Introduction
In Chapter One I will discuss the general global politics of 1989, the history that came before, and the future that followed shortly afterwards. 1989 was a statement year in global political history because that is when communism collapsed all across the world. During the revolution saw the walls be torn down between East and West Germany, the Soviet Union being no more, Poland being freed by Solidarity and the peaceful Velvet Revolution that took place in Czech Slovakia, these were all huge victories. However, I will also discuss the flip-side like the Tiananmen Square protest in China, and the Romanian Revolution where a fight for their freedom turned into a gory bloodbath.
Chapter One will also discuss UK politics as well, because the UK holds an incredibly vital place in history during 1989, not only in politics but also in music, fashion and behaviour. Most of which was politically influenced in one way or another, which is further explored in the other chapters. This chapter will also discuss the public’s haughty disdain for Margaret Thatcher, their reasons why, and how her politics affected music. In addition, I will also explore the Soviet v US rivalry and how the space race influenced nationalism within each country.
Chapter Two will look into US House music, and the development of House music as a whole, and how it went on to influence British house music and the Acid House scene. However, as well as discussing the impact US House had on UK House, I am also going to explore the history of House music and its influencers.
Homosexuality was still taboo in 80s America because of the AIDS/HIV crisis that had broken out, enforcing more homophobic views in the people of Americas minds, due to fear of the unknown. In the late sixties, Americans were still forced to seek ‘therapy’ for their ‘sexual deviations’ if they were homosexual, and House music ultimately changed things for everybody and democratised everything. It didn’t matter if you were gay, black, or poor, if you could remix good tunes, the people will dance, and they did.
The chapter will explore how House music began as a very gay-centric movement, more so, a black gay movement. Also, in this chapter I will discuss homosexuality going back to World War II and the Civil Rights Movement and discuss the riots that stemmed from homophobia in the US. House music created a safe social place for gay people to dance and express themselves amongst people a like, predominantly black gay people. The US House scene had a huge impact on the UK music scene of the late eighties and early nineties, which is further discussed in the next chapter.
The next chapter, Chapter Three will look into the Acid House scene that took over Britain from 1987-1991, a re-emergence of the sixties free love movement. Then comes ‘The Second Summer of Love’ a period of peace, love and harmony, the ultimate sense of utopianism – for those on a drug called ecstasy that was.
In Britain protests were happening for all sorts of reasons, fighting for their right to love against Clause 28, fighting for their right for expression of identity, and for their right to party.
Chapter Three will explain how rave was politically influenced and could be seen as a highly political musical movement due to its anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian views, and behaviour. Laws were implemented to try and control the ravers, and this chapter will discuss to what extent the laws did this and how, if they did, manage to shut rave down. I will also discuss how Theodor Adorno’s methodology doesn’t apply to rave and House music. The Hacienda was perhaps arguably Manchester’s most notorious club during the late eighties/ early nineties Rave movement, so I will also discuss the club, its DJs and the attitudes of the ravers that attended.
Within Chapter Four I am going to discuss the Britpop era that came shortly after rave in the 90s. With the drugs - the attitudes and the music changed. The rock’n’roll star attitude came back in to play, the drugs got harder and patriotism was at an all-time high. Ecstasy turned into Cocaine and Heroin, and within this chapter I discuss the association that taking hard drugs has within rock authenticity. The politics of the early 90s was the rise of New Labour, so near enough the whole cabinet got renewed and the whole Labour party went under a complete re-vamp.
In order to diminish the Union Jack’s racist, anti-imperialism reputation, the Labour government decided to bring the bands involved within the Britpop era to join their campaign, inspiring young voters, but instead of creating positive nationalism it appeared to have done the opposite, which gets explored further within this chapter.
The North Vs South England divide is also discussed within this chapter, and how Blur and Oasis impacted this divide. This chapter will also discuss how the once bohemian-like post-rave movement, quickly turned into a period based on conspicuous consumption.
Chapter Four will also discuss the relationship of how the 90s Britpop movement was akin to both the 60s Mod movement and 80s football casual’s movement. There will also be visual representations to review similarities between the Britpop aesthetic and the 60s Mod movement, comparing Suede’s Brett Anderson and Oasis’ the Gallagher brothers to The Who.
Chapter Four will also discuss the Asian-wave scene that emerged from Britpop, which challenges the idea that Britpop was all-white guitar music, but it was in fact a multicultural movement, which also gets explored further within this chapter.
This dissertation will look into how the politics of 1989, as a whole, had an effect on both music and behaviour during, and post-1989. The main core of this dissertation will focus on music from the U.S. and the UK, discussing how certain music movements emerged, its history and what happened next as a consequence of its political influences.
Chapter 1 - UK & GLOBAL POLITICS OF 1989
1989, or otherwise known as the ‘Second Summer of Love’, was also one of the most iconic years in history in terms of politics due to the collapse of communism and anti-establishment angst that was fuelled by dictatorship and oppression worldwide. The people spoke, the message radiated, and other countries decided to follow one another’s footsteps and do the same.
“The first power that builds and occupies a space satellite will hold the ultimate military power over the earth.” (Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, 1952: 74)
The Cold War was an ideological war between the USA and communism in the USSR. Following WWII the US announced they would be launching an artificial satellite into space, so the Soviet Union challenged the U.S. and beat them with the orbiting of Sputnik 1. The USSR also beat the US to have the first human in earth orbit, Yuri Gagarin in 1961. (McDougall, 1985: 20) The Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union led to the space race - it was a vital period in history, and the international race to the stratosphere was for dominance in the new frontier of space.
According to Eisman & Hardesty (2007), at the end of World War II the United States gained an advantage over the Soviets by creating nuclear bombs, therefore both nations quickly started to build their defences, nuclear weapons and missiles. To gain a further advantage, the U.S. began stationing their nuclear bombs in the U.K. and the threat of a potential massive nuclear attack from the US caused the rivalry to spill over into the 1950s. (Eisman and Hardesty, 2007: 48)
The space race was one of the biggest commotions that occurred between the US and Russia, the ultimate final fight for dominance. Both countries were consistently under threat by one another and always trying to outdo each other, nonetheless the space race was a more gracious way of rectifying power than a nuclear war.
“The Army, Navy and especially the Air Force all developed plans for sending men into space, as did NASA. NASA wanted the project to have the ‘highest priority’ arguing it was “critical to the national prestige in the eye of the world.” The media concurred. Addressing the question of why the United States and USSR raced to put a man in space, U.S. News and World Report explained, “For both the U.S. and Russia there is vast prestige involved - and important propaganda victories around the globe.” (Mieczkowski, 2013: 218)
The Cold War took place two years after World War II, therefore the Soviet Union and the United States had high levels of animosity towards one another, believing themselves to be somewhat superior and better than the other. Due to both countries being nationalists and patriotic, they both had something to prove to its people and to each other.
