(Borst & Bornn) Brain damage occurs when your seratonin is gone and the dophamine comes
in where your seratonin should be and breaks down which causes the brain damage but if taken in
moderation it is safer for you then smoking tobacco and drinking alchocol.
“MDMA is chemically an amphetamine, but psychologically its whats known as an
empathogen-entactogen. There is some amphetamine stimulant quality left, which enhances the
empathogenic quality. The stimulating quality and the empathogenic effect are what most recreational
users seem to be after.”(Borst & Bornn) The empathogenic is the feeling of emoniol closeness to
others coupled with a breakdown of personnal communication barriers. This is why some people seek
MDMA so they can let out there feelings. Therapist used Ecstasy for people with problems that
couldn’t say how they felt and Ecstasy was used to break down the social boundaries.
“The actual concept of raves is not new-it is as old as time itself. At the base level, raves are
very comparable to American Indian ceremonies…where music is the key towards pulling oneself into
a unique emotional and psychological state."(DJ Knuckles) Native Americans dance can be a form of
prayer, a way of expressing joy or grief, and a method of becoming closer with man and
nature.
“This is the basis of rave culture. It is a very spiritually aware culture that focuses on an altered state of
mind that is caused by music and, in many cases, drugs.”(Eric Steins) It is the rediscovery of music as a
spiritual tool. The emphasis in [techno] music and rave culture on physiologically compatible
rhythms…is the rediscovery of the art of natural magic with sound, that sound properly understood,
especially percussive sound, can actually change neurological states in large groups of people that are
getting together in the presence of this…music. [They] are creating a telepathic community-a bonding
that hopefully will be strong enough then to carry out into mainstream society. Lets not also forget the
Natives that used and still use Peyote(Mesculine) for the sprituial needs. They use this drug because
it is part of their religion.
“Rave culture is where I see most of the evolutionary conscious forms of spirituality today. It is a place
where science, technology, global culture and youth culture meet as a spiritual pagan ritual”(Douglas
Rushkoff) The rave scene uses technological means to recreate ancient ceremonies in which dancing to
music was used as a spiritual tool. It is a conjoining of ancient beliefs with the tools of today. It is not a
culture that denies where we are at as a society today, but rather uses where we are at today to go
somewhere else. This is the essence of the "vibe" so commonly talked about in circles of ravers. There
is a tangible energy that goes along with dancing to extremely loud beats with hundreds of other
people.
I will use a story by Jeff Sorenson to relate to this. “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 and 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. Raves are a shared experience. A sense of unity often develops among ravers in
which personal creeds, race, gender, age, sexual preference and everything else that our society places
so much emphasis on simply fades into the background.”(Sorenson) There is a magic moment that can
happen at a rave…when everyone is dancing you experience a feeling of collective organism, and I
think people that have had this experience view the world differently afterwards…the world is not
made up of individuals vying for power, but rather…one throbbing thing.
“The rave culture is definitely a culture of paganism and, to an extent, hedonism. It is a religion
based on shared experience. Individual religious beliefs are integrated into the larger, unified
experience. Many rave flyers use pagan and religious symbols. Enlightenment is a common theme, as
well as love and kindness. There is a sense of discarding dogma in favor of karma. You can have your
rules and your prayers, we have this.”(Bey) The religions do share some common tendencies.
Religion tends to be closely related to the natural world. The local terrain is elevated with
supernatural meaning, and natural objects are imbued with sacred presence’s. Ceremonial
rituals involving these supernatural-natural objects are meant to ensure communal and
individual prosperity. These common underlying features unite a diversity of contemporary
Native American sects.
"We live hard…we commune with the midnight hour and ride it out until daybreak armed with lights
and lasers and booming bass. While our parents are in bed, we hug [each other] and hear a sound so
moving that we throw ourselves into it…seeking to [break] that barrier that tries…to keep the body
separate from the sound…Hemingway had his bullfights. We…have our music…we live passionately."
(Rebecca Kerins) When she says “we” she is talking about todays generation that has steped into the
rave culture. This doesn’t mean all young people this means everybody who has came into the rave
culture in this generation. She is just sort of saying how we live free, how the rave culture has effected
us with music, dancing and drugs. It will always be around.
Another phrase commonly thrown around in circles of ravers is that of PLUR, which stands for Peace,
Love, Unity and Respect. Its origins are unclear, many people claim that Frankie Bones talked about it
when throwing one of his Stormraves. However, it is now common jargon among ravers. “Peace, love,
unity, and respect are the four pillars of the rave scene.”(Kerins)
“In many senses, PLUR is the dogma that ravers believe in. It is the belief that for one night, a
community can be created that does not function for the same reasons that larger society does. It is the
belief that peace and love are worth trying to bring back into a society that now seems so devoid of
them. It is most definitely a culture of escape. It is an escape from mainstream society into a utopian
world for a few hours.”(Kerins) Plur is a creation of space where love and happiness exist beyond
everything else, and is not bounded by the laws or rules or unhappiness found in everyday society.
