Music : The Rave Subculture

Differences in beliefs and values from what the “norm” considers the right way makes you a subculture, but what makes them unique are the instruments they use to make their voice heard. While most people have taken for granted their language, beliefs and values there are some who within their subculture use their music to escape forms of oppression and lack of freedom. Hip Hop and Punk are two large subcultures that are well known through out the world. There are many differences between Hip Hop and Punk and several contributing factors that shape these subcultures but ultimately each one’s existence

Hip Hop was birthed in the neighborhood, where young people gathered in parks, on playgrounds, and neighborhood street corners, to verbalize poetry over spontaneous sounds and adopted melodies. Hip Hop was not just the music; it was also a way for the young to show their skills in break dancing, gymnastic dance style that was valued, and athleticism over choreographed fluidity. Hip hop was also fashion such as: hats, jackets, gold chains, and name-brand sneakers. Hip Hop was a form of graffiti, to a new way of expression that engaged spray paint on the subway walls as the canvas. In addition, today’s hip hop have changed as where the DJ was once is now the producer as the key music maker, and the park is now a studio.

Hip-Hop culture is often confused with the Hip-Hop genre. Hip-Hop as a culture is more than just the music, it is a way of life. Hip-Hop music as a genre has changed from being Rap to including Pop. Hip-Hop is an evolving culture, constantly changing as the older generation fades and the newer generation carries on the legacy along with incorporating it's new style. The new generation of Hip-Hop or rather Hip-Hop today focuses more on Partying, music, and Swag rather than the original elements: Deejaying, Emceeing, Graffiti, and B-Boy or break dancing. These elements are still seen in today's Hip-Hop but have adapted a new style.

What is a rave? Raving is a highly subjective experience. One person's best rave is another person's worst. Any attempt to analyze rave culture must recognize the highly personal factor of the experience. Author Daniel Martin defines a rave as “a long period of constant energetic and stylistic dancing exhibited by a large group of people in a hot, crowded facility providing continuous loud House music and an accompanying strobe lit psychedelic light show” . Since the beginning of this culture there has been much controversy on the legality of what goes on in the scene. Through the history, music, people, spirituality we are introduced to one of the newest things affecting pop culture today.

What kind of music do you listen to? What kind of music do your children listen to? Nowadays, we have so many genres and subgenres of music, such as rock, rap, pop, country, classic, jazz, techno, hip-hop, heavy metal and others. Videos, music, and lyrics have an impact on people, especially on teenagers. American writer, well-known scholar, and expert on American culture Mary Eberstadt from the Hoover Institution wrote the essay “Eminem Is Right”.

In Goulding's study "Age is Just a Number" she mentions how one responder states "There's also this feeling of great freedom and exhilaration that you get from dancing. It's like nothing bad can touch you, any cares or worries that you have just disappear, you're a free spirit, your mind can take you wherever you want it to go" Both the rave culture and my religious culture of Catholicism have many similarities for example, both cultures follow the desire to have peace, love and respect for one another, in the rave culture their most popular acronym they all must follow is P.L.U.R (peace, love, unity, respect) in Judy Soojin Park's Study she mentions "As Insomniac's events aim to propagate an ethos of PLUR—Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect—reminiscent of historical rave culture, these events promise a space where anyone, regardless of race, class, gender or sexuality, is accepted."

For many years, Rave Culture throughout history has been portrayed in the media in a very bad light. With the media linking raves to drugs, violence and anti-social behaviour. When media and other authorities try to suppress and regulate the rave culture it is never received very well as stated treat such conflicts as forms of symbolic protest; attempts to legitimate or deni- grate cultural expression (Tepper, 2009). I was extremely shocked that when I read in the extract that as an answer to the sudden epidemic of rave culture officials selected a course of regulation that criminalized DJs and discredited the artform. To me, this is officials using the little bit of power they have to utilise a whole culture, which they would not even think

One of the benefits and reasons why people are so interested with EDM is that it is widely available on the internet. YouTube channels, Facebook pages, websites, and every digital medium available is or has been a location for popular EDM to be socially active with viewers. This allows songs to gain prevalence in different areas of the world with out the geographic locations impeding their connection. Each geographic location also has their own cultural signature to EDM, influences usually point to past cultural movements or famous music that came out of the area. For example Avicii, a Swedish electronic musician, DJ, and producer, created a song, “Malo” which contained Spanish lyrics and created a large listener base that was in the country of Spain. EDM has the ability to be produced with an audience in mind. This is mainly because artists have the means of customizing a sound or song for a group of people just by recreating the ideas and music of movements within that geographical location. By using similar sounds and rhythms, EDM artists are able to capture the true nature of a country’s signature. EDM is a global and social community that is unlike a music genre ever seen before. Almost instantaneously, people of world can find and listen to exactly what EDM they want to hear. People can communicate to each other about the music and share the ideas of the art in a quick and boundless fashion.

