Inspired by Acid house and gabber photography taken in the 80s and 90s I have taken and selected photography from the current rave scene to compare similarities and differences between the two to identify what has changed. Through having the opportunity to go and take my own photography at some recent raves, I have been able to identity the differences between what I have seen the raves to have been like during the acid house movement and now.
First though, I have discovered that there are a lot of similarities too. A more obvious one, being the music style. Drum and bass is still played though I feel that the music has shifted slightly to more jump up drum and bass in comparison to techno and house that was played more in the 90s. People still adapt the same style that was presented in the 90s too, though talking to some people who were present at the raves, I started to notice that this was on purpose, with people copying the same brands worn for a sense of 'vintage'. I discovered that in the raves today low waisted trousers with thong straps showing is a big trend that I found most girls doing, with most boys wearing brands such as 'Nike'
I also found location ideas to be the same, with old warehouses still being the go to rave locations. One that I attended was in a huge warehouse with upstairs and downstairs rooms. there was litter everywhere which people used to barricade themselves in to stop the police from raiding and stopping the rave. The level of suspense of the raves being shut down have a big presence in the raves today as well as in the 90s. It can be argued that there is more suspense today due to the global pandemic.
I found the atmosphere to not be what I expected. From doing research I discovered the different types of subcultures that used to attend 90s raves, which was a great place for different subcultures to mix with others and find a sense of acceptance, with the help from the rising of the drug 'MDMA'. I noticed that there has been a shift in the types of people who attend, with there being a large majority of cultures such as skin heads attending in the 90s, but there being a more 'road' orientated crowd in more recent raves. This may be due to the fact that there has been a great rise in drill music, making 'road' the new norm. I saw a mixture of ravers and road people, but not really any other subcultures. I was quite upset by this as I was excited to see the mixture. I feel that the raves in the 90s were a much better foundation for acceptance than the raves that happen today, with there being a sense of suspense and the need to look after your belongings whilst there. Though, the use of drugs has not changed, and I saw many people who seemed to be under the influence. Later in the morning once the police managed to raid in, walking out there was multiple baggies, some even still containing substances on the floor.
I had the opportunity to speak to a police officer after the rave got shut down (I would say it lasted for about 5 hours) who spoke to me about how he felt that the raves today are very different from the raves that took place in the acid house era. He explained to me that he feels that the rave scene has been taken over by 'thugs' and 'road' people who are just looking to rob people. if this is true or not I cannot tell but from the experience I had I can see how he would get that impression.
Overall, I feel that the raves today very much try to be like the acid house movement, but do not successfully resemble what the acid house movement did. I feel like the raves today are rebellion but in a different way, not so much breaking boundaries and revolutionary, but rather young people looking to messagings bout and have a good time, though, people may say this about the acid house raves. I will never full be able to give a full answer as I have not been able to experience both.
Here is a photo I took of a subject spraying a fire extingisher towards the police who were barricaded outside.
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