Rave and Ecstacy Culture - Book List

[haste]

Altered State : The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House

Although it probably over-emphasizes the London scene, this book provides a well-written introduction to the history of house music as well as to 20th-century dance music in general.
Generation Ecstasy : Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture

This book has been written by a raver and delves deep into the electronica/rave culture, the author touches on the subject of drugs but only very lightly therefore never establishing a standpoint on the issue. One thing the book does leave out - PLUR.
Rave Culture, an insider's overview

Don't know much about this book except that it depicts the American rave scene like no other.
Ecstasy : Dance, Trance & Transformation
by Nicholas Saunders, Rick Doblin

You can actually download the entire book off the net, once I find the link I'll post it. All I can say this is a MUST read - one of the best books I have read on MDMA!!

Techno Rebels : The Renegades of Electronic Funk

Delves into the development and history of techno from an American perspective as opposed to alot of books taking on the European perspective.
The Love Drug : Marching to the Beat of Ecstasy (Haworth Therapy for the Addictive Disorders)

Cohen, a researcher whose work on MDMA has been published in several scholarly journals, gives a balanced and impartial view of the drug's past and present history, covering the structural significance, legal controversy, and adverse reactions surrounding it. Accessible to general readers and partiers as well as researchers, educators, and medical professionals.
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.....to be continued
hastey

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....SLIDE BENEATH THE CITY......feel free to visit
http://clix.to/hastey
[This message has been edited by haste (edited 01 March 2001).]

 

[Energizer]

Bump. Good Post. Keep them coming.

 

[Tarsarlan]

I've had a skim through "Rave Culture, an insider's overview" and it reads more like an extended news article than anything else. I didn't really have a chance to read the whole thing tho, but what I read wasn't that appealing as far as providing information goes...
Seemed pretty stereotypical too, tho that could just be the American aspect of things, they seem to hold to stereotypes more strongly than other cultures...

 

[haste]

Yeah Tarsy, from what I can gather it is heavily based on the American scene.

 

[mr486]

Here's one I started reading a while back.
E is for Ecstacy by Nicholas Saunders
Published in 1993, so it's a bit old - but I thought it was well written, making it easy to read. It's also very well referenced. It's all online, and available for printing (for personal use).
C
[This message has been edited by mr486 (edited 02 March 2001).]

 

[haste]

I second that mr486, a very good read!! I downloaded it off the net aswell

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....SLIDE BENEATH THE CITY......feel free to visit
http://clix.to/hastey

 

[raw]

"Energy Flash" is the UK version of Generation Ecstacy and is bigger and better. Includes a chapter on pirate radio and a CD with some of the main tunes Reynolds discusses.
Also if you interested in the history of Jungle/Drum and Bass try
"All Crew Muss Big Up" by Brian Bele-Fortune
Can get both of these from http://www.gleebooks.com.au

 

[tech`fusion]

I read a novel a while back called,
"The Ecstacy Club" by douglas rushkof
It is about a group of young people who start to live in an abandoned piano factory and hold parties about 3 times a week. They have bedrooms actually inside the factory while the party is happening and get other followers joining the ecstacy club and living in the PF. It almost becomes like a cult and can be very twisted at times.…..
It is written as a novel but is still spot on in many area's of the rave scene. It is also really way out though........(the ecstacy club’s mission is to elevate the human species to a higher level of evolution through the use of music, drugs and just peoples energy) =)
They play tunes with bass drums bangin at the bpm of the human heart rate which sends people into a trance.…….cool I thought
There is also heaps of drug references which you can associate with and find humorous to read

It is a novel worth reading but not to be taken too seriously or it will start to mess with your mind!

 

[mona]

'The Ecstasy Club' is a good book. I throroughly enjoyed it. I liked that fact that it wasn't mostly about ecstasy, but many different (mainly) psychadellics.
Ecstasy Reconsidered'pprently its never going to be released in australia(?? who knows?), miss apple sent me my copy for christmas. Its like a book of FAQ's answered by psychiatrits, toxicologists and sociologists. There are also interviews with reasearchers of ecstasy neurotoxicity and users of the drug.
[This message has been edited by mona (edited 02 March 2001).]

