Raving is a highly subjective experience. Any attempt to analyze rave culture must recognize the highly personal factor of the experience. Author Daniel Martin defines a rave as "a long period of constant energetic and stylistic dancing exhibited by a large group of people in a hot, crowded facility providing continuous loud House music and an accompanying strobe lit psychedelic light show" (78). Since the beginning of this culture there has been much controversy on the legality of what goes on in the scene. Through the history, music, people and spirituality we are introduced to one of the newest things affecting pop culture today.

Rave culture can be traced back to Native American religious ceremonies. It can also be traced back to the sixties Be-Ins and Love Ins and Acid Tests and to the anarchist revolutions in Italy and France. It pulls energy from many different directions. It had its origins in Chicago and Detroit disco clubs, gay dance clubs, and also in progressive music from England such as Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode. The actual rave movement, however, combining this new music with dancing, occurred in England. At almost the exact same time, raves started popping up i

Martin, Daniel. "Power Play and Party Politics: The Significance of Raving." Journal of Popular Culture 32.4 (Spring 1999): 77-99.

Jordan, Joel. Searching for the Perfect Beat. New York: Watson-Giptil Publications, 2000.

Pesch, Martin. "Techno Style." Zurich: Edition Olms, 1998.

Redhead, Steve, ed. Rave Off: Politics and Deviance in Contemporary Youth Culture.

There is a tangible energy that goes along with dancing to extremely loud beats with hundreds of other people. Raves are a shared experience. A sense of unity often develops among ravers, in which, personal creeds, race, gender, age, sexual preference and everything else that our society places so much emphasis on simply fades into the background. "There is a magic moment that can happen at a rave, explains Steve Redhand...when everyone is dancing you experience a feeling of collective organism, and I think people that have had this experience view the world differently afterwards...the world is not made up of individuals vying for power, but rather...one throbbing thing" (45). Another phrase commonly thrown around in circles of ravers is that of PLUR, which stands for Peace, Love, Unity and Respect. In many senses, PLUR is the dogma that ravers believe in. The rave scene has always existed separate from mainstream society, an underground movement, a movement labeled as deviant by those in the mainstream. As the rave scene becomes more popular, fewer people are going to create a temporary loving space, and more people are going to be on drugs. It is now common to see kids sitting against the wall snorting crystal meth or shooting heroin, drugs that have never been a part of the scene.

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Approximate Word count = 1324
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)