“Reality does not exist within a rave. In relating this to earlier things I have mentioned, one needs only
to look around to see this escape. The music is not "real" in the sense that it exists only for that
moment. There are no originals; everything heard is a hybrid of things that were already hybrids of
other things. The clothes are not real; it is not often that we see an 18 year-old girl sucking on a pacifier
in mainstream society.”(Helen Mead) A rave is a phenomenon that does not exist within the rules of
society; it is the creation of a separate space.
Beyond the culture of escape though, is a culture based on hope. The core of this separate
space is the knowledge that it is a temporary separate space. There is knowledge that tomorrow I will
work on homework, and Monday I will go to work or school, but right now, right now I am going to
play. There is an emphasis on a focusing of energy, that what happens during this rave is positively
affecting all of the energy on the planet. PLUR is also seen as something that goes beyond the rave
scene. I would like to quote a recent poster to the mid-west raves listserver. "No matter what happens
in popular culture, YOU keep the vibe alive.”(Bey) This isn’t specific to our little scene. PLUR is in all
aspects of life. When you’re walking down the street, do the same thing for strangers that you would at
a rave. When you’re at a rock-and-roll club, do the same thing there. And then, instead of the freaking
mainstream changing our culture, our culture is changing the mainstream…isn’t that the point of a
movement? To affect the world?
In an attempt to sum up, rave spirituality takes on many forms. “A group called the New
Moon Collective in California throws a rave every new moon and builds a communal altar that
anyone at the rave can add to. Drop Bass Network, in Wisconsin, actually throws ‘evil’ raves focusing
on Satanism, while still espousing love and respect through their actions. Many ravers pass out candy
to other ravers, or water. Rave spirituality, while taking many different forms (even dark forms
sometimes) can be boiled down to PLUR.”(Steins) Even Native Americans had their own kind of
PLUR. Take the medicine men for instance the “healers” of the tribe thats PLUR all on its own. Taking
care of the others that were sick. It is a general feeling of respect for the earth, respect for each other,
and respect for oneself while being immersed in total bliss for one night. It is tapping into the
communal vibe that is present. It is the creation of a temporary space where the only rule is love and
the only preaching is loud music. The rave scene has always existed as separate from mainstream
society, an underground movement, a movement labeled as deviant by those in the mainstream. It has
been a subculture of escape. It is because it existed apart from mainstream society, that people could
escape to it. It is because it has existed apart from mainstream society that it could set up its own value
system, its own morality, and its own rules or lack thereof.
“When the scene started, everything was done on an illegal basis. Someone would call a friend, who
would call another friend and 100 kids would show up at an abandoned warehouse, break into it, set up
their speakers, and dance. As it became larger and larger, the forces that were trying to contain it grew
larger also.”(DJ Knuckles) The reason they did this was because there was no place to go for a rave it
was truly underground up until 1997 when the rave scene broke out so after a year or so of straight
illegality, promoters made a conscious effort to secure spaces where their parties would not be busted.
However, the underground pathos remains part of the scene today. It is impossible to find out what
raves are going on, unless you are actually at a rave and pick up the flyers (or know where to look on
the Internet). Even then, usually only a telephone number is given. When the night of the event comes,
the telephone number will often direct you to a checkpoint where you can finally pick up directions on
where the party is. In this way, the rave scene tries to insulate itself from the forces of mainstream
society. It becomes a self-containing culture where the only way to get to a rave for the first time is to
have someone take you. The only way to continue being a part of the scene is to be a part of the scene.
"The idea that [rave] culture has no politics because it has no manifesto or slogans, it isn’t saying
something or actively opposing the social order, misunderstands its nature. The very lack of dogma is a
comment on contemporary society itself…its definition is subject to individual interpretation: it could
be about the simple bliss of dancing; it could be about environmental awareness; it could be about race
relations and class conflict…it could be about reasserting lost notions of community – all stories that
say something about life in the nineties." (Matthew Collin ) It is because rave culture is so personal,
that it can exist the way it does. It is a culture with many different options instead of rules. At its heart
is a concerted attempt to suspend normal transmission, if only for one night…to invent, however
briefly, a kind of utopia.
This brief utopia is what anarchist philosopher Hakim Bey refers to as a Temporary Autonomous Zone
(TAZ).
The phrase TAZ is thrown around a lot in rave circles, many not knowing where it originally came
from. (I have even been to rave called TAZ, in which there were seminars during the day discussing the
politics of our scene.) Hakim Bey was the first to write at length about it is his essay on the Temporary
Autonomous Zone.
Bey writes that the TAZ is something that slips through the cracks of society. It is "a guerilla operation
which liberates an area (of land, time, imagination) and then dissolves itself to reform
elsewhere/elsewhen before the state can crush it." (Bey )
Bey writes at length, but never really defines exactly what a TAZ is. However, he does give many
examples and characteristics of these ‘pirate utopias’. First, he speaks of the anthropology of the TAZ.
He claims that a TAZ by nature includes not a family, but a band. "The family is closed, by genetics,
by the male’s possession of women and children, by the hierarchic totality of agriculture/industrial
society. The band is open, not to everyone of course, but to the affinity group, the initiates sworn to a
bond of love. The band…is part of a horizontal pattern of custom, extended kinship, contract and
alliance, spiritual affinities, etc.” (Bey ) When I examine this in the context of rave culture, it is
immediately clear that this describes the rave scene exactly. Ravers are a ‘band’-a group that is at once
both closed off from society, but open to newcomers. They gather at raves for the same reason, to
party.
