From the "Second Summer of Love" to the "Post-Rave Diaspora"

books:


	• Generation Ecstasy : Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture Simon Reynolds Routledge, 1999 - 504 pages average customer review:based on 29 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

From the "Second Summer of Love" to the "Post-Rave Diaspora"

Despite its limitations, this is still the best empirical book about the history of rave culture to date. Reynolds is an English dance music journalist who positions himself at the popular/danceable wing of the dance movement in contrast with its elitist/"intelligent" sections. (My sources in Ibiza/UK, though, tell me that he in fact belongs to London's clubbing elite...).

The bulk of the book consists of a long series of interweaved magazine articles that Reynolds published throughout the years. He describes dance music subgenres, artists/promoters/clubs, and how music changes. He also connects rave culture with the rise of harsh neoliberal capitalism in 1980s UK and US. However, Reynolds hyperventilates in excessive descriptions of sounds and theis effects in the communal experience of 'raving' that bonds the "generation ecstasy".

Despite the emphasis on musical descriptivism and on the British case, the book demonstrates how dance movement develops in general: in relation to the social tension between the underground and the mainstream, to the repressive action of the neoliberal state, and to the development of a global dance subculture: from the Second Summer of Love (1988) to what he aptly terms as "post-rave diaspora" (since 1997).

In the "post-rave diaspora", Reynolds notes that ecclectic experiments have gotten stuck in formal conventions of House, Techno and DnB, and that nobody knows where Techno movement will lead to. (As an example of this claim, see my review of album "Creamfield" by Paul Oakenfold).

for more information click here

Good book

It can be a little in-depth sometimes, almost to the point of being inane, but the author carries the story so well, you find yourself being swept up in the madness, almost as if you were standing in the middle of the rave culture yourself.

It sheds an important light on a rarely-reported but highly relevant side of music history; a must-have for any true fan of the art.

for more information click here

Comprehensive but flawed

This is still by far the most comprehensive and wide-ranging history of EDM, which is in some ways an indictment of more recent works on EDM (although some recent and more focused histories of particular styles and periods have been very valuable). While no fan, musician and/or scholar of EDM should ignore this book, you'll probably find yourself wrestling with it from time to time. Reynolds has a clear anti-intellectual / pro-proletarian bias that makes him quick to dismiss the importance of certain genres. Also, he tends to make a teleological history out of the whole phenomenon, where new styles displace previous ones--which doesn't explain why many "old" styles continue to develop in contemporary EDM scenes. Also, good luck trying to trace the source of many of his quotations.

for more information click here

The Best Book on Electronic Dance Music...so far.

Some of the reviews here are quite articulate so I won't repeat what others have said; but I will add that the original title for this book in the U.K. was 'Energy Flash' which is a little cheesy but more appropriate than 'Generation Ecstasy.'

'Energy Flash' is an early hardcore track and this title captures the ideas and spirit of Reynolds' book.

Those who come to this book looking for a history of ecstasy and the pseudo-hippie 'idealogy' behind rave may be misled by the U.S. title.

I also don't think the criticism that Reynolds is biased makes any sense. We read music criticism to hear others views and Reynolds' are well-thought-out and coherent. I respect that, even when I don't always agree with him.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

In the early nineties, rave culture exploded with the availability of cheap computers and sampling technology, causing a punk-style do-it-yourself revolution. The resulting upsurge of independent labels and home studio-based artists spawned a legion of subgenres: hardcore, trance, jungle, ambient, gabba, big beat, and many more. Today, DJs and producers such as Fatboy Slim, Prodigy, Goldie and The Chemical Brothers have huge followings, while mainstream artists like Madonna and Bjork have turned to rave's offspring for artistic rejuvenation.

In Generation Ecstasy, Simon Reynolds takes the reader on a guided tour of this end-of-the-millenium phenomenon, telling the story of rave culture and techno music as an insider who has dosed up and blissed out. The first critical history of techno music--and the drug culture that accompanies it--Generation Ecstasy traces rave's origins in Detroit techno and Chicago house, then shows how these black American genres were transformed by British and European youth. Here is everything you ever wanted to know about the artists and the DJs who created dance culture, the fans for whom it is a way of life, and the dance club and outdoor rave scenes that brought it both fame and infamy.

A celebration of rave's quest for the perfect beat and the ultimate rush, Generation Ecstasy is the definitive chronicle of rave culture and electronic dance music.

for more information click here

hot or not? What's your opinion? Write a review and share your thoughts!

recommendations

Cultural and Economic Decline in the American Empire in the 1990s P.2
Spiritual Pharmacology: Shamanism, Hallucinogens,and the Psychedelic
Books by & related to Alexander Shulgin...
Reads that changed how I look at the world
Books and Music to Enlighten You

generation

Star Trek Encyclopedia
The Boomer Bible
Cruise Ship Job In 14 Days: The LASER Strategy for Next Generation ...
Sew Fast Sew Easy : All You Need to Know When You Start to Sew
Red: The Next Generation of American Writers--Teenage Girls--On What ...

ecstasy

Buzzed: The Straight Facts About the Most Used and Abused Drugs from ...
Rumi: The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing
After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the ...
Sex and the Perfect Lover: Tao, Tantra, and the Kama Sutra
13: Thirteen Stories That Capture the Agony and Ecstasy of Being ...

culture

Halls of Fame
James Cameron's Titanic
Meta Modern Era
Star Trek Encyclopedia
The Watcher's Guide, Volume 1 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

search for books
generation ecstasy, culture, ecstasy, generation, into, rave, techno, world