History, culture and the rise of the Dance Generation
In this essay I aim to explore the relationship between history and culture/cultures, explaining how each relates: in particular the rise of the dance generation throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s documented in Mark Leckeys Video “Fiorucci Made me Hardcore (1999) “. I want to prove the idea that throughout history due to the economic climates, laws, society and opinions of the people of the time, cultures have been developed and continually evolved, but these cultures can always be traced back and related throughout history. The video by Mark Leckey is an artistic rendition compiled of snippits of film and sound from different raves and discos showing details of the fashion, music, technology and sub cultures which surrounded this generation of (sub)urban youth.
1980s Warehouse Rave
How did the Dance Generation Begin and Evolve? And how did different cultures affect this?
Mods, an image taken from the popular Mod film “Quadrophenia” by Frank Roddam (1979)
The dance generation began sometime roughly in the late 50s, early 60s when the term “Rave” was used by the Mod generation to dub psychedelic and early electronic music but quickly died out because of the new “Hippie” culture until the 1980s. Due to a new youth generation and a rapid change in British Pop music and a heavy Jamaican influence the term was back but the perception of the word had changed. It now explained the electronic music, acid house and techno raves which began to flourish and emerge in the clubs, warehouses and free-parties around London and the rest of Britain during the mid to late 80s. Later the word changed context again and began to describe the subculture that grew out of the acid house movement, and a popular activity of that subculture was use of amphetamines; cocaine, ecstasy and MDMA, and hallucinogenic’s such as LSD and Ketamine. In the late 80s these Raves had become popular and attracted tens of thousands of people to the scene, they provided the perfect setting for working class unification, in a time with a union movement in decline, recession, conflicts and a lack of jobs; because of this the scene attracted certain types or people with similar opinions and backgrounds, and similar cultures; such as football hooligans.
Footbal Hooligans, image taken from “Awaydays” by Pat Holden (2009)
This culture was responded to with a lot of hostility from Politicians and Police. Authorities began to fine people who held illegal raves or arrest people who were connected to the drugs and their distribution involved in the scene, because of this hostility and opposition the culture became even more engrained in society and still attracted the same people, by directly opposing a cultural choice the politicians essentially caused more people to be influenced by the culture and oppose them, and gave them a way to fight the criminal justice system. Police where then given power to stop illegal raves and free parties, many people think this is to get people drinking taxable alcohol in clubs rather than taking non taxable drugs in fields, it is a good way to enforce a culture upon a society by making the taxable option profitable and legal and the non taxable alternative illegal. Throughout history authorities have always condemned and tried to contain certain cultures and these cultures have always increased in popularity as soon as sides are taken.
Acid House Rave
Britain’s Politics during the 1980s
Margaret Thatcher, Time Magazine, May 14th 1979
In the 1980s Margaret Thatcher was leader of the opposition and Prime Minister of Britain in a time of economic depression, riots and racial tension after caps on public spending, new immigration policies, economic policies and higher taxes had left Britain with a massive unemployment rate and few available jobs. As well as a poor political and economic climate Britain was still suffering, Thatcher was closely aligned with Ronald Regan during the Cold war and also triggered the Falklands War causing the death of 255 British servicemen , 649 Argentinean Servicemen and 3 civilians, Thatcher also approved the use of Royal Air Force bases for the Libya Bombings in retaliation to a terrorist attack on a German Disco, this was widely criticised by the British public. As well as that Britain was under constant terrorist attack from the IRA and an assassination attempt was even made on Margaret Thatcher herself. This had left many working class people in financial repression and angry at upper class politicians leaving the rich and the poor further separated by lifestyles, social status and their environmental surroundings, this meant that the Rave culture grew out of different classes clashing and there were stereotypical traits for each subculture based on the activities of each class ; cultural differences have been around for centuries and have always influenced the different cultures and caused rifts in societies and the politics of each generation, even each civilisation.
The Falklands War 1982
What did Rave Culture influence?
After rave culture become popular and continued to grow, it began to become attached to a certain niche; the culture itself and the people involved in it had began to influence a whole wider range of mediums. As the culture attracted similar people they had developed their own music scene and record labels and they had also began to develop their own fashions, magazines and brands. As certain characteristics were expected from Raves and from the people who attended followers often had or naturally developed similar attitudes and had similar lifestyle choices. What had started as a type of music had grown into a whole culture which spread its influence over a whole generation of youth. This influence has subsequently effected the world today and still its influences can be seen everywhere.