 

[Abby]

hey does anyone know where i can either buy or borrow a copy of any of those books?? not dymocks i'd imagine

btw i'm in perth, cheers

 

[haste]

Abby - all of those books are available through Amazon.com or you could ask your local bookshop to them in for you - happy hunting

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....SLIDE BENEATH THE CITY......feel free to visit
http://clix.to/hastey

 

[spacecadet]

most of these titles below are available at UNSW library, especially UNSW COFA..
A D Atkins "Ecstasy sorted on one"
Matthew Collin "Altered state the story of ecstasy culture and acid house" (i think he also wrote "A-Z of club culture")
Sheryl Garratt "Adventures in wonderland: a decade of club culture"
Paolo Hewitt"Heaven's Promise"
Joel T Jordan"Searching for the perfect beat: flyer designs of the American rave scene"
Steve Redhead "Rave off: politics and deviance in contemporary youth culture"
Simon Reynolds "Energy flash a journey through rave music and dance culture"
Nicholas Saunders "Ecstasy: dance trance and transformation"
Mireille Silcott "Rave America : new school dancescapes"
Push and Mirelle Silcott "The book of e"
Ben Malbon "Clubbing : dancing, ecstasy and vitality"
The Rough Guide series: Techno, Drum'n bass (i got this one!), House, er... heaps more..
Brian Belle-Fortune "All Crew Muss Bigup: journey through jungle/drum'nbass culture" (picked this one up yesterday on post - London Vs. Detroit scatterwalk)
have fun reading and e-ducate!

 

[haste]

Great contributions - keep it up!!
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....SLIDE BENEATH THE CITY......feel free to visit
http://clix.to/hastey

 

[Miss Peks]

I've started reading E Is For Ecstacy and so far I've found it to be a very good read.
For the people that live in Melb there is a very good bookshop down in Brunswick St called Polyester (I think that's the name of the shop), and they sell most of these books. They also sell the E1 and E2 testers as well.

 

[Pleonastic]

Here's another good example of the Government arse-fucking the Australian public...
Some of these titles will not be released in Australia because the have been given an "RC" rating (refused clasification) by the Office of Film and Literature Classification. After reading the guidelines for the classification of publications, I think I have found the clause which allows this to happen. It is found on page 16, where it says "The National Classification Code sets out the criteria for classifying a publication 'RC'. These include publications that: ...promote, incite or instruct in matters of crime or violence."
I believe that this is the only clause, because of the following discrepancy in the wording earlier in the document: The provisions for a publication to be classified UNRESTRICTED state that "Drug use may not be promoted or encouraged". The provisions for a publication to be classified CATEGORY 1 - RESTRICTED state that "Drug use should not be promoted or encouraged". To me that means that although some people might not like it, there are no real grounds to refuse classification. The only way they get away with it is by the above clause, which only applies because the same government who decides the classification laws, also decide the drug laws.
Because of this, we in Australia are getting factual, unbiased information witheld from us because it deals with a subject matter which is illegal. Instead of this, we are only allowed to view information which is against drug use. MDMA must be said to be evil because there is no proof that it is not. If there is proof, then it would be seen to "promote, incite or instruct in matters of crime or violence", and would therefore be gagged before the public could ever see it.
Gotta love the government.

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"The love in your heart wasn't put there to stay...
Love isn't love, till you give it away."
[This message has been edited by Pleonastic (edited 06 March 2001).]

 

[BuckE]

FYI, a thread already exists in aus. bluelight designed for the same purpose as this one. i'm not sure if anybody will be able to locate it, since the search engine is down and all, but it was called 'creative literature on the scene,' was posted by me, and has an extensive list of johnboy reccommendations. BTW, nice post.
BuckE
"I come from a long line of quitters. My father was a quitter, my grandfather was a quitter...I was raised to give up."
George Costanza

 

[haste]

yeah I know which thread you are talking about Bucke, but due to the search function being down and me being a lazy bastard

- I thought I'd start this new thread. Maybe one day I'll go on a search a wade through all these threads and link that thread to this - or visa versa.
On the issue of the stupid government classifications - excuse my ignorance, but is this only for books sold at bookshops, or does this also include books personally imported from overseas? If I order any of these books from Amazon.com - will they be checked by customs?
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....SLIDE BENEATH THE CITY......feel free to visit
http://clix.to/hastey

 

[Pleonastic]

The way our classification system works is that all films, videos, computer games, and publications must be classified before they are let into the country. If any item recieves an "RC" classification, that item not allowed in the country. If it is found in the country, the police and cutoms officials are required to impound the item.
You asked "If I order any of these books from Amazon.com - will they be checked by customs?". The answer to that is maybe... but if it is checked and the item is found have been classified "RC" you will not recieve the item. If the item is found to be not classified yet, it will be held untill it is, and you will only recieve the item pending the results.
On the other hand, they might not check the package, and you'll recieve it... it depends if you want to take that risk.

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"The love in your heart wasn't put there to stay...
Love isn't love, till you give it away."

 

[haste]

Thanks Pleonastic, I guess it does boil down to taking the risk

 

[Pleonastic]

Oh, yeah... here are a few examples taken from the OFLC web page:
E for Ecstasy, by Nicolas Saunders
Ecstasy - The MDMA Study
Ecstasy and the Dance Culture
When checking out their web site, you can do a search for Ecstasy, but it mostly turns up things like this. So it's hard to find.

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"The love in your heart wasn't put there to stay...
Love isn't love, till you give it away."