GABBER RESEARCH
‘Being a part of a subculture group is an anti-individualist estate so you embrace the group, the tribe, a safe space for you to feel free to be what you are. This works for all the marginalized groups and all the subcultures. Together as one. It’s not aggressive, like skinhead culture, but at the same time masculine and androgynous —the girls often dress like men. In the 90s, it was super simple. A white tracksuit with some texture, a bald head, maybe some rings. That’s it… Simple.’ - Alberto Guerrini
- Hardcore, Rave and Gabber Advertising between 1996 and 1998
In the 90s, anti-establishment and unlicensed raves were a response to cultural tensions and a response to the conservative establishment at the time, 'Raving became a celebration of a childlike existence, of independence and connection, of solidarity and socializing, embracing a utopian society which only existed in our heads.'
A well known and important subculture that emerged from the 20th century rave scene is the phenomenon called 'Gabber' which means 'Friend' in Yiddish, Which consisted of the 'Dutch version of Hardcore techno, corrugated, atonal and viciously fast techno with a frenzied deep and happy do-it-yourself ethos anthem of a lost generation of apolitical outsiders, Feyenoord fans, pill gobbling ravers, skinheads in tracksuits and sneakers, lovers of techno with a tougher industrial and distorted sound.' Neon matching tracksuits and nike air max were that attire and loft videos of ravers skanking to beats pushing the bpm of 190 sets the scene.
Ity is important to know that Gabber was not only a type of music genre, but was also a dress code, a way of speaking, a style of dancing, and a way of living. Gabba was a subculture within itself, and became like a family setting to many people.
In the mid-late 90s, The gabber movement became much more commercialised by ID&T, which is a large Dutch Entertainment Community and soon after, the DJs involved became quite big, even international celebrities.
By the 2000s, fashion shows were influenced with jackhammer Gabber, one recognisable one being a 'Raf Simons' SS00 Runway show in Paris, 'Sunna Cum Laude'. Simons was inspired by both 'MENSA' students and Gabber. His jackets had orange lining and were paired with high-wasted trousers, Appropriating the dress code of the Gabber subculture. He also used graphic black coloured vests providing essential club wear for those wanting to dance to Gabber.
The Gabber Subculture started to influence other rave cultures, such as 'Hakkuhbar' and 'Gabba Piet' which were broadcasted over mainstream media. These revolutions ended up Turing Gabber itself into a caricature. The media started to create different viewings on the movement, spinning stories reporting hooligans and Nihilism and 'youth addicted to fantasy lived based on diets of violent video games, horror films, and drugs'. 'The rise of neo-fascist groups and politicized Gabbers altered the aesthetic, style and subculture’s original principles of friendship, empathy, inclusivity and community. Skinheads, boot boys and hooligans became the media’s poster boys of the Gabber scene, a far cry from the original ravers of the early 90’s.'
- photo by Marko Kuit
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Parts of the websites I used to conduct my research;
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ACID HOUSE RESEARCH
In the late 80s, acid house became the biggest youth revolution for decades, uniting one ecstatic generation while horrifying parents, politicians and police
Photography by Marcus Graham
The music itself involved with Acid house, originally came from Chicago, with the term "house music" coming from the Chicago club 'the warehouse and influences from Detroit, Germany and Ibiza, Rave was an international movement that Britain made its own. The Second Summer of Love, as the summers of '88-'89 became known, redefined nightlife for generations to come.
'. At first, house music was just an underground music genre in the US, but progressed over to the UK in the mid 80s creating what we know as 'Acid house' embedding the new drug at the time 'Ecstasy'.
' A new scene grew up around it that changed the social and cultural habits of a generation. It was the biggest youth revolution since the 60s and, as with the mods and rockers before, fell victim to what sociologist Stanley Cohen called "moral panic" in his landmark 1972 study, 'Folk Devils and Moral Panics' Due to the coverage by media portraying the rise of Acid house and Ecstasy to be a great danger, the movement became a challenge to authority, which concluded in parliament passing new laws to suppress the revolution and causing police to establish a unit dedicated to stopping acid house raves.
A movement that had been pro-hedonism rather than anti-authority became political by default.
The discovery of ecstasy to many meant a much wider discovery for the community, a discovery of belonging, of discovering different attitudes to race, sex and gender, to dancing bodies and sharing personal spaces, and to culture.
the rave thing was really important, punks, gangs of hooligans, skinheads, rockabillies, raving wiped all that away. raves were nuts, to have that level of freedom. i used to stand in a fucking field just feeling fucking sorry for the people that weren’t there to witness it or be part of that absolute revolution. rave is more punk than punk ever was, because kids didn’t even think about breaking the law, they just wanted to get to a rave. the spirit was amazing." - gavin watson, rave photographer
Photography by Marcus Graham But even with the rise of acid house being a new thing, this doesn't account for how ideology of raves was already a familiar thing, with Acid house easily fitting into existing tales of 'subcultural indepandance' ' typified by Boys Own recycling the punk/Sideburns instruction to ‘go and form a band’, replacing guitar with decks and sampler. '
Acid house and rave took off because it was already recognisable, whether to veterans of the UK hip-hop and electro scenes, who knew about DJ-ing and dancing, or those familiar with the alternative nights inspired by the dancefloor eclecticism of mythical gay clubs like New York’s Paradise Garage or the Chicago Warehouse. It also made immediate sense to the free festival and party scenesters, old hands at organising unlicensed outdoor parties. It was quickly taken up by graduates of the sonic and social infrastructure of reggae and dub sound systems. In the same way, promoters and DJs from the UK soul and rare groove weekenders, accustomed to taking over holiday camps as temporary subcultural enclaves, brought their expertise to the rave scene. Even indie kids swapped their grey and black for rainbow-coloured hoodies, smiley t-shirts and dungarees. Being both instantly new and already familiar explains the unusually rapid development of rave and club cultures in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
"Youth movements like Raves are criticized by the establishment as having a political message of apathy. The culture has been accused of not being geared towards social change but rather individual abandonment through drugs. Primary goals, according to sociologists have historically focused on “resistance through indifference”. Dance subcultures have been portrayed merely as novel forms of depoliticized play in a postmodern pleasure dome. Is the Progressive Gabba or Soul Hardcore movement a countercultural resistance committed to freedom and self-expression or just a post-modern hedonistic pleasure dome filled with apathetic middle class kids?
After speaking with artist Gabber Eleganza it becomes evident that his archival platform examines raves as a social site with which to observe countercultural youth identity and resistance. Gabber Eleganza’s work provides a voyeuristic porthole into these communities, he manages to capture the vulnerability and authenticity of alternative youth spaces where deep and meaningful transformations can occur. If society continues to reduce cultural phenomena like Gabber to problematic behaviors and deviant lifestyles, it continues to belittle youth identity and forfeits the spaces needed for alternative cultural revolution, gender fluidity and human fulfillment to flourish." - https://sabukaru.online/articles/the-post-rave-revolution-of-gabba
Websites used
Parts of the websites I used to conduct my research;
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