Fashion and Rave Culture
During the raves, ware house parties and free parties of the 80s popular traits began to emerge among followers of the culture and like any culture it quickly developed its own fashions and styles associated with the scene. Popular wear among early ravers were bright colours, Tie dye and the infamous fantazia smiley face T shirts accompanied by hi visibility jackets and anything which could make them stand out on the dance floor.
Fantazia Tshirt
By the 90s boilersuits, gloves and dust masks had become popular because of PA’s like Altern8 and Dye Witness wearing them during raves, this staple rave fashion was often accompanied with whistles, glow sticks and vicks to stimulate dancers and heighten euphoria. Brands quickly latched onto the culture, where associated by the culture or even created by the culture to help fuel the fashion side of the rave culture. Brands such as; Adidas, Diadora, Ralph Lauren, Levis, Hypercolour, Z.Cavaracci, Polo, Girbaud, Slazenger, Fred Perry, Pringle, Lyle and Scott, Lonsdale, Lacoste, FILA, Head, Kappa, Sergio Tacchini, Ellise, Burberry and Aquascutum were all associated with the later rave culture or adapted to fit in.
Typical 1980s Football Hooligans in popular branded clothes, image taken from “The Firm” by Nick Love (2009)
All of these brands were heavily influenced by it and from it grew in popularity and most all survive and remain to be popular today, even now fashion has a very strong influence from the 80s,90s and in particular looks and styles associated with it. Looks from the 80s,90s are constantly re used in popular culture and fashion today as vintage and retro become ever increasingly popular, even in new styles it is easy to see where the influence comes from. Its not suprising that the fashion of that time has been so influential.
1980s Youths, Homer Sykes
What else did the Rave culture influence?
As well as heavily influencing the fashion scene, Rave culture also had a massive influence on Britain’s drug culture. As drugs like cannabis, ecstasy, MDMA, ketamine and LSD grew in popularity throughout the 60s, 70 and 80s, by the time it hit the Rave scene it had already taken a firm hold on Britains youth cultures. Raves were notorious for the use of drugs, especially ecstasy and was seen as acceptable in the scene, it was the effects ecstasty has on the body to keep you dancing longer which initially influenced them but soon other drugs and drug related criminal activities were tolerated, marijuana was used to cure the comedown. This “soft” attitude towards drugs attracted and influenced other youth sub cultures.
Example of Ecstasy
Cultures Throughout History
Cultures often develop and evolve from previous cultures and the changing opinions of people of the time, I looked at Karl Reisz’s video, “We are the Lambeth Boys” (1959) a cultural document which was used to represent Britain in the Venice film festival to see if i could find any relations between Britains Rave culture of the 80s and an earlier generation of British Youth. The film depicts members of a South London boys club; their leisure life and working class backgrounds as it was for a teenager in post war Britain in the 50s. At that time Britain was beginning to get more industrial after buildings were rebuilt and modernised and more cars were seen on the roads, fashion had developed from the war, modern music was being played in new modern dancehalls but this modernism was accompanied by increased senses of affluence and freedom and many social and cultural structures began to be challenged by the young.
Girls in a dancehall (1950s)
There are obvious similarities and relations between the youth of the 50s and the youth of the 80s Rave culture; youths are still gathering on Saturday nights to attend larger more organised dances and fashion is still important among youth culture although has become more idolised, branded and developed. In the 50s films youths were all smoking cigarettes, by the 80s youths were experimenting with more than just cigarettes even though more associated health risks were known, culturally attitudes changed very rapidly since the 50s as youth cultures began to challenge society and disregard warnings more, generally a sense of rebellion has greater increased through each youth culture since the 50s but this is because of the ever changing social and cultural opinions in Britain and each decade. Famous Marxist Theorist Walter Benjamin said “There is no document of culture that is not at the same time, a document of barbarianism”, this means that what may have been accepted by a culture at one time can be seen as barbaric to later generations as attitudes change.
Popular Culture Today and how it relates to history?
Popular culture today is defined as “cultural activities or commercial products reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of the people”. Today’s popular culture has evolved dramatically into what it is today from the influences of generations of past cultures, we have reached an era of free speech, racial equality, diversity all dominated by media and political influences but we have only reached this from what we have learned from older generations, cultures and rapid advances in technology. This new digital age born out the curiosity of older cultures is engrained into our society, yet we have all learnt to adapt to it as it was accepted and encouraged by older generations and therefore influenced younger generations to embrace and expand and never question this popular culture. The way different cultures and trends has influenced generations has shaped the world with live in today and provides us with a better understanding and lifestyles choices, but still there are outdated values conflicting with people’s opinions creating new cultures and ideals, therefore history would suggest popular culture is ever changing and evolving and will continue to do so throughout generations to come.
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