Here in the UK they were about Rave … the bastard offspring of Hippie counterculture and Punk: unsanctioned Peace, Love, Unity and Respect with attitude. Permission? We don’t even need musicians, let alone a venue … the party’s under that bridge over there, keep going, you can’t miss it, the DJs are dropping bangin’ choons and the soundsystem is pukka!
They saw The Prodigy change the face of music …. globally … three times in succession… with their first three albums
… and, along with Hiphop, Rave music go on to irrevocably change the face of music worldwide — begetting Techno, Trance, Electro, Jungle, Breaks/Breakbeat, Drum ’n’ Bass, Garage, Grime, modern Ambient and (eventually), Dubstep ¹, amongst many others, and influencing pretty much everything (including Justin Bieber and Britney Spears ¹ ) that has followed since.
EDM, as Americans erroneously know it ² wouldn’t exist without it
They saw the UK government chase 30,000 revelers across the nation with helicopter gunships after a week-long rave at Castlemorton, introducing draconian legislation that (technically) makes the playing of all modern music (even in a car or on a radio in your garden) illegal to this day.
They saw the rise of advertising more creative than the programs they surrounded, that became a cultural phenomenon in its own right
e.g. the Tango adverts, to name but one of many examples
Globally, they saw:
Peace in ireland.
The reuinifcation of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The Soviet Union collapsed and the Cold War ended.
The Balkans errupted into a series of civil wars.
Nelson Mandela was freed from jail and South Africa ended Apartheid.
The ‘Gulf’ wars started.
The Rwandan genocides took place.
The first cloned sheep was announced.
Hong Kong was returned to China.
Princess Diana died in a car crash.
The Euro replaced all national currencies in the EU.
… and that’s just what I can remember off the top of my head!
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¹ No, not Skrillex …Skrillex isn’t Dubstep … Skrillex is Brostep
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