"The TAZ [is a] festival…The essence of the party: face-to-face, a group of humans synergize their
efforts to realize mutual desires, whether for good food and cheer, dance…or to attain the very
transport of bliss—in short, a "union of egoists"…or else…a basic biological drive to "mutual aid."
(Bey ) Native Americans did all of this at their PooWoos there was groups of them and they synergized
there feelings for one another. They still dance, eat and cheer to attain bliss.
"The party is always "open" because it is not "ordered"; it may be planned, but unless it happens it’s a
failure. The element of spontaneity is crucial." (Steins) This can also be examined within the context of
the rave scene. Raves are, in a sense, planned spontaneity. Sometimes, they are even spontaneous in
and of themselves. (One raver on the fl-raves listserver recently talked about an experience of hers. She
was on her way to a rave with some friends when they got stuck in standstill traffic. All of the sudden
30 ravers or so on their way to the party got out of their cars, turned on music, and danced in the
middle of the interstate.) Raves are people gathering for the attainment of mutual bliss.
Hakim Bey discusses at length the Internet, not as a TAZ, but as a tool for creating a TAZ, for
disseminating information. The rave scene has embraced the Internet wholeheartedly, with mailing
lists, chat rooms, and electronic flyers. Ravers can discuss issues relating to their scene, trade tapes of
DJs, or give party reviews. Chris Gibson discusses this in his paper "Subversive Sites: Rave Culture,
Empowerment, and the Internet." "Utilizing the discourse of TAZ, sites are constructed by rave music
collectives, artists, and rave participants…attempting to initiate figurative spaces of empowerment that
embody principles of community and local resistance to commodification. [The Internet]…forms a sort
of support system for a subculture that relies on utilizing free-floating events that are momentarily
rooted down in physical space in distinct ways." (Chris Gibson )
Bey also (surprisingly) writes about music as an organizational principle of Temporary Autonomous
Zones. "I believe that if we compare Fiume (an 18 month anarchic city in the early 1900’s) with the
Paris uprising of 1968, as well as with the American counterculture communes…we should notice
certain similarities, such as: the importance of aesthetic theory…’pirate economics’, living high off the
surplus of social overproduction, and the concept of music as revolutionary social change…and finally
their shared air of impermanence, of being ready to move on, shape-shift, re-locate…keep on the move
and live intensely" (Bey) When we examine this in the context of the rave scene, we find a perfect
mesh, an almost uncannily perfect mesh. Aesthetic theory plays a central role in the rave movement,
indeed it is the rave movement. Rave flyers are often a work of art themselves. The blending of
different sounds to create a musical wall and combining that with lasers and strobes to create a
perfectly synchronized, overwhelming space of light and sound is taking aesthetic theory to its limits.
Pirate economics, as Bey calls it, also plays a central role. There’s a reason many raves were first held
(and are still held) in abandoned warehouses. There are tons of them! Ravers take old shells of
buildings that are monuments to the evil of Capitalism and turn them into a TAZ. The drug economy is
also a central part of the rave scene, adding to this illicit economy.
"Techno was made not only to be played, but to be listened to loud…[we are being called not to listen,
but to feel]…not the chord, the melody, the terraced dynamic or recapitulation-but the pulse, the
ambience, the cycle, the metaphysical ‘vibe’…techno is at once both music of the body, and music of
the electronic body…technology, once dry, representative, and extremely hard, is at last stripped back
to its nakedness…it becomes freshly ‘malleable’ and ‘organic’- the ‘humanness’ of [techno] is
less…control…and more of the imperfect, the random, the hands-on and the unpredictable. These
elements form a cerebral sound-scape and space that are constantly unpredictable and evolving-voices
of power and imagination that surely cannot be ignored." (DJ Knuckles) We can tie all this into Native
American dance where they use the drum to move to the beat. They play it loud so everybody can hear
it and dance however they want to dance to preach who ever they ever want to preach to. Its a sound
just like techno where you just want to get up a dance for the Love of the music. Natives are sort of like
us “ravers” we love the music, we love the surrondings, and we most defintely love the “vibe”.
Lastly, raves are surely impermanent. They are usually one night, at the most they are one weekend.
They change spaces constantly, often a rave is held in a space only one time. They embody Bey’s
words, "keep on the move…and live intensely." Raves are pure intensity, aural and visual overload,
loud music, lasers, strobes, and hundreds of people blurring into one primal energy.The TAZ involves
a kind of ferality, a growth from tameness to wild(er)ness, a "return" which is also a step forward. It
also demands a "yoga" of chaos, a project of "higher" orderings (of consciousness or simply of life)
which are approached by "surfing the wave-front of chaos," of complex dynamism. The TAZ is an art
of life in continual rising up, wild but gentle—a seducer not a rapist, a smuggler rather than a bloody
pirate, a dancer not an eschatologist.
