History of Rave Culture and the Rave Scene

Updated for
 Halloween 2007

On Peace, Love, Dancing, and Drugs

When one examines any cultural movement, it is always useful to examine the roots of that movement. It is the history of the movement that gives us some understanding as to why we are now. It is only when we first trace the roots that we can see the leaves clearly.

Rave culture can be traced back as far as you want to trace it. It can be traced back to Native American religious ceremonies. It can be traced back to the sixties Be-Ins and Love Ins and Acid Tests. It can be traced back to anarchist revolutions in Italy and France. It pulls energy from many different directions.

For the sake of this section, I only want to look at actual raves. When examining the rave culture in America, one reaches the unique problem of having no sources. It is not documented, except through tiny bits of magazine articles, mentions in newspapers, and through the memories of those involved.

I will examine the evolution of techno music later, but, needless to say, it had its origins in Chicago and Detroit disco clubs and gay dance clubs, and also in progressive music from England such as Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode. England and America traded musical influences back and forth during the late seventies-early eighties until techno finally started to be formed.

The actual rave movement, however, combining this new music with dancing, occurred in England. At almost the exact same time, raves started popping up in Manchester and Ibiza, a noted English vacation spot, in late 1987 and early 1988.

It was during this time that two unrelated groups began throwing all-night dance parties in England, Schoom and Genesis P. Orridge’s baby, Psychic TV. Schoom incorporated house music and ecstasy, whereas Psychic TV took a more hardcore edge.

At this same time, the rave phenomenon was taking hold in Germany, most notably in Berlin. The popularity of raves grew in both countries, and soon the little all-night dance parties were drawing thousands of kids. They were also drawing DJs from the United States.

In the early nineties, the rave scene began moving across the Atlantic to America, fueled by American DJs eager to take this incredible thing back home, and English DJs eager to expand their horizons. The first US raves were held in San Francisco, long noted for its liberal and psychedelic culture. From here, they moved to Los Angeles and the rave scene was born in California.

The rave scene that was born in America was one of complete illegality. Spaces were not rented, they were broken into. Two hundred kids would show up on someone’s private beach, set up their speakers, and dance until the cops came. Ravers that have been in it since the beginning eagerly talk about the early days of running from cops while holding a speaker above their head, or of continuing a rave in about seven different spaces over the course of one night.

Frankie Bones, a New York native, was one of the US DJs that was spinning in England. When he saw that the scene was moving into America, he wanted to bring it to his hometown of Brooklyn. He started a series of parties called Stormrave in early 1992. The parties started out small, 50-100 kids, and Frankie resorted to projecting videos of the massive raves in England to show kids what it was all about.

It was during this period of Stormraves that many DJs made their debuts. Now household names among ravers, Sven Vath, Doc Martin, Keoki, Josh Wink and many others began their careers at Frankie’s Stormraves.

It was in December of 1992 that the rave scene started growing. Frankie held a party at an abandoned loading dock in Queens that drew over 5000 kids from New York and neighboring states. According to rave myth, this was when Frankie made his speech about peace, love, unity, and respect, which were to become PLUR, the foundation of the American rave scene.

It was also during this rave that three guys from Milwaukee decided to come check it out. These guys later were to form Drop Bass Network, based in Milwaukee, and now one of the bigger promoter groups in the country. They also introduced the scene to the Mid-West.

The rave scene grew in America in 1993 and 1994. While the rave scenes in England and Germany were becoming commercial empires, the American rave scene still had its fresh idealism. There were now raves happening across the country, in all of the states. The rave scene was here.

Now, as I write this at the end of 1997, I am amazed to see how recent this history is. The entire rave scene has come about in my lifetime. In fact, I have been involved in the American rave scene for one third of the time that it has existed. Now that I have examined the roots of the US rave scene I would like to expand upon them and examine the tree and the leaves that have grown from these roots.

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