The Rave Scene

As I will be producing Drum and Bass it seems relevant to look at the scene behind it, and how it influences a particular section of society within the younger generation today. The rave scene has been around a few decades now, and encompasses many forms of modern digital music, such as Drum and Bass, Hardcore, Hard Dance, Trance etc. It all started in the 80′s from early Trance and Jungle, and essentially mixed loud music with bright light shows to create a euphoric atmosphere, more often than not contributed too by chemical substances. Nevertheless the rave scene has one important slogan ‘PLUR’, Peace, Love, Unity and Respect.

The term ‘rave’ was first used in Britain in the late 1950′s concerning the wild, bohemian parties of the times, and the ‘rave-up’ referred to the specific crescendo moment of the tune where the music sped up and got heavier. Through the hippie era the term was widely disused, until in the 1980′s and the emergence of electronic music where the word was revived and reused by the youth culture. The use of the word in Jamaica could have attributed to this, as Jungle was pioneered by black culture which arrived here around 1950 with the boom in immigration, as well as being one of the first, most integral parts of the rave scene. One thing all have in common, they all used it to describe wild parties.

Psychedelic, electronic dance music is certainly the main focus to today’s raves. The music became popular around Manchester and later London, and attracted thousands of people to every event. They were places to create a working class unification, much like sports, in particular football, were at the time. With the decline of society and few jobs, people looked for alternatives to keep them busy and occupied. Pretty soon activities like raving were seen as anti-social behaviour, and the Government quickly campaigned and took legal action against annoyone who held an ‘illegal rave’. Naturally this pushed the raves out into the countryside and disused industrial buildings.

After the ‘Acid Rave’ scene of the 80′s, new, legal events opened up all across the country, including Raindance, Fantasia and Amnesia House. The phenomenon quickly spread and events were gathering a following wherever they went. By the mid 90′s, the scene had fragmented and split into many sections, most notably Jungle and Happy Hardcore. Mny left the scene because of the split, but this also attracted new members, and events like Helter Skelter began to flourish. Mixed genre events were established in large, multi-capacity venues, which gave the audience more variety. The illegal rave was at an end, but legal ones were only just beginning.

Under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, the definition of music played at a rave was given as:

“Music includes sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetative beats.”

Before long events had to have a license and were based indoors pretty much at all times, possibly so they could be monitored better. Soon nights dedicated specifically to single music categories were again flourishing, and followings for the best nights quickly gathered momentum from the spread of word of mouth. After all, if you’ve had a near ‘religious experience’ at one of these events wouldn’t you want to go back with as many people as possible? The sense of community spirit in incredible at a rave, everyone’s there to have a good time and they show it. Such a happy vibe, I’ve spilt peoples drinks at raves and they’ve ended up buying me a drink! Peace, love, unity and respect personified.

Soon traditional rave paraphernalia like face paints and glow sticks became uncool and overused, and altogether the terms ‘rave’ and ‘raver’ fell out of favor with dance communities as it was too broad ranged. The emphasis was placed back on the individual scenes following, for example ‘Junglist’ is a person who listens to Drum and Bass, further categorising people. Jungle and Drum and Bass was one of the only members from the original rave scene to keep a strong following throughout good times and bad. Soon new and old styles were mixed to create vibes reminiscent of the original days, but with that modern element still pushing the scene forward, which attracted a new generation of clientele that were not alive or old enough to remember when rave first became popular.

Recently new music styles have emerged from the scene, including ‘New Rave’, which blends indie fashion with rave sound, which appeals to a wide range of new audience, although not at all to the true ‘ravers’. It’s not done for the right reasons, the appreciation of music, and for that reason real music lovers avoid it. The original rave music styles are back on the rise too, most notably hardcore, although it now has an incredibly modern, digital sound, not at all like the happy hardcore of old. Personally I am and always will be a Junglist.

Social Identity

Social identity is a theory created to understand the psychological basis of intergroup relationships, and is based around 4 main elements:

• Categorisation: we often categorise ourselves and our peers based on their beliefs, dress sense, even the way they talk.
• Identification: we also associate ourselves with groups and movements we share interests in, boosting our self-esteem.
• Comparison: we compare our groups with others, seeking out positive bias towards groups in which we belong to justify our choices.
• Psychological Distinctiveness: we desire our identities to be positively compared with and different from other groups.

Social identity involves both the psycological and socialogical aspects of group behaviour and how individuals within those groups behave and react with each other. To gain a proper insight into the elements of self-identity you have to differentiate between the aspects derived from individual personality traits (personal identity) and those derived from belonging to a particular group (social identity). In many cases individuals have many identities open to them for use as and when they are needed based on your surrounding environment. Basically we react differently in social group situations for fear of not being disliked, where as in smaller, closer social circles we can act ourselves more comfortably.

Sense of Belonging

A sense of belonging is a way of giving people meaning to their lives, and is influenced by social interactions that show our belonging through shared beliefs, practices and values. Almost every choice we make separates us into pockets of society, what car you drive, job you have, what kind of music you listen too etc, and we are finding new ways to catagorise ourselves every day. Who we are is defined by the communities and social networks which we belong to and choose to join.

Your sense of belonging is built up over years of inclusion, or exclusion, from a diverse variety of groups depending on choices made throughout your life. Over time different groups become more or less relevant, and people tend to build their sense of belonging around their particular lifestyle at the time. With so much choice of course there are positives and negatives to social identity in modern society, we risk losing the sense of shared values but gain the freedom to be individual with our lifestyle choices. Although this does also tend to segregate society even further, with endless sub-categories of categories to associate with.

For the majority of people, family and friends make up the core of their sense of belonging. National identities are also important factors, as are professional and work identities. Lifestyle choices like hobbies and activities, fashion and branding, music and sports are hugely influential in a persons social groups, most likely because it is easier to create a bond with someone you share common interests with. Traditional methods of belonging such as religion, class and race are no longer such an issue in creating a relationship with someone, it’s all about the interaction between parties and a keen interest in the subject.