Space exploration became another element of their competition between one another, as each side sought to prove the superiority of its technology and advancement of its country. The Space Race began in the 1950s and ended in 1969. In 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy made the bold claim that the United States would land a man on the moon before the end of the decade. By actually landing Neil Armstrong on the moon in 1969, the United States effectively ‘won’ the space race that had begun with Sputnik’s launch in 1957. (History, n.d.)
From start to finish, the American public’s attention was captivated by the space race, and the various developments by the Soviet and U.S. space programs were heavily covered in the national media. Astronauts came to be seen as American heroes, Soviets, in turn, were pictured as the ultimate villains, with their relentless efforts to surpass America and prove the power of the communist system. 20 years later communism collapsed on a global scale, and history was changed forever.
On December 22nd 1989, The Romanian Revolution occurred, their army turned on the general secretary and allied with protestors causing over one thousand deaths. In China, there was the Tiananmen Square protest against the Martial Law, which resulted in a massacre; another democracy movement that spiralled out of control.
However, not all of the countries that fought for a democracy ended in blood. Poland declared a non-communist government with Solidarity; a trade union which had to fight for legalisation, to which a few of the leaders found themselves arrested. Hungary’s communist party re-established themselves as the Hungarian social party, and opened their borders to Austria, and The Velvet Revolution was a peaceful protest which happened in Czechoslovakia, resulting in the whole communist party resigning on 24th November 1989.
“The change born in Poland and Hungary, catalysed by the fall of the Wall, rippled with seismic force through the rest of Eastern Europe. In Bulgaria the hard-line Communist leadership headed by Todor Zhivkov - who had led his part since 1954 - suddenly resigned the day after the wall collapsed, ceding power before the wave of reform could overwhelm their government.” (Engel, 2011: 2-6)
The most iconic fall of communism within 1989 history is no doubt the fall of the Berlin Wall between East and West Germany, where the wall dividing the people of the East and the West was torn down, resulting in peace in the West at last. Some songs were inspired by the events that took place on November 9th 1989 - the day of the fall of the Berlin Wall - such as, Pink Floyd’s ‘A Great Day for Freedom’(1994), originally titled ‘Shades of Grey’ the song addresses the optimism and hope that surrounded the fall of the Berlin Wall but it also displays the disappointment that followed, as change takes time. (Dundon, 2018)
Whilst all of these events are occurring around the world, the United Kingdom was also facing its own re-brand, the Acid House movement had emerged and was at its peak, ravers unifying all over the UK, creating a hassle for UK Conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Margaret Thatcher was in power from 1979-1990, she won three elections (1979, 1983, 1987), however her hostility and brutality awarded her the name of the ‘Iron Lady’ as well as some angry and vengeful enemies of the general public. She resigned in the November of 1990 after having her leadership challenged by Tory Politician Michael Heseltine. (Sabbagh, 2018)
Money was tight in the UK during 1989, the economy was sliding towards a recession and inflation was constantly increasing, according to Carnevali and Strange (2007:267) price stability was no longer secure post 1985; inflation in 1989 was higher than it had been since 1982.
“There was, of course, the attempt in the mid and late 1990s to shed Britain’s old-fashioned image and re-brand it as a modern, hip nation. To some extent, this image has existed since the swinging sixties.” (Bradley, 2007: 43)
Voters feared a rise of new Labour in the UK due to their history of high inflation, high tax and high strike regimes during the sixties and seventies. However, in 1987 there were substantial class differences in attitudes towards privatisation, tax cuts and trade union legislation. (Curtice, Heath, Jowell, 2001: 33-164)
The Conservatives privatised around 80 state owned firms between 1979 and 1997, the main sectors being: services, energy, telecommunications and water - receipts from privatisation accounted for four percent of the British public debt in 1989. The people of Britain were faced with the idea of New Labour, a rise in inflation, poll tax, public funding cuts, increase in taxes, and the failure of their government in 1989.
Thatcher riled a lot of people’s back feathers with her capitalistic monetary policies and lack of empathy, she was also in power when the Hillsborough disaster occurred on 15th April 1989, at the FA Cup semi-final - Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool game. The terrace didn’t contain enough room to fit all of the Liverpool fans on, and due to the infrastructure, because it was too small, it began to collapse and fans could not escape, and were therefore getting crushed - resulting in 96 lives lost.
The pro-Tory paper - The Sun, pinned the blame of deaths and incidents occurred by police brutality, on the drunk Liverpool fans. This outrage caused a further divide from Northern England and the Tories, as Margaret Thatcher remained “silent” and was accused of being “more concerned with possible criticisms of police action than she was about the victims and their families.” (Järviluoma, Kirkegaard, Knudsen, 2017: 14)
The Gulf War occurred between 1990-1991 after the US instigated ‘Operation: Desert Shield’, an effort to defend Saudi Arabia to prevent Iraqi leader Sadam Hussein from advancing further south after he invaded Kuwait in 1990. Another oil price shock happened in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait - as the cost of oil was increasing, so was the influx of troops. The US-led coalition gathered over half a million men. (Jones, 2014)
Iraq felt Kuwait was over-producing oil, lowering prices, consequently hurting Iraqi oil profits in a time of dire financial stress, which resulted in the oil price shock once Iraq invaded Kuwait. (Taylor, 1993)
According to the BBC, The Gulf War resulted in an estimated 60,000 to 200,000 Iraqi soldiers dead, an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 in the ground war alone. The amount of civilian deaths as a direct result of the war remains unknown but is estimated to range from 100,000 to 200,000. (BBC, 2003)
As a repercussion of the war, hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians were killed, this ignited a fire within music - out came songs like, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger ‘Highwire’ in 1991 performed by The Rolling Stones, it is one of the rare examples of the Rolling Stones expressing their political viewpoints.
“We walk the highwire/ Sending the men up to the front line/ Hoping they don’t catch the hell fire/ With hot guns and cold, cold nights.” (The Rolling Stones, 1991)
Throughout the lyrics it implies an exploitation of young vulnerable soldiers made to live and survive in terrible conditions, all for the greedy capitalism of the US, the fight for political power, and oil wealth, that led to the war. ‘Highwire’ also points out how the US had once aided Saddam Hussein; and have been in cahoots with corrupt countries, by loaning them money, allowing them to fund their own resources for war.
