The Rave Scene Explained

The term 'raves' was first used to describe indulgent parties during the 1950s in United Kingdom. In 1958 Buddy Holly released the chart topping hit 'Rave On,' and the term quickly became a part of common English used to describe a madness or frenzy of feeling and not wanting it to end. People who were party animals were often described as 'ravers.'

With the indulgence of the 1980s, and after explosion of new designer drugs and cocaine on to the consumer market starting in the United States and just as quickly spreading across the world, disco had transformed from the rich elite into a mass market. Electronic music had grown and although the term had fallen out of fashion during the 60s and 70s when  was more popular to be 'groovy,' it was coming back into fashion. By the end of the 1980s with the emergence of Techno music, the term was concreted as the description of an event with participants normally numbering in their thousands listening to electronic music performed by Djs accompanied of by laser light shows and often including live performances. Participants would often add to the atmosphere with their own decoration and dress including glow paint body paint, rescue flare like glow sticks and other glow-ing products. In 1989, the UK the term 'raves' was first used in mainstream media to describe these events. At the same time the 'rave' scene was being jump-started in Detroit with a number of artists and the Detroit Electronic Music festival. There was no stopping this trend now as it quickly spread across the United States, the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe and before too long the rest of the world.

Originally starting as an underground movement attracting a lot of negative attention fuelled by the fears of governments and society on a whole due to the accompanied use of designer drugs, it did not take long before rave organisers moved to licensed venues on a pay-to-enter basis. This shift and development did not immediately legitimise the scene but with stricter drug controls and management responsibility it did not take long before full legitimisation of the music style and the events was an inevitability. Genuine underground raves still exist today, however the majority of global events are legitimate and legal. With the explosion of such music labels as Ministry of Sound and international tours the scene quickly transformed into a mind boggling money making machine of the music industry to include hundreds of music labels, thousands of Djs, media, new-media and even more sponsorship from major brands across the world. By the mid 1990s the rave scene had become securely cemented into popular culture and was not going away.

With the spread of a more open and tolerable society, knowledge and information has led to a considerable 'healthening' of the rave scene and it is not intrinsically linked to its underground nature. The industry has grown and there is range of club music events promoting a healthy lifestyle around the world from small to large. Australia has a large listing of events at www.raves.com.au. A good example of the professional scene it has become today. A range of artists regularly visit Australia performing at high end venues often sponsored by many of the worlds leading and often promoting healthy lifestyle brand names.


This post is written by Business Process Outsourcing.