The humble rave. An opportunity to let loose, meet new people or just get gacked in the middle of the bush with some of your favourite DJs.
Bloc Festival founder and rave aficionado George Hull has penned an impassioned article in The Spectator, a UK paper, on the state of rave culture under the modern influence of the ‘spineless’ ‘uptight’ hipsters.
“Rave, like all youth movements, was meant to be about freedom, rebellion and pissing off your parents,” says Hull, reminiscing about the birth of rave culture in the UK.
He goes on to blame the pompous hipsters for the decline of his favourite scene, naming them “a subculture so spineless that it had to borrow its name from its parents”. “They like dance music, but they lack the sense of abandon that made raving so much fun,” he writes.
Hull does touch on some reasonable ideas, like the birth of rave culture as youthful rebellion, rejecting now commercialised rock music festivals in favour of public parties running into the wee hours powered by early techno and ecstasy.
He cites many other factors that have contributed to the decline of the rave, like regulatory pressure from governments for early nights, higher levels of expected service and a decline in binge drinking culture all play a role.
However as his article draws to a close it more closely resembles the irate ramblings of an angry man who hasn’t noticed that he’s missing the point.
Hull closes with a narrow-minded critique of the concept of ‘safe space’, suggesting that feeling unsafe in an apparent illusion of danger was the whole point of raving. Seemingly, he is fine with people feeling threatened, uncomfortable and unsafe at music festivals.
Our man even lays into vegans for wanting alternative meal options, insisting that he wants no part of “wimpy pseudo-hedonists at a carefully designed ‘safe space”.
Now you have to respect his passion and insight into the matter, after all, he’s been around since the beginning. This isn’t a simple case of old man yells at cloud, but the result is more of a case of old jerk bullies kids for not being as irresponsible as he used to be.
