preview

Essay on rave culture

Good Essays

Rave Culture
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.
Rave culture can be traced back to …show more content…

Normally at a rave, a DJ "spins" to create the music that the ravers hear. The act of spinning is the art of mixing songs together using different pitches, different speeds, and an equalizer to create an ever-flowing, ever-changing wall of sound. In effect, artists record techno songs, which are then reinterpreted and mixed with other techno songs, creating a spontaneous new song.
Dancing is, to an extent, yet another reiteration of the music. The music that the DJ creates spontaneously is a text. The dancer then in turn re-interprets this text through movements of the body. The "reader" therefore, whether in the role of dancer, DJ, or user of sampling technology contributes a mind set that is culturally specific and productive in itself. Rave dancing can be highly stylistic, or extremely vulgar. The beat is the driving force. Whether one is doing highly choreographed dance moves or simply thrusting their body back and forth ceases to matter. It is losing oneself to the beat, becoming one with the music by letting the music control your movements.
Ravers are a unique crowd. While rave culture espouses individualism, a come-as-you-are mentality, there are definitely many similarities among ravers in general. A unique aspect of rave culture is the fashion. There is a definite sense of individualism within the rave fashion scene. You are likely to see someone in jeans, someone in black vinyl pants, or someone in costume at a rave. However,

Get Access