This piece was influenced by Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds, 1998. I was teaching popular culture for HSC students at the time.
Then and Now
To put this whole youthful spiritual idealism (of 1960s) into a (semi) contemporary context, the Raver’s Manifesto of 2002 contains much of the early 60’s breathless enthusiasm for the transcendent. For example, here’s a quote from the middle section, “And somewhere around 35hz we could feel the hand of God at our backs, pushing us forward, pushing us to push ourselves to strengthen our minds, our bodies and our spirits.” That kind of hyperbole could well be fuelled by MDMA. The primary cultural effect of Ecstasy use was related to the experience of emotional communion it induced. This aspect was well noted by various denominations of Christian church in the UK especially the Pentecostal, which already encourages rhythmic trance inducing dancing and chanting. Some Christian groups held drug and alcohol-free Rave Nights to encourage youth to channel that asexual state of grace into a love of the Gospels. Combined with feelings of relatedness was a mental acuity, a gnosis, a deliciousness of touch all packaged in just the right amount of speed, which enabled dancing until dawn. This frenzied kinetic energy contrasts with the indolence of the marijuana smoker listening to Pink Floyd in the early 70s. Accompanying the passing of joints around would be the odd knowing chuckle at a particularly pithy line.
As far as the music was concerned Hippie culture was cantered on the lyrics of songs whereas House music of Rave culture and its myriad sub genres relies entirely on electronic sounds layered, repeated and orchestrated to take the raver on an aural journey from doomy industrial crunchy chest battering beats to an accelerating crescendo building trancey hands-in-the-air finish. Techno or dance music may not have had lyrics, but big claims have been made for the culture of which it was an integral part. For example, Genesis P-Orridge’s unequivocal statement at the beginning of a documentary that charts the many currents in electronic music (Modulations 1998) that technology has enabled words, sounds, images and culture itself “…to be cut up and reassembled in ways that didn’t exist before. This is the most radical thing for this century.” The technology he was referring to was digital and compact. Essentially, because sound is captured digitally it can be rendered visually so the composer can actually see which parcels of sound need to be cut, repeated, stretched or looped. This ability to manipulate sound to such a forensic degree allowed electronic music to constantly mutate into myriad sub genres thereby keeping the culture edgy and alive. And, it was cheap, thus democratizing the production of music whereby a teenager could have access to equipment that hitherto required an expensive professional studio. The changes in music production and recording from the first digital audio workstation (DAW) in 1979 to the 24 track sequencers in 1992 were fast enough to be called revolutionary. Hence the fervour with which young bedroom musos embraced not only the technology to make electronic music but also the ability to share it on peer-to-peer Internet platforms. Whereas the only change in music related technology in the early 70s of which I was aware was the advent of the cassette tape and that only related to consumption, not production of music.
Another similarity between Hippie culture and Dance music is the middle-class education of the consumers and some producers. For example, the esoteric mathematics of Edward Lorenz found its way into popular culture whereby Chaos Theory overturned a deterministic universe. This notion of unpredictability fed into the pre-millennial-tension of the late 90s. Presumably, this was what p-orridge was alluding to when he/she said, “…the world is no longer binary– it’s chaos.” (Modulations) According to another aficionado there was “… a great struggle going on – what do we do with our humaneness? What do we do with our virtual selves? When do we accept the machine?” Questions even more pertinent today, 2020, with the rise of AI and algorithmically mediated interactions.
The intellectual credentials of the spokespersons, well, men, in Modulations for electronic music of the 90s were right up there. Matt Black, a UK DJ and alumni of New College Oxford, commenting on technology’s ability to trigger and syncopate an image with a sound said, “[this ability] was no more than the pithy idea that ‘everything is everything’– new slants on the idea that everything is connected.” Adding, as if we all know who he’s talking about, “…as Heraclitus said, ‘as above, so below’.”
The other major similarity between alternative cultures of the late 60s and early 90s was that neither period led to wider systemic change. To illustrate the disappointment in the potential of a loved-up crowd of one and a half million at the Berlin Love Parade in 1991 to achieve anything other than entertainment, a participant remarked, “At the end of the day it’s all about a stupid party. Even at 133 beats per minute everyone is so bored; no one wants to change anything. Exactly like Germany in the 1920s which led to Fascism.” The music of Hippies labelled ‘Progressive Rock’, while technically virtuosic, became ever more stadium orientated and utterly coopted by the mainstream.
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