Rave

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A rave party, more often just called a rave, is typically an all-night dance event where electronic dance music is played, usually, by a DJ.

They are predominately attended by "ravers".

A true raver does not judge, condemn, or label your style of: clothes, hair, makeup, costume, sexual orientation, musical preference, race, age, gender, class or income; however, any hurtful or negative behaviors or attitudes against others is very "unrave", and is frowned upon. Ravers do not try to convince you of the rightness or wrongness associated with most human activities; if it makes you happy and more "rave" and does not hurt others it's OK.


Many ravers find this lack of judgement from other ravers very refreshing in a judgement filled world. Thus, a rave provides a few hours of escape and relaxation along with a sense of oneness with similar thinking ravers. Ravers try to be, or at least show that they are happy and fun.


A "raver" is very close to the opposite of a "hater", i.e. a person who is: full of hate, very judgmental, negative, sarcastic, depressing, manipulating, quick to finger point at every little thing they find unsatisfactory or not to their liking or perceived standard (judgmental). The most insulting and offending word to a raver is not f*** but "hater". In 2001, a new word "judger" was created, and is now similarly offensive to ravers.


Similar to religious convictions some ravers are hardcore and some are casual. Some of the most hardcore ravers suprisingly do not use any drugs, but will not condem others if they do. Many hardcore (sometimes called "pure ravers") believe that the future evolution of mankind can be seen and found at a rave, at least temporarily, through the electronic digital music, the kindness, lack of judgment, sharing stories and love, and giving of small gifts and hugs, and the acceptance of oneself and others for who we are now, and not necessarily who we were and or who we aspire to be.

Some hardcore ravers believe the first "rave" was at Woodstock, New York in 1969, and that the children of that age group became the first mainstream "ravers". This was also the first generation raised by parents who professed in "free love" and less physical violence in disciplining children. They were also the first generation to openly disagree with thier own parents, especially with regard to the dislike and protesting against war.

Mainstream Raves began in the mid-to-late 1980s as both a product of and a reaction against the increasingly commercial, alcohol and meat-market oriented nightclub scene and hollywood monopolized radio airplay. In an effort to maintain some distance and secrecy from the mainstream club scene, most raves are held in places like warehouses, rental halls, and outdoor locations, although sometimes reluctantly nightclubs and legitimate concert venues are used.


Early raves invitations were only by word of mouth, there by controlling to some extent who would and could attend. As law enforcement began to disrupt raves the extent to secrecy became very elaborate, with cell phone numbers leading to web sites, leading to other phone numbers, leading to finally a last minute contact phone number or location, here you would recieve directions to the rave location.


What could arguably be called raves existed in the early 1980s in the Ecstasy-fueled club scene in Texas and in the drug-free, all-ages scene in Detroit at venues like The Music Institute. However, it wasn't until the mid-to-late 1980s that a wave of psychedelic dance music, most notably Acid House and techno, emerged and caught on in the clubs and warehouses of London, England. Police crackdowns on these often-illegal parties drove the scene into the countryside. The word "rave" somehow caught on to describe these semi-spontaneous weekend parties occurring at various locations outside the M25 Orbital motorway.

The early rave scene flourished underground simultaneously in the United Kingdom and Los Angeles, where British expatriates had set up shop. It quickly caught on in cities such as San Francisco, San Diego, New York City (home of the legendary 1992 Storm Raves, organized by DJ Frankie Bones), and in major urban centers across the European continent.

Although raves were happening with increasing frequency in the U.S., the scene developed primarily in the UK and Europe until around 1991 - 1992, at which point it became a much more global phenomenon. The spread of raves was initially grassroots only; people who had traveled to attend the first raves began setting up their own, often informal promotion companies to throw their own parties -- mirroring in smaller cities the urban scene with which they had become enamored. As time went on, rave culture became tainted by mainstream commercial interests, with major corporations sponsoring events and adopting the scene's music and fashion for their "edgier" advertising.

Although by the late 1990s the rave scene seemed to stabilize just short of mainstream status, it is still undergoing change, still finding its way towards becoming a fixture in youth culture. Constants in the scene include electronic dance music, a vibrant social network built on the ethos of PLUR, and a love-hate relationship with psychedelic drugs such as Ecstasy and LSD.

While the influence of recreational drugs on the early rave scene is undeniable, there is much debate over the role drugs continue to play, and what should be done about them. Opponents of raves seek to outlaw the parties and the people who organize or host them, contending that rave parties are "drug orgies" that exist exclusively for the rampant use and trafficking of dangerous substances. Proponents retort that people attend raves primarily to dance and participate in the social scene, that recreational drugs are infused in the culture of youth and are used everywhere, that at most raves most attendees are either not using drugs at all or are using relatively benign substances in a reduced-risk manner, and that a typical rock/rap concert or major sporting event is rife with far more rampant consumption of much more dangerous substances.

The Internet and low cost home computers have been revolutionary to the development of digital electronic music, MP3, music mix and swapping web sites, and creating a high speed communicating and sharing "global village". These improvements have been instantaneously been adopted by ravers and rave D.J.'s since the beginning of the public World Wide Web in 1993.

The above describes pretty much the rave culture how it is in the USA today. As you can see, the years between 1992 and the end of the nineties are not mentioned above. This is because after an early sparkle worldwide raves were no big topic in the US throughout the whole nineties. In Central Europe and other parts of the world, rave culture became a new youth movement like it is maybe becoming in the US right now. In Central Europe, especially the Benelux countries and Germany raves were identifying a whole generation throughout the nineties. DJ Artists such as Westbam proclaimed the "raving society" and promoted Techno as legitimate competition to Rock'n'Roll. Indeed Techno and Rave became Mass movements as they are not imaginable in the US today. Raves had 10000s of attendants, youth and teenie magazines featured styling tips and TV stations launched music magazines on House and Techno music. By the end of the nineties Techno and Rave had gone through the same cycle that every original music of an era goes through: a passionate start in the early years with lots of innovators and the ideom of the true underground - an early majority that takes the music into the society - a mass movement where everybody had to be on a rave somehow - a decaying phase when "raver" became the most anticipated word to describe someone with. In Europe nobody calls themselves "raver" anymore, it became the term of the bourgeoisie to describe people going to parties. Raves don't exist now for years anymore, "ravers" returned to be "clubbers". Face masks, pacifiers and neon colors are not old enough yet to be called trendy again. There are only some traditionalized "raves" left in Central Europe, Mayday would be one of them. Most others are more or less called festivals.

Famous raves (rave series) were/are: