state of London underground

[AcidTrash]

The music wasnt politicised and nor was the scene but lets take a look shall we.

The second world war was the end of the empire and the end of the victorian social order. The post war industialisation and wider availability of goods created the first mass consumer society. Women during the war had been allowed to take the same jobs as men in the fields and factories and demanded that remained. During the 50's the generation which had sacrificed so much were demanding much more and weren't going to let the morality of the older generation dictate. This gave rise to the rebellion of the James Dean era and to a xcertain extent rock and roll and elvis etc.. leaping forward we have the american civil rights movement and vietnam which brought rise to the hippy mobement and its subsequent offshoots of psychedelia which gradually infected the UK.

We had an actual revolution followed by a cultrual and moral revolution and by the time the post war socialist state was begninning to cripple industry we had yet another social revlotion which brought rise to the Pistols and Punk.

Spot the pattern? Every time there is a rejection of the cultural and political status quo there is a new movement within music and youth culture.

The Thatcherite reforms were no less of an economic and social revolution. The shift from stagnant statism to free flowing individualism and some say selfishness. (see privatisation)

The opponents of which, or at least thatcherism, were always the reclaim the streets/animal right/SWP far lefty types. They were always inextricably linked to the squat "scene" and I've yet to meet an acid house DJ of the era who didnt have links with one or other organisation who were routinely waving placards or in running battles with the rozzers.
The first ravers would have been ex punks, and hippies of the Levellers/NMA pursuasion and anarchy types.

The arrival of ecstasy and mass availability of electronic gear was coincidental but tunes and pills do not a scene make. DJ's had to draw on audiences and where better to find them than at protest squats etc.

To say that the birth of rave was entirely apolitical and just a random mutation of genres based on technological advances doesnt sit well for me. That kind of thing happens all the time. its happend a dozen times since the birth of acid house.

What makes it a movement with political undertones is in evidence by the ensuing moral panics and media hype.
The great nichtomorph of the 90's.

In this case the catalyst was a drug but that drug appearing at any other time since, and the result would have looked entirely different if it happened at all.

Ideas only survive if they have a sea to swim in and such conditions only tend to be apparent in times of economic or social uncertainty.

[Gus]

The music wasnt politicised and nor was the scene but lets take a look shall we.

The second world war was the end of the empire and the end of the victorian social order. The post war industialisation and wider availability of goods created the first mass consumer society. Women during the war had been allowed to take the same jobs as men in the fields and factories and demanded that remained. During the 50's the generation which had sacrificed so much were demanding much more and weren't going to let the morality of the older generation dictate. This gave rise to the rebellion of the James Dean era and to a xcertain extent rock and roll and elvis etc.. leaping forward we have the american civil rights movement and vietnam which brought rise to the hippy mobement and its subsequent offshoots of psychedelia which gradually infected the UK.

We had an actual revolution followed by a cultrual and moral revolution and by the time the post war socialist state was begninning to cripple industry we had yet another social revlotion which brought rise to the Pistols and Punk.

Spot the pattern? Every time there is a rejection of the cultural and political status quo there is a new movement within music and youth culture.

The Thatcherite reforms were no less of an economic and social revolution. The shift from stagnant statism to free flowing individualism and some say selfishness. (see privatisation)

The opponents of which, or at least thatcherism, were always the reclaim the streets/animal right/SWP far lefty types. They were always inextricably linked to the squat "scene" and I've yet to meet an acid house DJ of the era who didnt have links with one or other organisation who were routinely waving placards or in running battles with the rozzers.
The first ravers would have been ex punks, and hippies of the Levellers/NMA pursuasion and anarchy types.

The arrival of ecstasy and mass availability of electronic gear was coincidental but tunes and pills do not a scene make. DJ's had to draw on audiences and where better to find them than at protest squats etc.

To say that the birth of rave was entirely apolitical and just a random mutation of genres based on technological advances doesnt sit well for me. That kind of thing happens all the time. its happend a dozen times since the birth of acid house.

What makes it a movement with political undertones is in evidence by the ensuing moral panics and media hype.
The great nichtomorph of the 90's.

In this case the catalyst was a drug but that drug appearing at any other time since, and the result would have looked entirely different if it happened at all.

Ideas only survive if they have a sea to swim in and such conditions only tend to be apparent in times of economic or social uncertainty.

I think ;uch of this is true. But , some would say sadly, there is another major fator in at least two of the most creative of these cultural revolutions - huge quantities of freely available L.S.D. - something I have no interest in but its influence on music is undeniable.

[Technologic]

The music wasnt politicised and nor was the scene but lets take a look shall we.

The second world war was the end of the empire and the end of the victorian social order. The post war industialisation and wider availability of goods created the first mass consumer society. Women during the war had been allowed to take the same jobs as men in the fields and factories and demanded that remained. During the 50's the generation which had sacrificed so much were demanding much more and weren't going to let the morality of the older generation dictate. This gave rise to the rebellion of the James Dean era and to a xcertain extent rock and roll and elvis etc.. leaping forward we have the american civil rights movement and vietnam which brought rise to the hippy mobement and its subsequent offshoots of psychedelia which gradually infected the UK.

We had an actual revolution followed by a cultrual and moral revolution and by the time the post war socialist state was begninning to cripple industry we had yet another social revlotion which brought rise to the Pistols and Punk.

Spot the pattern? Every time there is a rejection of the cultural and political status quo there is a new movement within music and youth culture.

The Thatcherite reforms were no less of an economic and social revolution. The shift from stagnant statism to free flowing individualism and some say selfishness. (see privatisation)

The opponents of which, or at least thatcherism, were always the reclaim the streets/animal right/SWP far lefty types. They were always inextricably linked to the squat "scene" and I've yet to meet an acid house DJ of the era who didnt have links with one or other organisation who were routinely waving placards or in running battles with the rozzers.
The first ravers would have been ex punks, and hippies of the Levellers/NMA pursuasion and anarchy types.

The arrival of ecstasy and mass availability of electronic gear was coincidental but tunes and pills do not a scene make. DJ's had to draw on audiences and where better to find them than at protest squats etc.

To say that the birth of rave was entirely apolitical and just a random mutation of genres based on technological advances doesnt sit well for me. That kind of thing happens all the time. its happend a dozen times since the birth of acid house.

What makes it a movement with political undertones is in evidence by the ensuing moral panics and media hype.
The great nichtomorph of the 90's.

In this case the catalyst was a drug but that drug appearing at any other time since, and the result would have looked entirely different if it happened at all.

Ideas only survive if they have a sea to swim in and such conditions only tend to be apparent in times of economic or social uncertainty.

Interesting stuff.