“We sell ’em missiles/ We sell ’em tanks/ We give ’em credit/ You can call the bank/ It’s just a business/ You can pay us in crude.”
‘From a Distance’, written by Julie Gold (1985), recorded by Bette Midler in 1990 on the eve of the Persian Gulf War, was ‘an unofficial anthem’ of the Persian Gulf war which Midler went on to win a Grammy for ‘Song of the Year’ in 1991. The track is a grueling reality that the world isn’t a perfect place to be, but it’s also an outside look on war and not having to face the battles the soldiers do and hoping for a better life for the soldiers.
“From a distance I just cannot comprehend / What all this fighting is for/ From a distance there is harmony/ And it echoes through the land/ And it’s the hope of hopes.” (Betty Midler, 1990)
Amongst the political tracks about war, were also anti-Thatcherism songs, Crass’ ‘How Does it Feel to be a Mother to a Thousand Dead?’ (1982) was a politically influenced single that addressed the Falklands war, as well as sheep farming in the Falklands. The song provoked Conservative MP Timothy Eggar to ask in parliament whether the band could be prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act (1959) due to the lyrical content of the song. (Hann, 2013)
"You smile in the face of the death cause you are so proud and vain/ Your inhumanity stops you from realising the pain/ That you inflicted, you determined, you created, you ordered/ It was your decision to have those young boys slaughtered." (Crass, 1982)
Other forms of censorship were also added to some anti-Thatcher tracks, such as The Blow Monkeys and Curtis Mayfield ‘(Celebrate) The Day After You’ (1987) which was banned by the BBC until after the election because it was put out to coincide with the 1987 general election campaign. (Larkin, 2011: 2703) The song contained influential lyrics on the UK’s political stance within the election; the track celebrates and makes persuasive comments that Thatcher will no longer withstand her position of power.
“Ooh, everybody says/ That the country's in a mess / And that soon will come the day/ But she's making plans to stay, plans to stay.” (The Blow Monkeys & Curtis Mayfield, 1987)
Also following a collapsing economy in Poland during the 70s, between July and August 1980, Solidarity was born. Solidarity was a trade union built on a foundation of strikes by shipyard, transportation and factory workers, an estimated ten million workers joined the party within a few weeks.
The Government legalised Solidarity in September of 1980— it became the first legal free trade union in communist Central and Eastern Europe. Threatened by the rapid growth of the union, with potential to intervene with the Soviet military, the leaders of the Polish military decided to implement the Martial Law on December 13th, 1981. The Martial Law was implemented to crush political expression, however it was lifted on July 22nd 1983. (Penn 2006)
Solidarity was made illegal in an attempt to oppress the union, its arrested leaders found themselves replaced by other activists, more specifically female, who avoided prison and took over the leadership role.
Between 1982 and 1988 Poland was in a political stalemate between the state and society, the communist government was not strong enough to crush Solidarity, however Solidarity was not in a position to take on that amount of power, in the meantime the economic situation was deteriorating further. Paczkowski (2015) mentions how the country became so financially unstable it was causing inflation to rise above 15% from 1985 onwards. On February 1st, 1988 a price increase of 60% was introduced, which affected the prices of food, cigarettes, alcohol, gas, rent, and transportation. By the end of 1988, with a rising number of strikes and protests among the Polish population, the Communist government decided to build a relationship with Solidarity.
From February until April 1989 there was discussions had between those who favoured Solidarity, and the Government, an agreement was reached to hold free elections to the parliament in June 1989. Following this was prime minister Wojciech Jaruzelski’s resignation, and so in August 1989 the nation welcomed their first non-Communist prime minister, Zbigniew Messner - a victory for Poland. (Bartkowski, 2009)
Chapter Two: US HOUSE MUSIC
“As late as the sixties, homosexuality had been considered a medical condition, a pathological state, an aberration; gays were isolated and almost invisible. Now from this outpouring of repressed energy came the new politics of the gay liberation movement - and almost simultaneously, the emergence of a vibrant new nocturnal culture.” (Collin, 2010: 6)According to Dickinson (2014: 1-41) pre-WWII, being homosexual was treated as a crime, it was a sense of sexual perversion; but post WWII it began to be seen as a mental illness, that could be cured through treatments such as aversion therapy to cure their homosexuality and sexual deviations. Aversion therapy is where - in an attempt to cure homosexuality - they see how you respond to explicit pictures of those of the same sex and use manipulation tactics to suppress the visual response of looking - in reality or fantasy. (Feldman & MacCulloch, 2013: 16-17)
During the war, the soldiers had been in constant close proximity with men, away from their wives and women for long periods of time, it allowed them the given opportunity to experiment (if they were curious of their own sexuality). It is not surprising that the war created new sexual experiences and shaped more liberal attitudes towards variations in sexual desires. Gay men were being arrested and sent to mental institutions in an effort to rid them of their ‘illness’. (Dickinson, 2014: 1-41) This was still happening in the late sixties, so considering House music came about in the early eighties, it really did help push forward the LGBTQ community in America. House music helped to do that by creating a stronger community, especially in black gay America, and it ultimately democratised everything for everybody that got involved in the scene.
The end of the Civil Rights era, the last day of the hippies, on June 27th 1969, the NYC Police entered a well-known gay bar called the Stonewall Inn, they began arresting employees for serving alcohol without a license and attendees for wearing clothing deemed inappropriate for their gender. However, patrons knew it had been raided solely based on the fact, they were targeting, knowing the majority of employees and customers are of the LGBTQ community. This created a protest from upset passers-by who knew of the gay bar and its popularity, the protest came to an end once the NYC riot police arrived. (Braun, 2018: 3-7) However, for the next six days, protests appeared all across New York City which notoriously became the ‘Stonewall Riots’. The Stonewall Riots was a key piece of history within the LGBTQ Civil Rights movement, it was what inspired everyone to come together, to fight against authorities who think those who are homosexual should be treated any different from anybody else.
