Electric Analysis of Electronic Dance Music Rave Culture
Electronic Dance Music, also known as EDM, has a strong influence on teenagers in
today's society. The growing popularity of the genre began in the 1980s where this type of music was first played at the venue in Chicago, Illinois called the Warehouse. From the Warehouse, people began referring to thie type of music presented there as house music, and it evoked from there to EDM. From the growing influence of EDM sprouted festival season. Festival season is the time throughout spring and summer when popular EDM festivals are held all over the world, where people come out to hear popular DJs perform electronic mixes live. The oldest of the festivals is Mysteryland, a popular multiple-day festival in New York where DJs from all over the world gather to share their love of EDM and perform. EDM festivals are also very popular in Europe and the Caribbean Islands; the scenes in those locations does not differ much from the rave and festival scene in America because it is typically the same popular DJs that perform, but it draws a larger crowd because it is more socially accepted in other countries than America since peculiar music is not so atypical. Usually, these scenes are filled with people under the influence of alcohol and different narcotics, such as methylenedioxymethamphetamine (molly), gamma- hydoxybutyrate (GHB), methamphetamine (meth), ketamine, rohypnol (roofies), and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD or acid). Spectators use these drugs to enhance their festival experience. The music is extremely loud, and people feel the vibrations of the base nearly every second of
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the performer's mix. There are countless genres of EDM like house, trance, trap, techno, hard- style, dubstep, tech-house, and ambient house, which are all very popular in the rave and festival scene. Different DJs choose to express themselves and their love for music through different styles. They hone their abilities and express this passion with others who also enjoy the EDM scene. There is a positive atmosphere amongst the entire crowd driven by opposition of social order and the desire to fulfill unconscious instinct.
What is a rave?
It is difficult isolate a definition for what a rave is. A very broad definition for a rave is that it is a large party where a vast amount of people are in one space. The Oxford English Dictionary does not have a meaning for the word rave yet, but rave culture does appear under the definition of “ambient” if reference to ambient music. It defines ambient music as
Designating or relating to a style of largely instrumental music, characterized by its predominantly electronic textures and the absence of a (persistent) beat, which is designed to create or enhance a particular atmosphere or mood, esp. of relaxation or contemplation. Also used in comb. with the names of other types of popular music to denote various hybrid styles, mostly associated with the dance- music and rave culture of the late 1980s and 1990s). (“Ambient”)
Though rave culture has been present in history for decades, it has still yet to be officially defined. In this sense, it is still a relatively new meaning for the word rave. It is essentially a scene where different types of dance music is performed, and there is a large group of bystanders in an undefined space. DJs set the mood for the rave with their performance of the genre of music they explore, and ravers—the spectators—support the performances by attending these
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raves and experiencing the mood set by that performing DJ. Lance Gharavi recreates a rave scene for a play and his explanation of the presentation adequately presents what the rave scene is like. He says,
The girls take her to a rave—a kind of all-night guerrilla dance-party featuring exotic dress, psychedelic drug-use, and DJs spinning electronic dance music... There is no formal or fixed seating arrangement...Gender appropriate “security personnel” patted them down. Their bags were check, tickets taken, and hands stamped, all under the suspicious and watchful eye of a hulking, surly bouncer... A like DJ was spinning loud trance and progressive house music, the light were flashing and swirling, and the space was filled with people dancing and twirling glow-sticks. (228-229)
The author of this article’s recreation of a rave scene that is presented the Arizona State University’s production of Iphigenia Crash land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart (a rave fable) is a keen demonstration of what the rave scene is like today. I noticed an immediate resemblance with how Gharavi explains the rave scene in the play production and the famous club Webster Hall in New York City, New York. Patrons—the ravers—are checked before entering, all dressed in unconventional attire, present their proof of purchase when entering the venue, are free to roam the space of the rave’s venue, and are all surrounded by other spectators with the common interest of being in that rave environment.
I Came, I Raved, I Conquered
There are two types of people highly involved in the rave scene: the ravers, the people who show their support by spending money to watch the DJ’s perform, and the DJ’s, who show
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their eccentric passion for music and choose to share it with others. I have grown to love things that go against the norm, and the EDM scene does exactly that. Its creation sprouted from being a generational rebellion in the 1980s, where house music and the term rave basically came from, to a broad form of music that is still a generational rebellion but it is also a worldwide sensation. I view involvement in EDM rave culture as a way of letting out subconscious pleasure to revolt against parental generations and society. Coming from a home where protocols were set in place from an early age, I rationalized that disobedience would land me in unforeseen situations that I was not adequately prepared to face; I would not know how to handle a situation like the rave scene because I would be going at it independently at a time where I was still living dependent on my parents. Following the rules was the best option, and one day I knew I would have enough freedom to do as I please—like explore the interests I had to lock away because of my sheltered childhood. A majority of the people succumbed to the growing social trend of EDM are adolescents ranging from teenagers to young adults because this is the time in life when they have the open opportunities to fund what has become their rebellious notions. The desire to fulfill unconscious instinct is a strong part of what drives ravers to continually attend events, usually repeating attendance at select venues or festivals, following their favorite DJs, using the popular drugs of choice, and utilizing the occasions as symbolic resistance. Some people go as far as spending thousands of dollars annually to indulge in rave culture, buying ample tickets to different venues and festivals to watch different DJs perform, because it is the choice they make to indulge in this lifestyle.
