The History and Context of Club Culture.

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   THE HISTORY AND CONTEXT OF CLUB CULTURE

               “History is hard to know because of all the hired bullshit, but

                    even without being sure of history it seems entirely reasonable

                that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes

                    to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really

                   understands at the time, and which never explain, in retrospect,

               what really happened”

        

                       (Hunter.S.Thompson, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”)

        The late 1980’s saw the emergence of a hugely significant social phenomenon. Rave culture (or club culture as it is now most commonly referred to), is of massive appeal to many young people and statistics by Mintel show that 15.7 million people in Britain go clubbing each weekend (Mintel:1996). Clubbing has become a major cultural industry and cities such as Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester to name but a few, all have well developed clubbing industries making a substantial contribution to the local cities economy. Many cities have actively pursued inner city regeneration programmes partially based on the nighttime economy and attraction of clubbers (Malbon 1999:6).

        Club culture has become a notable area of study for two main reasons. Firstly because of the ever increasing scale of its appeal in modern society, and secondly because of the largely negative social reaction it has received from the media, police and the government. This led to a major moral panic surrounding rave culture, with key debates centring on the culture’s relationship with the illegal drug ecstasy. The fear was that this culture would encompass all youth; it therefore constituted a threat to both the social and moral order of society. Acid house music was marketed as ‘one of the most controversial sounds of 1988’ set to outrage ‘those who decry the glamorization of drug culture’. (McRobbie and Thornton 1995:559). Cosgrove (1989) however suggests that the press took some time to discover rave culture. Collin (1997) suggests that when it was initially covered by ‘The Sun’ in August 1988, reports were largely positive, endorsed as the latest dance craze, with the paper even marketing its own smiley face logo T-shirts. Hostility quickly ensued however after two deaths from ecstasy in June and October followed by a police drugs raid on a boat party in November. By September 1988 “the ritualised sequence of moral panic – exaggerated press reports, misleading headlines, self appointed moral spokesmen demanding action and weekend on weekend of police raids – was unfolding” (Collin 1997:90). A Daily Mail editorial (26th June 1989) claimed that “Acid House is a façade for dealing in drugs of the worst sort on a massive scale” and a “cynical attempt to trap young people into drug dependency under the guise of friendly pop music events”. (cited in Collin 1997:97). However, as with all moral panics the media’s and therefore the public’s fears had a relatively short lifespan (Cohen 1972; McRobbie and Thornton 1995). As raves began move into the confines of nightclubs media attention began to fade and even occasional deaths were reported as isolated incidents.

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        It is almost impossible to fabricate a single definition for the activity of ‘clubbing’ due to the huge variety of scenes and experiences which people undergo and regard as such. The listings sections of club cultures ‘niche media’s’ such as “Mixmag” or “Ministry”, portray the wide range of musical preferences such as House, Trance, Techno and Garage to name but a few This demonstrates that clubbing is a highly subjective experience. One person’s best night out is another person’s worst. The idea of going clubbing can be applied to lots of different people, is defined by the individual and like religion, ...

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