The 80s at first was almost in reverse in terms of homosexuality acceptance because of the AIDS crisis, which caused fear in the public leading to homophobia being on the rise. However, the contribution of the homosexual community was increasing in the creative arts, such as, film, literature, television and music. This happened as a consequence of parties and trade unions jumping on board and fighting alongside them, and also encouraging others to fight for Gay Liberation. The LGBTQ community decided to get together and help support those with HIV/AIDS as they knew that their lives were at risk, and they needed to be there to support each other, and ignore the outside AIDS-phobic world. Gay rights began to move forward again. (Clews, 2017: 8-10)
“The late 80s and 90s was the time when words like ‘diversity’ and ‘political correctness’ first really went mainstream, and true to form, the people who lived in and affected (and were affected) by that tumultuous decade were as diverse and different as day and night.“ (Davidson, 2016: 6)
The 80s was 90s was a tremendous leap in terms of social acceptance, and enforced expression of identity, it was ok for people to be gay, and it was ok for people to know. Instead of homosexuality being a highly taboo and frowned upon subject it became a lot more accepted and normalised over these two expressive, highly political decades.
‘House’ was the established term for Chicago’s own brand of electronic music, characterised by a 4/4 beat and syncopated hi-hat.” (House, 2017)
House Music was yet to take the spotlight in the U.S, the genre being outshined by sex appeal in the superstar-driven entertainment industry. There were no faces attached to names in the House industry, the DJ wasn’t centred stage, they were tucked away elsewhere. House music ultimately democratised the music industry in a sense, no matter who you were, what you looked like or where you were from, it didn’t matter as long as you played good tunes. (Cummins and Saunders, 2007: 149)
Frankie Knuckles was known as the ‘Godfather of House Music’ because of his vital role in the globalisation and popularity of House music. He also showed a love of experimentation, experimenting with different sounds, genres and techniques. Knuckles began to DJ in New York in 1976 before moving to Chicago in 1977, whereby he began to DJ at The Warehouse, a club catered for black gay males. His collection contained, disco classics, indie label soul, rock, European synth-disco and other varieties according to Ayres (2014: 9-11), and with the added use of drum machines, Knuckles released and produced the first commercialised House music hit ‘Your Love’ with Jamie Principle (1987). Knuckles was a black, openly gay DJ who also managed to achieve his first Number One hit on the House Charts in 1991 with ‘The Whistle Song’. The popularity of Frankie Knuckles and other black house artists like, Chip E, Larry Levan, Steve Hurley and Jesse Saunders was a very political thing with all of the gay rights protests, homophobia and racism occurring in America at the time.
Larry Levan was a black DJ from Brooklyn, like Frankie Knuckles, the two were friends. When Frankie went on to DJ at The Warehouse in Chicago, Larry began playing in New York’s Paradise Garage. According to Reese (2018) the two were both friends with David Macuso, a guy who hosted dance parties for gays called Loft Parties. ‘The Loft’ was a house party intended for a black gay crowd, Frankie and Larry attended The Loft parties regularly, and it is where they both got acquainted with the techniques of House music. Macuso taught them both the ropes, about the sound, production, lighting and music techniques to create the perfect House music. (Reese, 2018: 5-13)
By the mid-80s, Reese (2018) states that House had emerged in Chicago as a fully developed musical genre through the efforts of Knuckles and those inspired by him, like, DJ Ron Hardy as well as Larry Levan, Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley, DJ Pierre, Adonis, Marshall Jefferson and Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk. DJ Pierre (Phuture) contributed to the development of Acid House, showing his appreciation to his influence in the genre he produced ‘Acid Trax’ (1987). (Reese, 2018: 5-13)
Jesse Saunders was a famous African-American DJ from Chicago who released the first ever House track for sale. According to his book House Music the Real Story, he states that when he was playing his own remix of ‘On & On’ (1984) at The Playground, the head of sales at Importes - the major retail outlet for twelve inch dance records in Chicago – who used to give him records to play; was now enquiring about Saunders’ own tune, after being asked for it by people who danced at The Playground. The head of sales left a strong impression that if Saunders could get ‘On & On’ pressed onto vinyl then he could sell the lot, so Saunders then spent the remainder of his cash getting five hundred pressings, and the risk paid off. ‘On & On’ was a hit. (Cummins & Saunders, 2007: 149) "'On & On’ was officially released in January of 1984 on my upstart record label, Jes Say Records, and became the first original House record ever made for sale.” (Cummins & Saunders, 2007: 149)
“Throughout the 1980s and 1990s House music was frequently invoked as symbol of queer African American culture.” (Finkelman, 2009: 446) Black gay nightclubs function as a space where being black and being gay was celebrated and affirmed, the way it was celebrated and affirmed was through House music. Black gay dance clubs were a social place where gay black men didn’t have to deal with the homophobia of black straight clubs, or racist door policies at predominantly white gay clubs.
“House music is unapologetically gay and unmistakably black. The roots of house, according to Anthony Thomas, a former Chicago DJ, stem from the Chicago black gay club scene: “Like the blues and gospel house is very Chicago. Like rap out of New York and Go Go out of D.C. Like its predecessors, disco and club, House is a scene as well as a music, black as well as gay.”” (Johnson, 2003: 79-80)
“House dancers David Adams and Kelsa Robinson suggest that, unlike Wicker Park’s Red Dog, the long-time Boom Boom Room venue, Smart Bar has consistently upheld dancer-friendly policies. They noted that it is one of a few purposefully designed dance clubs in Chicago that has consistently allowed dancers to come early with their sweat rags, stretch out on the floor, and take up extra space with flips and partner-dancing routines.” (Salkind, 2018: 10)
This shows that House music was more than just about socialising, and more about being a unifying genre for black queer America, Chicago house was danced to as a form of expression, a relief from normal life. A utopian place where they could go to express themselves without being judged, a place where they could be amongst their own people.
“Electronic dance music may have started in America, but Britain was the first country fully to embrace it. From druidic ceremonies to medieval carnivals, the British have a proud history of getting off their face in a field. And what a healthy and liberating thing that is every now and then. The world has us to thank for such a gift.” (House, 2017)
Chapter 3: ACID HOUSE & UK RAVE
“1989 and the late eighties as a whole is a really pivotal time because there’s a sense, an impression of boundaries breaking down, so Acid House and ecstasy is doing that in club land. Bringing people together in fields and in clubs, cutting across class lines and race lines, gender lines and sexuality lines as well I guess, at a time where there was the battle over Clause 28. So that’s kind of a social cultural thing that’s going on in England.” (Hopkins, 2019)Clause 28, was part of the Local Government Act 1988, which banned the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality by local authorities, and in Britain's schools. Councils were forbidden from allowing libraries to stock books containing literature relating to homosexuality and same-sex relationships, and teachers were prohibited from discussing any thoughts of homosexuality with students in schools also. (Sommerland, 2018)
This caused a protest, a march to fight for their right for expression of identity, and that was the environment that British house originally emerged from. It was a democratised scene, where people could express themselves and wouldn’t be judged.
