By: Rob Dickens
Part 1

The rave generation has not yet succumbed to a comical caricature of itself. As happens to most revolutionary movements in music. The rave generation has not yet succumbed to the mainstream commercialism so rampant in today's world. Indeed, it has flirted with and been corrupted by commercialism, but it has not yet succumbed. The independent flags of Peace, Love, Unity and Respect still fly high and refuse to be pigeon-holed and man-handled into something owned by the corporations and spoonfed to the masses. It's been a long walk to freedom for electronic dance music (EDM). We've had the underground rising, the commercial raves, back to the underground, and then the loss of identity, the loss of hope. Rave was dead.

I thought the Nick Warren “ICE” event was the final nail in the coffin for “rave”. I thought we were desperately trying to hang on to the past glory days. Desperately trying to rekindle the fire that shone brightly in the 90's “rave” scene. It was over, I thought. And rightly so.

Electronic Dance Music, by its very nature, is dynamic and evolving. It worships at the altar of technology and, taking something like Moore's Law into account, which states that the capacity of silicon chips will double every 18 months, it sets a blistering pace of evolution. Harking back to the days of yore, with neon bell bottoms and glowsticks, was never going to work. Retrograde evolution!

I was all set on, and comfortable with, underground, small gatherings of like-minded individuals in avant-garde venues, enjoying your own personal choice of EDM genre. This was where it was all happening. This was where you could still find and feel that unity. That common appreciation and love for the music. This is were EDM would draw its last breath and die, honourably and venerated.

Rave was dead. And rightly so.

The day the music died
Rave was dead. And rightly so. But the music never died. In fact it simmered beneath the surface, underneath the radar, for years. Supported by the aging ravers intent on keeping that spark alive, but more so it was supported and indeed ignited by that passion for music that sparked the first revolution of electronic dance music into its halcyon days of warehouse raves and unbridled community of spirit.

House music is immortal. Some would say that is an ignorant and myopic statement, but I must insist that electronic dance music will never succumb. It is innately revolutionary and evolutionary. It is beyond captivity. You can not ever cage this savage beast. You can not pigeonhole this animal. It is a music that celebrates technology, and by that essence, it bleeds dynamic mutation.

That begs the question: What is electronic dance music? In my eyes (or should that be ears?), EDM is the purest form of modern music known to man. Utilising the most advanced technological tools on this planet, man has finally realised the means to produce music, whatever you deem that to be, in an unlimited form. Whereas before we used cumbersome instruments like brass, wind, percussion or string to try and express the musical creativity we harboured deep inside, now – with the aid of silicon chips and circuit boards – we are able to release the yoke on our creativity. Musical expression run amok. An anarchy of sorts. The possibilities are endless.

What has emerged from this creative freedom? The answer is electronic dance music. The marriage of a primal urge with contemporary technological advancement. A blessed union of communal dance, ancient drum beats and silicon-powered ingenuity. An unstoppable force of human nature.

A tad ebullient perhaps, but it shall not be silenced!


The (r)evolution of dance music in South Africa - Part 2 HERE.

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