A new Spanish documentary, Rave Culture: A New Era, provides a high-energy testimonial to the UK's dance revolution of the 1980s and 1990s. Directed by Eduardo Cubillo Blasco, the film captures the infectious enthusiasm of the era, akin to the archetypal "4am guy" with shining eyes and gabbling non-sequiturs. It features a pantheon of electronic music greats, including Fabio, Orbital's Hartnoll brothers, Slipmatt, Goldie, and the Prodigy's Leeroy Thornhill, who offer deep dancefloor testimony. While the documentary could benefit from more robust political context and better structure, it remains a loving and insightful delve into rave's lasting influence and the logistics of its lost weekends.
Logistics and Evolution of the Rave Scene
Cubillo Blasco's obvious interest in rave's logistics is evident throughout the film. He explores the artwork, promotion, booking, and myriad other aspects that defined the scene. In the early days of outdoor and warehouse parties, organisers employed artful dodging tactics to evade authorities. This included using decoy lorries to fool police and leveraging legal sophistries, such as arguing that events were unlicensed rather than illegal. Some gatherings even issued tickets with stubs for ravers to fill out personal details, attempting to qualify as private members' clubs to skirt regulations.
Personnel dynamics are also highlighted, with female DJs being scarce initially. Interestingly, women originally dominated the bookings but were gradually shunted aside as rave became increasingly lucrative. The film adeptly traces the scene's evolution from an exhilarating free-for-all into a big business, showcasing how it ramped up into hardcore breakbeats and then jungle. However, Genaside II's Kris Bones controversially claims that evolution stopped there, with everything that followed being mere iteration, a point that might spark disagreement from producers of speed garage, grime, and dubstep.
Political Context and Subversive Power
Despite its strengths, Rave Culture: A New Era has a less firm grasp on the political context of the rave movement. Thatcher receives begrudging respect from pirate radio don Andy Swallow for neutering the scene in the 1980s by coercing it into indoor venues. Yet, the film feels remiss for not mentioning the later 1994 Criminal Justice Act, which had significant impacts on rave culture. Cubillo Blasco touches on elements of rave's subversive power, such as its free'n'easy attitude to race and its alchemising of football hooliganism into something positive, but fails to pinpoint the exact cause.
Could the essentially apolitical hedonism and rejection of capitalism's structural violence have been what truly threatened the establishment? The documentary leaves this question underexplored, as it does with why the radicalism didn't last. Nonetheless, Cubillo Blasco leaves no doubt about rave's creative longevity, charting its musical progression and cultural impact.
Global Influence and Contemporary Relevance
One striking aspect of the documentary is its emergence from Spain nearly 40 years after the UK rave revolution. According to one interviewee, Andalucía currently flies the flag for breakbeat electronica, highlighting the global spread of rave culture. The film also includes a tangent on Tenerife's contribution to the Euro evangelisation of rave, which is less-heralded compared to Ibiza's role. This international perspective underscores the force of the countercultural torrent that poured out of the UK at the time.
For one-time cheesy quavers, the documentary's aficionado care in assembling this tribute will be winning. It serves as a reminder to digital-native generations to keep the live club experience alive. Rave Culture: A New Era is set to screen at the Rio in London on 27 March, followed by a tour, offering audiences a chance to relive or discover this pivotal era in music history.