House music originated in Detroit, Chicago and New York in the US and it began seeping into the UK mainstream around 1987. After visiting and clubbing in Ibiza in 1985, DJ and promoter Paul Oakenfold brought bits of Ibiza back to London with him - the Balearic beats and his experience of using ecstasy. The raver aesthetic and whole subculture flew over from Ibiza, taking its influence from the beach bum surfer look, and the baggy clothes derived from the freedom created when dancing and sweating from the ecstasy. (Reynolds, 2013: 57-59)
One of the biggest DJs on the 80s/90s Acid House scene in the North of England is a DJ called Graeme Park, he argues with this statement and explains how there was famously a DJ in Ibiza called Alfredo, who was playing house from Detroit and that house music was already happening in the UK, at the Hacienda in Manchester, a club called Jive Turkey in Sheffield, and where he DJ’d at The Garage in Nottingham - a place where he had been playing house music since 1982. When interviewing him he states,
“Don’t believe that myth that Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling, Johnny Walker and Nicky Holloway went to Ibiza and discovered House music and took it back to the UK. Because when they did that, we had already been happening. House music in the North of England and the East Midlands, it stopped that age old story… Yeah they did go Ibiza, and they did discover House music, and they did bring it back to London - correct, but they didn’t introduce it to the UK, that’s the myth. It was already happening in the UK, just not in the South East.” (Park, 2019)
In 1988–9, British youth culture underwent the biggest revolution since the 1960s. The music was Acid House, the drug: ecstasy. Together they created the Second Summer of Love — a euphoric high that lasted a year and a half and submerged Britain’s youth in a hedonistic haze of peace, love and unity. “At the end of a decade marked by social division and unemployment, Acid House transcended class and race, town and country, North and South. Amid the smoke and lasers, an entire generation came up together.” (House, 2017)
As the culture began to spread globally in the years prior to internet access, it was - in its initial stages at least - very much a DIY movement. Acid House was a movement nurtured by maverick impresarios, enthusiastic independents and musical obsessives because it was so accessible, and they just loved the music and lived for the scene. (Collin, 2018:11)
“Acid House created a level playing field much in a way that punk did. It was kind of accessible, it’s almost like punk, one of the key phrases is ‘anyone can form a band’. Acid House was doing the same thing, anyone can DJ, anyone can make a record, anyone can run a club night so you know you didn’t have to have training or an education, or previous experience - it was about empowering people to stuff that they want to do. Make records, write fanzines, run club nights, and people did.” (Hopkins, 2019)
However, when the house scene began to expand, the parties began to get bigger, and more drugs were being sold, what was once appeared to be some sort of social reclaim, not paying into the system, turns into a money making minefield and a growing off-grid capitalist black market economy begins to grow bigger and bigger.
“This is the thing ultimately about DIY, if you see the emergence of DIY as a concept in the punk era there’s been some kind of socialist reclaim thing. What it comes with Acid House is a huge capitalist industry and all the people supporting this industry aren’t getting a share of the wealth, that becomes a form of socialism. You have this moment, a highly politicised thing. But it’s not all left wing - don’t assume it’s all left- wing politics, because necessarily there’s an awful lot of capitalists making an awful lot of money and not having to pay tax.” (James, 2019)
What seemed to be akin to the free festival movement of the sixties and seventies soon appeared to have turned into a capitalistic money move for the rich to profit off the poor from both the parties and the drugs. “At the high end, the culture had turned into a feeding frenzy of gargantuan proportions, an orgy of capitalistic exploitation.” (Collin 2018: 11)
By creating an entire economic structure, you begin to see a different kind of economy booming and because everything is illegal, there’s no money going to the council or the government and nobody’s paying any taxes within the rave scene, that immediately makes rave incredibly political. They had created a business structure that supported them without paying into the system, their own ecosystem.
The Government and tabloids were under the impression that the dance movement was spiralling out of control, and after the Castlemorton Common Festival in 1992, to which according to Lynskey (2011) for the Guardian, was a festival that ran for seven days and 45354 ravers showed up, leading to the authorities having enough, and this festival was the cause to the implementation of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
“The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act was introduced in 1994 by John Major’s Conservative Government and brought with it a number of changes in existing law which pretty clearly targeted Acid House or free parties, as well as the travellers. It famously referred to music that was defined by ‘repetitive beats’, i.e. House music.” (Bainbridge, 2014: 3)
German cultural theorist Theodor Adorno was concerned about repetition in music. McKay (1998: 256) states that Adorno argued from a Marxist yet elite perspective whilst in exile in the USA, a new country full of mass-produced popular culture. There he created the idea that consumers of popular music can be halved into two socio-political types of behaviour towards music in general, and popular music in particular. The two types were the ‘rhythmically obedient’ type and the ‘emotional’ type.
“The latter, he (Adorno) argues, can be seen to be the sentimental person who hides from the cause of her/his unhappiness. In most dance music, both emotions and rhythm play a role; the types of consumers cannot always be distinguished.” (McKay, 1998: 256)
The emotional person would be the love-drug taking raver who feels connection with the lyrics of peace and harmony, but on the other hand, you could argue that the rhythmically obedient type would be the type of raver that is addressed in the Criminal Justice Act and Public Order Act (1994). House music is everything that Adorno would have hated, it was something he presumed that kept people suppressed and kept people down, a type of music with no value, but it inspired people to protest against the establishment and fight for their right to party. This is why Adorno’s theory doesn’t work for House music, as consumers can’t always be distinguished, because there’s people that would fit into other categories such as those ravers that were middle-class and aren’t fighting for anything or feeling the need for an emotional connection.
Reported in the Sunday Express, in a memo to the Prime Minister on October 12th 1989, Carolyn Sinclair, of the Government policy unit, had written: "The main problem with Acid House parties is the nuisance caused by the noise.” Despite the obvious link between Acid House and ecstasy, she said illegal narcotics were not the ‘main issue’ with the music ‘craze’. "Drugs are not the main issue. The parties are a form of unlicensed public entertainment for which people buy tickets." (Sunday Express, 2016)
The tabloid press created a vision to the public that everybody involved in the rave scene were delinquents, and that it was run by demonic drug lords, Graeme Park states that was far from the truth,
“It (rave) was all about everyone getting on with everyone else, MDMA just made everyone just love each other and music was all about peace, love, and harmony. Just listen to the lyrics to things like Promised Land and Someday by CeCe Rogers. It was a euphoric scene that was more akin to the late sixties hippy movement than it was to the subversive punk rock movement the government was so worried about, or the establishment was so worried about.” (Park, 2019)
The Hacienda opened in 1982 and was founded by Factory Records owner Tony Wilson, and the record sales of New Order. The club originally cost more to run having it closed, than it did having it open, it was in financial dire straits until 1987 came, and Graeme Park and Mike Pickering began to host their Nude club nights.
