Explaining Rave Culture to Americans

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  • jdeezjdeez 638 Posts
    MaDMAn

  • the detractors here might as well just write "disco sucks".

    also, for the people talking about vegas clubs or festivals: you are probably one of the non-understaning americans that the article was directed at.

  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    neil_something said:
    the detractors here might as well just write "disco sucks".

    also, for the people talking about vegas clubs or festivals: you are probably one of the non-understaning americans that the article was directed at.

    /thread

  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts
    i like disco. i hate ravers

  • jjfad027jjfad027 1,594 Posts
    phatmoneysack said:
    djanna said:
    Early 90s San Francisco was pretty intense. I raved. Hard.

    Was that the scene that DJ Garth was involved in?

    Yes. It was quite fun as well.

  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,391 Posts
    jjfad027 said:
    phatmoneysack said:
    djanna said:
    Early 90s San Francisco was pretty intense. I raved. Hard.

    Was that the scene that DJ Garth was involved in?

    Yes. It was quite fun as well.

    Was that with Thom and Markie? Always fun.

  • jjfad027jjfad027 1,594 Posts
    Flomotion said:
    jjfad027 said:
    phatmoneysack said:
    djanna said:
    Early 90s San Francisco was pretty intense. I raved. Hard.

    Was that the scene that DJ Garth was involved in?

    Yes. It was quite fun as well.

    Was that with Thom and Markie? Always fun.

    Yup. And Jeno


  • Gone to quite a number of -- and here's the term we always used -- parties. At churches, bowling alleys, factories, warehouses, funeral homes, campsites, arcades, bars, etc. I missed the real heyday of the "culture" in Chicago but in the mid- to late-1990s, there were some large-scale parties where the promoters would throw a lot of $$$ at talent, who would in turn play brand new records. And that's what I always loved about it -- the house, techno, hip-hop, drum and bass, ambient was (at the time) very forward-thinking and if not that, it was new. There is just something special about seeing a DJ such as Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk, dressed like a regular dude, playing disco on the South Side of Chicago. And it was about the dancing -- talking jackin', couples, stepping, breaking. Good dancing. Sure there was a lot of jail-bate from the suburbs dressed in idiotic clothes, including myself, but I have great memories and I'm proud to have been part of the "scene."
    BINGO

  • Bon VivantBon Vivant The Eye of the Storm 2,018 Posts
    Frank said:
    I'll never understand the appeal of mass euphoria. Shit always makes me get the fuck out as fast and as far as possible.



















    I think the girls in bikinis make the raves a bit different than Nazi conventions.

    Just my $.02.

  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    The rave tent at Coachella was not for me.

  • skelskel You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts
    Bon Vivant said:


    I think the girls in bikinis make the raves a bit different than Nazi conventions.

    Just my $.02.

    Big fish little fish thousand year reich

  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,794 Posts
    Delay said:
    Basically anyone that thinks this amounted to a culture, or sub culture, is TRIPPING.



    b/w



    I haven't read the Vice article, but there's an informative chapter in Last Night A DJ Saved My Life (Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton - essential reading btw) that covers the cultural impact of rave music in teh UK, plus numerous docs on yootoob if you want to laugh at ravers with bad haircuts gurning.

    It amounted.

  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,391 Posts

  • djannadjanna 1,543 Posts
    jjfad027 said:
    Flomotion said:
    jjfad027 said:
    phatmoneysack said:
    djanna said:
    Early 90s San Francisco was pretty intense. I raved. Hard.

    Was that the scene that DJ Garth was involved in?

    Yes. It was quite fun as well.

    Was that with Thom and Markie? Always fun.

    Yup. And Jeno

    Yes! Thomas is the shit! Ended up being a close friend and mentor to me when I started deejaying.

  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,391 Posts
    jjfad027 said:
    Flomotion said:
    jjfad027 said:
    phatmoneysack said:
    djanna said:
    Early 90s San Francisco was pretty intense. I raved. Hard.

    Was that the scene that DJ Garth was involved in?

    Yes. It was quite fun as well.

    Was that with Thom and Markie? Always fun.

    Yup. And Jeno

    Yes! Thomas is the shit! Ended up being a close friend and mentor to me when I started deejaying.

    I know Thom from way back and Markie from his Tonka days - Markie's taped sets from the Tonka era are still among the best music I own.