Throughout the year, ravers attend events either indoors or outdoors, having the time of their life, whether at a small venue with a tight-knit crowd of familiar people, or large venue with thousands of new faces. While raves might seem like the place where people go to listen to fast-paced music and dance all night, “the love is everywhere” says Patrick Welch, a raver from Portland, Oregon. Several people go to raves, not only for the music, but also for the community raves provides. After attending raves for the past couple years, I have learned that several ravers attend raves because they feel accepted. Several ravers have a tough home life and at raves they feel free to act like themselves and feel free from judgement. With a lack of a reliable family in their lives, these ravers tend to make their own “rave families”. Individuals in these families tend to look out and support one

Whether it is a young girl’s favorite song on the radio, a college student’s escape from reality or a form of entertainment to a married couple, music brings everyone together. While some individuals may see music as nothing more than a song on the radio, it may be a major part of someone else’s life. Every month ravers unite as a community that spread positivity and love around one another at rave parties while they vibe and dance to electronic music from sunset to the early morning.

The specific subculture I want to use as an example is from the reading “In Our Angelhood: Rave as Counterculture and Spiritual Revolution” by Simon Reynolds. Reynolds talks about the roots of the rave culture that started in the UK underground clubs in the 1990’s. Although they still had to run and try to outsmart the police, it actually gave the rowdy teenagers who were causing trouble something to do besides causing havoc at other public events like soccer matches. (Reynolds). But what once started out at as a football alternative and unification of the working class in the UK has now changed. Instead of being a subculture, rave culture is beginning to spill into mainstream and blur the lines between popular culture and rave culture. One example I can think of is right here at the University of Oregon. Nearly every student/young adult I know in Eugene has been to some type of concert/event that would classify as a rave. I think this trend is partially due to the drug culture that surrounds raves and raving. It is no secret that many young adults in college towns use alcohol and drugs, usually at whatever party or get together that are going to that weekend. This makes raves, a place full of music, dancing, and drugs/alcohol, an appealing idea. What really pushes this into the popular culture is the commercial side of it. Instead of having secret warehouse raves, many venues and bars are promoting the idea of a live DJs or a rave type settings because that’s what brings the people in (and the people bring in the revenue). The more money that can be made off something, the more public and mainstream it goes. So while it doesn’t surprise me that raving is becoming more mainstream, it is interesting to see new contrasting opinions on raves. Another example of a changing subculture is from the reading “Elements of Vogue” by Marcos Becquer

Bright lights flashing, sweaty bodies dancing, and loud bass traveling through oceans of people. Something has transformed Houston’s nightlife, and it is not the old honky-tonks any longer. Electronic dance music (EDM) has changed the way many Houstonians listen, dance and socialize in club like backdrops. The Houston electronic dance music scene was once an underground secret where social outcasts would meet to rave till the sun hit the horizons. Now, the scene has become an epic trend thriving throughout the city. Although the city is not a stronghold for the scene, there are multiple venues that host electronic dance music shows for DJ’s and fans alike. The bass has hit Houston, and Houston has embraced the beat with open arms.

Introduction: (Play YouTube video from 1:38 – 1:58). What you just heard were the sounds of EDM. EDM stands for electronic dance music. Also you saw first-hand the inside of a rave called Electric Daisy Carnival (a Las Vegas event famous for ‘finding yourself under the electric sky’). What rave culture means to me is a place I can be myself and express my creativity in a judgment-free environment. Today, I am going to explain the history behind the top 3 most popular genres of EDM, and the meaning behind rave culture.

“Psychedelia” is new way which people could experience the world with new sides. In 1950s in London and San Francisco began first appear psychedelic music and culture. It is mainly used by teenagers and distinguished from adult’s culture. The counterculture, which first started to appear in 1960s, was assertive than adult culture. In 1960s counterculture was known as a hippie worldview. There are two tendencies, which were in music in 1960s. Marijuana and LSD especially played a central role in providing the basis for the new worldview many young people were seeking. These drugs led to higher consciousness, which was only mystic. Also hippie worldview had spiritual aspect, which also was for achieving a higher consciousness. The first important

Modern generations witnessed its rise from the beginning of the new century. Lives of teenagers (and older) worldwide have been influenced by it. It has become an unavoidable element for all the places in the world where joy, youth and life are celebrated. One should not be mislead by these statements, since EDM is simply more than that. It should be considered intellectual because of its variety, composition and complexity, and high knowledge of properties of sound and appropriate hardware/software it demands.