Christopher Lee/The New York Times

October 10, 2024

Resurgence of The Rave

Print More

Picture a tunnel covered in graffiti, packed wall to wall with sticky half-dressed bodies writhing around, the bass thumping the floor so hard that the walls shake enough to mimic an earthquake. Now let’s turn the clock forward 45 years, and instead of a graffiti-covered tunnel, it’s open land designated for 170,000 people anxiously awaiting their turn to see the day’s hottest 30 DJs. Still an experience packed with even stickier and extravagantly adorned bodies, but with an increasingly growing community that can’t be tamped down. Rave culture has blossomed into a living, breathing experience where everyone shares one love: music. 

Techno was created by a group of young Black artists in Detroit during the 1980s as a way to investigate new soundscapes, encourage style experimentation and welcome queerness with open arms. This genre was a way to escape from the heavy political issues weighing down on all of society. Techno grew and blossomed into an evolving community that brought in people of all different cultures, sexualities, ethnicities and experiences. As this sound grew, it traveled across the water and found its footing on European soil, bringing this new adventure to a whole new demographic of people. As techno and raves grew, the popularity began to make this counterculture mainstream, watering down the reasons why this new sound was so important. With the growing popularity of raves, people began promoting the wrong things for the wrong reasons. After multiple drug-induced deaths, this movement began to garner negative attention. Raves were painted as places where drugs were encouraged, abused and sold, casting a darker light on these experiences that were supposed to make you feel freed from reality. Rave culture began to be cast in a somber light, losing its footing specifically in the US, for multiple decades. 

After the ’90s, raves hit a lull in popularity; eventually regaining their influence in the US during the mid-2010s, rave culture began to resurface on an even larger scale. People began to move away from the use of ‘raves’ as a label for these gatherings, instead turning to ‘festivals.’ Raves reminded the people of death and drugs, not the experimentalist community that welcomed differences. Ravers pivoted to larger scale festivals, growing to 330,000 people in just one place all anxiously awaiting their favorite dj to walk onstage. These festivals promote Peace, Love, Unity and Respect — PLUR as they say — showing their appreciation for the culture of dance music and what it has evolved into. 

Rave culture has been uniting people since its conception, and I have had the ability to personally see its influence on those around me. The Lauro family of four, two teenage daughters, a mom and a dad, have connected on a more profound level after unlocking techno music in their household. Paul Lauro (58), who moved to South Florida in the early 2000s, fell in love with the thumping bass and otherworldly music of the Miami clubs, eventually meeting his wife and continuing their musical escapades until finally settling down and having a family. Almost 18 years later, he has reconnected with his love for techno music, but now as a family unit. In 2023 the Lauro family went to EDC and for two days straight they danced, explored and fell in love with music all over again. Paul narrates that this experience felt different than what he was used to. The community felt like what it was originally made for: to embrace, to love, to feel and to experience. 

From raving to festivals, the core idea of this community has remained the same. From 1980 to 2024, techno has been about allowing yourself to lose all premonition, to live fully in the moment, and to embrace the beauty of life and music. The new rise of festivals encourages people to push boundaries and create a collective that welcomes anybody and everybody with open arms. 

Eve Riskind is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at [email protected].