  • finelikewinefinelikewine "ONCE UPON A TIME, I HAD A VINYL." http://www.discogs.com/user/permabulker 1,416 Posts
    I know Thom from way back and Markie from his Tonka days - Markie's taped sets from the Tonka era are still among the best music I own.

    Could you please share these sets with us? I would be more than grateful for it.

  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,391 Posts
    This just might be the kick up the arse I need to digitise them - I'll keep you posted.

  • neil_something said:
    the detractors here might as well just write "disco sucks".

    also, for the people talking about vegas clubs or festivals: you are probably one of the non-understaning americans that the article was directed at.

    Why do we have to understand it? Why do we have to appreciate it? Why do we have to agree it is a culture? I will never grasp the "you don't like/appreciate/respect this cultivated "culture" because you are obviously ignorant" mindset. It's thousands of people taking drugs, jumping up and down, watching a dipshit on a laptop...please explain what I don't understand about this "culture". What message am I not getting? What "high art" am I not appreciating? What cultural artifacts am I not aware of?

  • The_Hook_Up said:
    It's thousands of people taking drugs, jumping up and down, watching a dipshit on a laptop...please explain what I don't understand about this "culture".

    No one is criticising your opinions or personal taste. However, some of these opinions - as seen above - seem to be based on a misunderstanding.

  • Actual Rave Culture died out in the UK after the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994, so what we're talking about now is just a parody of that crossed with stadium rock event runnings.

  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,794 Posts
    neil_something said:
    The_Hook_Up said:
    It's thousands of people taking drugs, jumping up and down, watching a dipshit on a laptop...please explain what I don't understand about this "culture".

    No one is criticising your opinions or personal taste. However, some of these opinions - as seen above - seem to be based on a misunderstanding.


  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    The_Hook_Up said:
    It's thousands of people taking drugs, jumping up and down, watching a dipshit on a laptop...please explain what I don't understand about this "culture". What message am I not getting? What "high art" am I not appreciating? What cultural artifacts am I not aware of?

    While I have zero interest in anything to do with with raves, I would point out that any form of popular music could be dismissed with this broad stroke.

    And from an anthropological standpoint, it certainly qualifies as a subculture. Culture and high art are not synonymous in any way.

  • Horseleech said:
    The_Hook_Up said:
    It's thousands of people taking drugs, jumping up and down, watching a dipshit on a laptop...please explain what I don't understand about this "culture". What message am I not getting? What "high art" am I not appreciating? What cultural artifacts am I not aware of?

    While I have zero interest in anything to do with with raves, I would point out that any form of popular music could be dismissed with this broad stroke.

    And from an anthropological standpoint, it certainly qualifies as a subculture. Culture and high art are not synonymous in any way.

    I will ask my anthropologist wife. I guess glow sticks qualifies as an artifact.

  • mickalphabetmickalphabet deep inna majestic segue 374 Posts
    neil_something said:
    the detractors here might as well just write "disco sucks".

    also, for the people talking about vegas clubs or festivals: you are probably one of the non-understaning americans that the article was directed at.

    / this /

  • the definition of subculture is ambiguous, so anything can be a subculture. But a culture, on it's own? No.

  • jjfad027jjfad027 1,594 Posts
    granjero said:
    Actual Rave Culture died out in the UK after the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994, so what we're talking about now is just a parody of that crossed with stadium rock event runnings.

    Parody rave

  • mickalphabetmickalphabet deep inna majestic segue 374 Posts
    Even the rave subculture has its own sub subculture,
    exhibit A - jungle
    artifacts - dubplate biznizz, akai s1000s, weed & crack, THE AMEN BREAK etc etc

  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    The_Hook_Up said:
    the definition of subculture is ambiguous, so anything can be a subculture.

    I'm guessing your wife would not agree with this. Sure, the definition is somewhat ambiguous (lots of definitions are), that doesn't mean it's meaningless.

    The_Hook_Up said:
    But a culture, on it's own? No.

    It's clearly not a culture on it's own. I'm not sure anyone who knows what they are talking about is asserting otherwise. I don't think using the phrase 'rave culture' is the same as saying that raves are a culture onto themselves.

  • dj_cityboydj_cityboy 1,483 Posts
    been to them, played at em, had loads of fun, met loads of people...good times!
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