“The Hacienda, as a vibrant, fluctuating, musical base for a sussed, hungry, vivacious clientele, peaked during ‘88/’89 when Mike Pickering and Graeme Park - the latter DJ discovered and poached from Nottingham’s Garage - pulled Chicago ‘house’ into their innovative Nude nights, providing a template, of sorts, for the feverish boom times of Acid House and Madchester.” (Middles, 2002: 233)
In July 1988 following the success of their Nude parties, Hacienda started a night called Hot, with a swimming pool on the dance floor with sounds imported from the clubs of Ibiza. (Clover, 2009: 55) Graeme Park reminisces,
“The Hacienda 1988 was the first time I had ever been a club where there was LOADS of different types of people, you’ve got a barrister dancing next to bricklayers, dancing next to a hairdresser, dancing next to teachers, dancing next to football hooligans, it was a real mix of people because as everyone subsequently found out, everyone was taking this little magic pill…” (Park, 2019)
The Hacienda didn’t behold a dress code, so people would arrive dressed smart to be told they didn’t need to be dressed up to get in. House music and the rave scene ultimately democratised everything, for everyone, and nobody cared who you were or what your background was, because you couldn’t tell and everyone one was on ecstasy, so any sense of care flew out of the window as euphoria took its toll.
“Between ‘79 and say ‘89 large sections of the country were more or less on their knees through unemployment, through oppression, through police brutality and it really was pretty bleak. For a lot of people music and drugs was an escape.” (Hopkins, 2019)
Chapter 4: BRITPOP
“The Britpop period saw cocaine fall on London like snow. Having joined in the fun, however, many musicians discovered that they were in need of something to bring them down – and heroin duly entered the frame.” (Harris, 2003: 20)
As the 90s progressed, so did the drugs, and the euphoric love drug ecstasy had transitioned into the hyperactive ego stimulator cocaine, and with the drugs, changed the attitude of the scene. “Ecstasy was more dominant in the early days, until cocaine came in and changed the sound.” (Hopkins, 2019) It was the perfect drug, whose ubiquity was captured in Blur’s (1996) ‘Charmless Man’, “He talks at speed/He gets nosebleeds/He doesn’t see/His days are tumbling down upon him”. (Blur, 1996)
Stallwitz (2012: 208) states that the late 80s was where heroin began to ‘take-off’ all over Urban Britain, and the heroin hype followed into the 90s due to its availability, high effect, and low price. Heroin became associated with rock authenticity because of how it was commonly used amongst Rockstar’s, becoming a part of this ‘glamorous lifestyle’ they were supposedly living. (Sturman, 2019: 1841)
“In the 1990s heroin was much more affordable and offered a high that allowed users to function, at least initially, at work.” (Chapesiuk, 1999: 94)
Heroin also had a huge part to play in 90s music - not just in the Britpop scene but also in the Grunge scene over in the US - reinstating itself from the 60s/70s. Blur’s ‘Beetlebum’ (1997) is about Damon Albarn’s experience with Heroin. (Radio X, 2019) The Urban Dictionary quotes that the term ‘Beetlebum’ comes from “the dotted black residue left behind on tin foil sheets after (heroin) use, often called beetles, hence the phrase ‘chasing the beetle’." (Urban Dictionary, 2014)
Chasing the beetle is a variation of the term ‘chasing the dragon’ which refers to smoking heroin. 90s power couple, Blur’s Damon Albarn and Elastica’s Justine Frischmann were both heroin users alongside Justine’s ex-boyfriend and co-founder of Suede, Brett Anderson. (Radio X, 2019) Even though half of the Britpop scene were on smack, they still continued to construct a strong new music scene that created a new-found pride in the people of the Kingdom.
With the country’s rich pop history, self-conscious rejection of US culture and their (mostly) working class credentials, Britpop made it good to come from the UK again, and they reclaimed their Union flag. A flag that had become a cringe-worthy hangover of colonialism suddenly had street cred and began to earn its respect. “The deployment of the Union flag in much of Britpop and ‘Cool Britannia’ iconography simply re-enforced Welsh and Scottish perception that Britpop was indeed Eng-pop.” (Bennett and Stratton, 2013: 143)
It appeared everywhere: on, albums, guitars, furniture, clothes, posters, and on the front page of magazines such as NME and Vanity Fair. The front covers were akin to Art Kane’s (1968) collection of The Who using the Union Jack to cover themselves, and the notorious picture of the band asleep with the flag draped over them, ‘The Who Classic’ (figure 1)
Figure 1: Art Kane, 1968
Likewise, Colin Jones also used the Union Jack to create iconography associated to The Who and British music when photographing The Who in 1966. Colin Jones shot the photo of The Who stood in front of a Union Jack backdrop with lead guitarist Pete Townshend wearing a blazer fully covered in a bright Union Jack, which he also wore on tour. (figure 2)
Figure 2: Colin Jones, 1966
Fast forward 25 years later and titled on SELECT’s April 1993 front page issue is “Yanks Go Home!” adjacent to Brett Anderson, where he’s stood in front of a Union Jack flag. (Figure 3)
Figure 3: SELECT, 1993.
According to Harris (2003: 88) Anderson was apparently furious about the magazines unauthorised use of the national flag behind him but SELECT wanted to diminish the racism and thuggery that was once associated to the Union Jack. The magazine’s editor, Andrew Harrison defended the use of the flag in a small written piece, “A flag should represent the best in a country… tolerance pride without hatred, humour, openness, tenacity, democracy, optimism, invention and above all community spirit – a sense of our own history.” (Harris, 2003: 88)
Likewise, lead singer of Oasis, Liam Gallagher had a front-page cover on Vanity Fair in 1997 with at-the-time soon-to-be wife, Patsy Kensit lying on Union flag-emblazoned bedding (figure 4).
Figure 4: Lorenzo Agius, 1996
As well as lead guitarist of Oasis, Noel Gallagher’s famous Union Jack guitar (figure 5) and Spice Girl Geri Halliwell’s 1997 performance at the BRITS where she sported a Union Jack mini dress. (figure 6)
Figure 5: Patrick Ford, 1996.