Identity of the Raver
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Ravers use electronic dance music culture as a social rebellion for different reasons resonating from the way they analyze society, the older generations, and how they feel alienated amongst society. I created a sanctuary for myself through EDM rave culture. The music, though it has become a worldwide phenomenon, is still distinguished in how it is composed and how different it is to other popular genres of music. When I delve into the EDM rave scene, I feel a greater sense of community than I ever felt in any other aspect of my adolescent life. When I first was exposed to the intricate beats, EDM was not as widely popularized as it is now. DJs were not known famously for their alternate-personality stage names but used their actual names. DJs like the widely known Skrillex and Diplo previously identified as Sonny Moore and Thomas Wesley Pentz. They created their own identities for performing. Many DJs began their careers using their given names and as those careers progressed the DJs began to identify with original stage names; similarly, ravers have an alternate personality when they convene based on their shared interests in DJs, performers, and venues.
The progressive development of the electronic dance music and the people who choose to explore the social realm of EDM identify as either a raver or a DJ. Ravers find a personal identity for themselves in the EDM culture. They are the most significant spectators because their contribution to EDM events—underground shows, publicized events, and festivals—is what fuels the culture and essentially EDM alive. What makes ravers the spectators is the fact that they make the conscious decision to spend money and support their need to dissent and go against social standards. On the opposite end of the spectrum at the DJs; they exploit their talents and creative abilities with the idea that their performances and intricate use of technology will satisfy the spectators of this highly complex music culture.
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The Ultimate DJ
In EDM rave culture the DJs are like a
substitution for the actual
strained relationship
between the adolescent
generation and parent
generation. The DJs project
their beliefs onto the spectators which are then accepted by the ravers that later branch out creating subcultures and influencing others by bringing them into the already recognizable defiant group that participates in the EDM rave scene. Society buys into the EDM culture and accepts the unorthodox because catering to their interests traps the culture. Additionally, the relations being reproduced by the culture are subject to the unconscious beliefs formulated by the capitol’s repression. By this I mean that as the youth culture grows, there is a greater awareness by the capitol of the cultural revolution. As this continues, the capitol feeds into this growth and benefits from it, but its negative affects are present on both sides. The rave culture is an investment in the capitol, but the capitol has to accept the idiosyncratic culture. In an analysis about communication, it explains,
[The intentional communication] directs attention to itself; it gives itself to be read. This is what distinguishes the visual ensembles of spectacular subcultures from those favoured in the surrounding culture(s). They are obviously fabricated. They display their own codes or at least demonstrate that codes are there to be
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used and abused. In this they go against the grain of a mainstream culture whose principal defining characteristic is a tendency to masquerade as nature, to substitute ‘normalized’ for historical forms, to translate the reality of the world into an image of the world which in turn presents itself as if composed according to ‘the evident laws of the natural order’. (Hebdige 134-135)
DJs use music as their way of connecting with the spectators. Each DJ has their own outlandish personality which they use to draw-in and maintain their supporters. The extraordinary ways that DJs exhibit themselves is a strong role in what makes rave culture so unfavorable to other cultures and governing ranks in society. How exuberant the scene is has a big role in what makes electronic dance music and the rave culture so well-liked. From an outside perspective, DJs that participate in the rave scene are unorthodox to other cultural forms, but it is definitely what gives EDM rave culture a foundation for such a strong support system that has expanded worldwide. EDM—We Stand Together
The support systems for the DJs defined by the ravers sustains the fundamentals of electronic dance music rave culture. Ravers serve as spectators and the basis of industry in EDM rave culture because without the support of the ravers, EDM culture would not thrive and be prosperous amongst the already lavish cultures in society; the opposing motives of the capitol would have demolished the rave movement if it was not for the never-ending growth of the EDM rave population. Hebdige explains, "The emergence of a spectacular subculture is invariably accompanied by a wave of hysteria in the press. This hysteria is typically ambivalent: it fluctuates between dread and fascination, outrage and amusement" (131). Rightfully so, the development of rave culture is that of a flourishing subculture. The social habits of the media
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where it is necessary to publicize the unconventional acts of the minuscule cultures like EDM rave culture only add to the increasing popularity of rave culture, whether the reports are intended to positively or negatively influence society about ravel culture. The capitol has to evolve with rave culture for there to be balance in society. With the growing craze, though it is not fully accepted by governing cultures, society benefits for the needs of the ravers. There are more people in the adolescent generation that choose to partake in the EDM rave scene, only making EDM rave culture stronger.
