Rave Culture: The Number One Example of Social Deviance
Uploaded by Admin on Oct 18, 2000
Introduction
What is a rave? This is a fundamental question that, in a way, I will attempt to answer in this paper, but I will never do it. 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. It is because of this fact that I start off my attempt to analyze rave culture with a series of quotes on the experience.
"...hardcore music being slammed through my body while I dance through my own psychedelic mind trip with a few hundred other beautiful energy-filled youth who accept and embrace the life force of the universe."
-rave participant
"In general practice, a "rave" often refers to a party, usually all night long, open to the general public, where loud techno music is ... played and many people partake of a number of different chemicals, though the latter is far from necessary. The number of people at the event is unimportant ... the cost of attendance is unimportant (though in practice, the higher the price, the more commercial the event, and the lower the quality). At a rave, the DJ is a shaman, a priest, a channeler of energy-they control the psychic voyages of the dancers through his [sic] choice in hard-to-find music and their skill in manipulating that music... A large part of the concept of raves is built upon sensory overload-a barrage of audio and very often visual stimuli are brought together to elevate people into an altered state of physical or psychological existence."
-rave participant
"A contingent of city, state, and military police Sunday raided the Paradox Club in the 1300 block of Russell St. where at least 600 people -- some as young as 14 -- were attending a "rave" party at which drugs where available, a Baltimore police official said yesterday"
-rave participant
"I walked into the space, and was immediately struck speechless. The bass was rattling the mirrors on the far wall. There were laser beams everywhere. The music shot into the core of my body and I moved, I just moved, all night long. People I didn't know gave me water when I was thirsty. People gave me candy and hugs. For one night, I was one with the universe, I was one with my neighbor, and I was one with the music."
-rave participant
"But the people who came to dance the night away...