Figure 6: REX, 1997
“He’s (Tony Blair) looking for a positive British nationalism that isn’t right wing and, in the classic prophetic tradition of pop, Blur and Oasis anticipate that. They are, despite their separate backgrounds, the perfect models for an unambitious, safer, quieter new Labour Britain.” (Kallioniemi, 2016: 175)
By associating the flag with successful British artists, the media manipulates the public and ultimately re-brands the Union flag, creating a new found British fondness, just like how it was in the 60s - making the bands of Britpop the perfect candidates for the Labour Party’s regeneration after 18 years of Tory rule.
“There was a massive clean out of Labour politicians and counselors, there was a purge really, to take it away from the Old Labour of trade unions. Thatcher played a big part in destroying the trade unions and Blair and New Labour also separated themselves so that they could be more acceptable, get the votes, and get in. I guess we all thought, well once they get in maybe they will steer things left again, but they didn’t they took it more right and in some ways they carried out policies that even Thatcher didn’t think to do.” (Hopkins, 2019)
Labour wanted a complete re-brand so removed the majority of the cabinet to detach any previous assumptions to prove that ultimately, they were starting a clean slate, and they renamed themselves ‘New Labour’. In order to get the votes on board they got into cahoots with the artists on the British music scene to insert faith into the public, and to give themselves street cred from the younger voters.
However, the patriotism and British pride wasn’t always represented in the best way from its advocates as when interviewing ex-Oasis PR Johnny Hopkins, he recalls, “Brett and Damon were hitting out against Americanisation but they were using the rhetoric of empire and colonialism, and Damon idiot that he is, was saying things like ‘our countries under siege’ and that sounds like something straight out of the National Front.” (Hopkins, 2019)
At a time where there was a national identity crisis, the racism of the football hooligans was worsening, and the sense of Little England was becoming more appealing.
“A grotesque simplification is what Britpop became, a collection of lowest common denominators that ended up setting music back: a slavish devotion to a set of signifiers that included 60s music, mod fashion, football, and intoxication. None of those are bad things in isolation. But put together they resulted in a generation of bands and fans who resembled nothing so much as a parody of the football hooligans of a generation before.” (Hann, 2014)
With Britpop came more factors than expected, the dire need for national identity was getting stronger, as the flag was being waved more, and it seemed like patriotism divided people rather than united them.
However, Asian wave became part of the Britpop movement, British nationalism wasn’t white, British was multi-cultural ethnicity. The main Britpop bands were white, but bands associated off the back of Britpop weren’t just white, they were also from black and Asian backgrounds. Bands like Cornershop and Asian Dub Foundation were successful Asian bands that grew out of Britpop and were associated with British Nationalism, whilst incorporating Asian twists.
For example, Cornershop’s 1997 cover of the Beatles’ (1965) ‘Norwegian Wood’ where the band sing the track in Punjabi, playing the original, with its sitar melody line, which according to Gopinath (2005: 39), was the first time Indian instrumentals were used in mainstream pop. Combining both their Indian and British heritage within their music to create homage to The Beatles in their own music, a nod to their influencers, rather than a protest against cultural appropriation.
Writer and Labour politician Rupa Huq says to Gopinath (2005: 40) that, “Britpop bleaches away all traces of black influences in music in a mythical imagined past of Olde England as it never was, whereas (post-Bhangra musics) are rooted in the urban realities of today’s England.” (Gopinath, 2005: 40)
Cornershop were a band who were both a part of the Britpop and post-Bhangra scene and were one - amongst a few - that proved Britpop was indeed multi-ethnicity movement. Cornershop succeeded in paying tribute to the legacy of the Beatles – referring to them as a big part of their musical influence, alongside Asian influences – whilst simultaneously challenging Britpop phenomenon’s elision of non-white musical traditions and histories.
Cornershop pay tribute to their Asian influences in ‘Brimful of Asha’, a tribute to Bollywood performers, Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi, artists that represented first-generation working class South Asian immigrants that had migrated to Britain. (Gopinath, 2005: 40) The 1997 track became a number one hit the following year in 1998 after Norman Cooke (Fatboy Slim) remixed it, the track also pays tribute to British Glam-Rock band, T-Rex, as well as French singer Jacques Dutronc,
“Mohammed Rafi (forty-five), Lata Mangeshkar (forty-five), Solid state radio (forty-five). Ferguson mono (forty-five), Bon public (forty-five), Jacques Dutronc and the Bolan Boogies.” (Cornershop, 1997)
Kula Shaker were also a Britpop band that used Indian influences, they have been used in a lot of their work, like ‘Govinda’ and ‘Tattva’ of which the majority of the words are sung in Sanskrit, the classical language of Indian – even though the band are white British. This again shows that Britpop as a musical genre, was a multi-cultural genre - there was more to it than half scruffy/ half tidy white boys off their face, representing ‘what it means to be British’, it was way more than that.
Distinct regional accents were also a core factor associated with Britpop, Oasis had their thick Mancunian accent, Blur and Suede had their meticulous Southern accents, and Pulp had their distinct Yorkshire accent. Blur were London boys and Oasis were Northern boys - much like The Who and The Beatles, creating a further sense of a North vs South divide. (Stratton, 2016: 1-2)
“Rivalries was interpreted as symbolising both the UK’s age-old North-South divide and class war with the supposedly uncouth Mancunians Oasis counterpoised against Southern sophisticates Blur from Colchester, Essex – which became subsumed into ‘London’.” (Huq, 2007 : 142)
The North Vs South Divide was created from the Thatcher politics, due to the socioeconomic gap that was created, the people up North envied those from the South living comfortably, and when the Oasis Vs Blur commotion occurred, the people picked their side. (Baker and Billinge, 2004: 21)
When Oasis and Blur both released a single on the same day, August 14th 1995, it was Blur’s ‘Country Life’ that stole number one on the charts, however even though ‘Roll With It’ didn’t get number one, the scales constantly tilted within this rivalry, Oasis then released (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (1995) outselling Blur’s Great Escape (1995). (Trowse, 2008 :1)
From Oasis’ second album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? They released ‘Some Might Say’ less than a month after Nirvana frontman, Kurt Cobain’s suicide in 1995, and Blur’s album Great Escape came out the same month as Oasis’ (What’s The Story)? (Gibbons, 2016: 20-22) According to John Harris (2017) Britpop then began to dominate the market in 1995, and a whole set of signifiers came into play. The constant repetition representation of the Union Jack, the mixed dress codes of eighties football casuals and sixties mods and everything was about success, large outdoor concerts, chart-topping singles, and an egotistical need to be liked by everybody.