EDM vs. The World
Electronic dance music culture goes against the social order, but so much so that it is desired by the capitol. This industry produces high revenue from the costs of tickets to attend events to popular products that people like using at these shows such as LED gloves, flow wands, and kandi—craft beads that people use to make bracelets, masks, headbands, and other accessories of that nature to embellish their appearances. These products are of high demand in the rave culture scene; while DJs are performing, spectators put on their own performances for each other with some different LED gadgets and crafts. With the high energy in the environment, people also spend money on attire for these events so they make an outstanding presence. There is also a large market because of drugs that people feel that they need to use to amplify their experience at these events. All of this constitutes in the high profit for different industries because of the growing interest in EDM rave culture. Electronic dance music is reconstituting the social norms and producing its own culture, which in turn branches off subcultures that are all understood by class relations. In referencing that everything stems from a larger themes, Willis states, “Integration is the opposite of differentiation and is the process whereby class oppositions
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and intentions are redefined, truncated and deposited within sets of apparently legitimate institutional relationships and exchanges” (Willis 125). From the adolescent culture’s ultimate desire to rebel, rave scene interest is a recurrence. Attending three to four shows a month, I personally spend about $250 each month feeding my interest in the EDM rave scene. I no longer ignore the fact that it is a subconscious desire that I choose to indulge in because of my cultivated desires. The culture and subculture that EDM manifests create a balance. Teenagers see their devotion for different DJs and dedication to religiously attending performances and festivals as a rebellion against parental authority and a resistance of mainstream society.
EDM rave culture is viewed in society as a generational social rebellion. The Birmingham theory interprets youth's subcultures as a response to class oppression and in symbolic resistance to the parental generations. With EDM rave culture, there is no way of really isolating the parental generation. In an article explaining the cultural production and the politics behind it, the author mentions,
The neo-Marxist cultural studies theorists of the Birmingham school laid the foundation for much of this work in arguing that the creation of a subculture is a response to the personal, political, and economic contradictions of crises that youth confront on the brink of adulthood. The Birmingham theorists strategically chose to use the term “subculture,” rather than “youth culture,” because they argued that the latter descriptor obscured the links between the cultural construction of youth as a distinct category and the creation of a “teenage [consumer] market”; the concept of a “subculture,” in their framework, was
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embedded in a deeper structural explanation of the dialectic between “youth” and
youth industries. (Maira 333)
This article focuses on hip hop and how the genre of music is evolving and impacting cultures of South Asian decent instead of merely Black Americans—the culture that invented the hip hop genre. Different racial groups like Indians have become highly involved in the hip hop genre. It correlates to how EDM rave culture has grown to impact different subcultures than American adolescents, but has spread to affect cultures internationally. EDM rave culture associated with youth culture, and Sunaina Maira’s article about hip hop culture explicitly elaborates on how the Birmingham culture prefers the term subculture when referencing a youth culture because the term youth culture basically limited the understanding of the Birmingham theory to the youth when this theory inherently goes beyond just the youth culture. My understanding of EDM rave culture and the Birmingham theory is that rave culture is a product of a youth culture—a subculture—and that subculture evolved from the mainstream culture that adolescents trapped themselves in before branching off and creating their own form of culture, EDM rave culture.
Most adults grew up during the time when electronic dance music was their own social rebellion. Since then, it has grown and developed into a more popular sensation amongst in today’s youth generation. As one generation of teenagers transitions into adulthood, a new generation takes its place and more evolution occurs. When Paul E. Willis describes culture, it is easier to understand how the popularity of EDM has grown. Willis says, "A pool of styles, meanings and possibilities are continuously reproduced and always available for those who turn in some way from the formalised and official accounts of their position and look for more realistic interpretations of, or relationships to, their domination" (Willis 121). EDM is not
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isolated to one genre of music; different DJs use their backgrounds and appreciation for different genres and create their own versions which all similarly fall under the EDM genre because of the similarity in the use of techniques. The culture is the DJs and the production of their music. The subculture which is occurring today are the spectators that associate themselves with the non- mainstream. Though very eclectic, this culture buys into the capitalistic society which now accommodates the EDM culture because of the ever-growing popularity of this music.
