state of London underground

[AcidTrash]

In the other thread, the Chris Lib interview, Chris says the Fck you element has gone form the music. That is as true of acid as ever. Very little gutsy music around at the moment.(RIP Havok)

But then look at the backdrop. Think of any time since WW2 and the major musical movements are against a backdrop of economic and political upheaval. The acid techno movement was almost certainly a backlash to the Thatcherite economic reform programme which saw many in the working class wholesale disenfranchised.

ITs no coincidence that the impoverished Eastern Europes post communist dance scene utterly exploded. It was a celebration of liberty.

However, younguns today and us have had well on 16 years of economic stability, wealth and political security. We've had too much of a good thing for too long and taken it for granted that it will always be there to go back to.

While the lifestyle is fun and exciting, it also has an immense physical drain and is a huge distraction when it comes to securing your bases (ie income and housing). It's not something you do half heartedly so for a lot of people the hard choice has been all or nothing. Many have opted for the latter because the lifestyle, excpet for a privalaged few, is not sustainable.

Blowing half your wage on vinyl is also not sustainable and in an absolutely saturated and creatively spent market, where music is a commodity, committing anything less than awesome to vinyl is just not a risk worth taking.

In short, it's the economy, stupid.

But that is about to change. Everything is cyclic to some degree or other and we are about to see a lot of economic casualties. People who can no longer keep abreast of rapid changes in their diminishing finances and in such times, many will revert to their default setting... blowing it off and having fun. Much easier to do when you have nothing to lose.

At the moment, we all have something to lose but for many of us, that will change and when it does, I assure you, there will be no shortage of "fck you" music or parties to go to.

[nekro]

I The acid techno movement was almost certainly a backlash to the Thatcherite economic reform programme which saw many in the working class wholesale disenfranchised.

i think you're reading too much into this music sub-genre

[rhythmtech]

i think you're reading too much into this music sub-genre

he's not reading into it too much at all.. i was in london at the parties when it all kicked off and i can tell you it was a very political movement. look at trafalgar square as an example.