“The Nineties presented an opportunity to dive head first into what the Thatcher era had kept at arm’s length: acclaim, hedonism, and money. Pretty quickly, Britpop’s early bohemianism was replaced by an emphasis on conspicuous consumption: high-end casual wear, Paul Smith suits, members-only clubs.” (Harris, 2017: 8)
In the late 1990s and early 2000’s ‘Britpop’ brought Mod culture back, a style influence from the 60s. The invasion of Britpop with bands such as, Blur, Oasis, Stereolab and Ocean Colour Scene displayed an essence of the mod aesthetic. “By 1996, bands in the UK were shamelessly emulating the sounds and images of the early Beatles and Who. Meanwhile, Lad-ism, essentially the reassertion of the disenfranchised white male, found expression in low-brow glossy magazines like FHM and a voice in notorious asshole Liam Gallagher.” (Deibel, 2014: 157)
With Britpop, came an attitude. The working class idolised Britpop bands because of their lifestyle change from working class lads to megastars, almost overnight, they wanted to be just like them. They wanted to have all of the money, the supermodels, the drugs and the lifestyle. That 70s punk mentality that anyone can start a band, definitely had an impact on bands of the Britpop era and its fans; bands like Oasis and Blur proved that, both becoming global phenomenon’s in British music history.
“Oasis’s two consecutive Knebworth gigs – the fastest-selling concerts ever – marked the apotheosis of Britpop, a phenomenon which saw the Gallagher’s and groups such as Blur, Suede, Pulp, Supergrass, Elastica and Sleeper – redefine Britishness and restore a sense of national pride. No longer was being “British” associated with royalty and Spitfires and Empire, but with cigarettes, swearing, Fred Perry polos and parkas.” (Garavelli, 2014)
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, through the research I have assessed and inputted into this dissertation it is clear to see that the global politics of 1989 had such a huge impact on music all over the world, especially in the U.K. and the U.S. During Chapter One I discuss the U.S. V Soviet rivalry that occurred from misconceptions that were carried over from the Second World War. The Space Race then became their next mission to prove their superiority in leadership against one another, the U.S won, but in the end did it really matter? No, because 1989 happened. Peace arrived, and love prevailed.
Prior to 1989 many countries were living in turmoil, on a landslide, hope was being lost all over the world and everyone was sick of being oppressed. Damage from the Second World War still remained and went on to impact the eighties – in both positive and negative ways.
Meanwhile, political incidents that had happened outside of the UK were still being sung about in British music like, Pink Floyd’s (1994) ‘A Great Day for Freedom’, a song that displays the optimism about the fall of the wall and the disappointment that followed shortly afterwards, due to the anti-climax of change, as change takes time.
I think the politics of 1989 arguably had one of the biggest effects on the British music scene, as people were fighting for their right to party, their right to enjoy themselves. The sense of unity that Acid House created in the U.K for everyone involved in the scene and likewise for the U.S, was immense because everything was democratised, nobody cared what you looked like, where you were from, or who you loved – everybody just wanted to have a euphoric, harmonious time.
Even though rave - in one way or another - brought the community together, the Government in the U.K didn’t see it that way. They saw it as a drug-fueled animalistic subversive punk rock movement, that was gradually taking over everyone’s lives. But if anything, the 90s rave movement is more akin to the 60s free festival movement and free love, it was all about peace, love and harmony.
The Rave movement did behold a sense of rebellion about it due to their relaxed views on authority and participation in illegal activities, such as consuming narcotics or hosting illegal raves (without paying a duty). However, that’s not what rave is about, that is what it got misconstrued to be. Acid House, like Britpop was akin to the 70s punk movement in the terms of its attitude. The 70s punk attitude of ‘anybody can start a band’ was what made these scenes happen. It created a level playing field in the way that punk did, the idea that anybody could DJ, anybody could start a band or run a club night, and these ideas were further cemented by the illusion they were under from the drugs they were on.
However, with the emergence of the DIY rave scene, came an entire black-market economic structure. This is where rave begins to get more political, they created their own eco-system that doesn’t pay into the system. The drugs were illegal, the raves were illegal, then they began having raves that turned into festivals, like the seven-day Castlemorton Common Festival, which means they’re living off the land, again not funding the Government. Because the Government weren’t getting a cut of any of the funding going into Acid House, they began to legislate against it. Amongst the legislation included laws like the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994) – this was due to the scene preventing Britain’s own eco-system from working, as over 45,000 people are in the middle of a field somewhere instead of working and paying taxes, essentially avoiding inputting back into society and the government.
Everything House music originally stood for had completely re-shaped itself. House music was originally about acceptance, a music genre that appealed to minorities, more specifically black gay America. House Music was originally a movement that stemmed from gay clubland and fighting against police brutality, derived from homophobia. The Brits soon altered it into their own movement, adapting it to the 60s hippy movement and listened to House music alongside taking ecstasy.
However, both U.S House music and U.K House music have similarities in the fact they were both fighting for their expression of identity, creating an ultimate utopian experience for themselves where they could be at peace with themselves and others - without being judged, because Rave just democratised everything for everyone.
Even though Rave seemed like this equality hippy countercultural movement, it quickly turned into a capitalistic opportunity for those who could afford it. The whole ‘anyone can do whatever they want’ 70s punk mentality didn’t just motivate those who couldn’t create those opportunities for themselves, or the working class, it appealed to everyone. Very quickly, you suddenly see a lot of rich people profiting off hosting illegal raves and club nights, so even though the money isn’t going back into the government, it is still going in to the pockets of the capitalists within the economy, which is besides the point Rave is supposed to represent.
When Britpop was created, it was shaped to give the Union Jack and the Labour Party a good name again, a complete re-brand. The Union Jack iconography was very forced and so was the idea of claiming back the British identity and being proud to be British. Britpop can be misconstrued to belief that it was a purely white, English music movement, but it wasn’t. Britpop was a multi-ethnic music movement, and when I discuss the Asian-wave genre in Chapter Four - that explains the fact that Britpop was more inclusive than it appeared to be.
At a time where the country seemed to be at a good point in terms of diversification and acceptance coming out of the rave era, the Labour party wanted to re-enforce a ‘positive’ nationalism and used the Britpop bands to manipulate the public into believing they had something to be proud of emerging from their country. However, at times it seemed as though Britpop made nationalism worse, but I think Britpop had both its bad and good impacts on diversity in the UK, and enforcing the ‘Proud to be British’ quality back in to the nations hearts.
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