The EDM Revolution
Rave culture is an evolving rebellion that advanced as a subculture of the parent generation. In a text entitled Subcultures, Cultures and Class, the author’s state, “Subcultures take shape around the distinctive activities and ‘focal concerns’ of groups...Others develop a clear, coherent identity and structure....When these tightly-defined groups are also distinguished by age and generation, we call them ‘youth subcultures’” (Clarke et al. 100). In light of this text,
EDM rave culture can identify as a youth subculture; it is not a loosely- defined identity and, being around for decades, EDM culture has defined its standing relationship- wise to society and clearly differentiates from previous generations. DJs and ravers have
created such a powerful milieux, a social environment that they associate with. The authors further express their understanding of subculture: “Through dress, activities, leisure pursuits and
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life-style, they may project a different cultural response or ‘solution’ to the problems posed for them by their material and social class position and experience. But the membership of a subculture cannot protect them from the determining matrix of experiences and conditions which shape the life of their class as a whole” (Clarke et al. 101). This can be interpreted as the youth’s comprehending their involvement in the EDM culture as a statement against the parent generation. This is a subculture occurring today that associates with the non-mainstream. There is an increased desire in the artisanal which cost rave participants more than the basic costs of simply purchasing venue tickets. This buys into the capitalistic society which now caters to the interest of rave culture.
Joining the Movement
Generations and cultures outside of the EDM rave community should take more interest in understanding this culture and its subcultures to gain a better understanding of what is typically mistaken about ravers. Hebdige talks about subculture and asserts, “The process of recuperation takes two characteristic forms: (1) the conversion of subcultural signs into mass- produced objects; (2) the ‘labelling’ and re-definition of deviant behavior by dominant groups— the police, the media, the judiciary” (131). This sufficiently demonstrates that electronic dance music rave culture is denoted by the capitol because it is unconventional popularity. It is clear that the capitol is not good at accepting change. Rave culture has been around for decades and it is still an evolutionary movement. Rave culture is publicized, but also ridiculed. The scorn towards EDM rave culture is understandable because of the favorable use of multiple illegal drugs and narcotics at these events but, besides the negligible groups that choose to indulge in illicit activity, there is a great deal about the rave scene that the governing culture does not
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choose to comprehend. Capitol ignores that fact that the growing craze is capturing a larger generation as well—the pre-adolescent generation that looks up to the peer group that is consumed by rave culture.
Analyzing electronic dance music brings to light the importance of understanding the social revolution of EDM rave culture and the subcultures involved in the rave scene. Ravers do not choose to attend raves for the simple fact of using drugs. It is for the social experience and indulgence in a scene that is also full of people in similar social situations. It is not hard to find people in the rave scene that may mutually sympathize about different struggles a person is facing. I find that the social energy and vibe that is amongst the crowd is an invigorating experience. Attending a rave with a group of peers and having that enlightening experience opens minds to what some people never thought they could really understand. I have enjoyed electronic dance music for a years before considering attending a rave. It was one of those experiences that I heard people discuss but never understood the enjoyment behind waiting on line in a crowd of agitated people, spending large sums of money for an experience that would last a couple hours—and if I did not enjoy the experience, it would turn out to be a waste of money—placing myself in a situation where I would possibly have to deal with people under the influence of different drugs, and shoving myself into a large crowd of people with different backgrounds and not knowing what to expect from them in different circumstances. One experience changed all of that for me. I never thought that something so minuscule could really impact my life as much as EDM rave culture has. All it took was opening myself up to the chance of experiencing something out of my comfort zone to realize that this was satisfying underlying desires I did not know I had. It is hard to speak for the experiences of others, but
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witnessing how other spectators even overindulge in the EDM rave lifestyle is fascinating to think about. Electronic dance music rave culture is a vast social movement around the world. It goes against social order, but it also shows the unity amongst the growing society.
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Works Cited
“Ambient, adj. and n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2014. Web. 10 May 2014.
Clarke, John, et al. “Introduction to Resistance through Rituals” The Subcultures Reader. Gelder and Thornton, eds. New York: Routledge, 1997. 100-101.
Gharavi, Lance. “Of Both Worlds: Exploiting Rave Technologies in Caridad Svich’s Iphigenia.” Theatre Topics 18.2 (2008): 228-229. Print.
Hebdige, Dick. “Subculture: The Meaning of Style.” The Subcultures Reader. Gelder and Thornton, eds. New York: Routledge, 1997. 131, 134-135.
Maira, Sunaina. “Henna and Hip Hop: The Politics of Cultural Production and the Work of Cultural Studies.” Journal of Asian American Studies 3.3 (2000): 333. Print.
Willis, Paul. “Learning to Labor.” The Subcultures Reader. Gelder and Thornton, eds. New York: Routledge, 1997. 121, 125.
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