Generation Ecstasy

Excellent book for those interested in the origins of electronic dance music. Simon Reynolds, unlike many scholarly authors, writes in an engaging and personal way. He tells anecdotes from his own experiences in the dance music scene but also brings in an enormous amount of research and knowledge. There is so much good information in this book that it definitely deserves more than one reading.

It can be a little in-depth sometimes, almost to the point of being inane, but the author carries the story so well, you find yourself being swept up in the madness, almost as if you were standing in the middle of the rave culture yourself.It sheds an important light on a rarely-reported but highly relevant side of music history; a must-have for any true fan of the art.

This is so far the best book I've read on Electronic Dance Music, due to it's multiple perspectives (technological, historical, sociological, musical, cultural, chemical) on the phenomenon. I just think it deserves a proper and updated re-edition that and I hope Reynolds considers doing it!

Despite its limitations, this is still the best empirical book about the history of rave culture to date. Reynolds is an English dance music journalist who positions himself at the popular/danceable wing of the dance movement in contrast with its elitist/"intelligent" sections. (My sources in Ibiza/UK, though, tell me that he in fact belongs to London's clubbing elite...).The bulk of the book consists of a long series of interweaved magazine articles that Reynolds published throughout the years. He describes dance music subgenres, artists/promoters/clubs, and how music changes. He also connects rave culture with the rise of harsh neoliberal capitalism in 1980s UK and US. However, Reynolds hyperventilates in excessive descriptions of sounds and theis effects in the communal experience of 'raving' that bonds the "generation ecstasy".Despite the emphasis on musical descriptivism and on the British case, the book demonstrates how dance movement develops in general: in relation to the social tension between the underground and the mainstream, to the repressive action of the neoliberal state, and to the development of a global dance subculture: from the Second Summer of Love (1988) to what he aptly terms as "post-rave diaspora" (since 1997).In the "post-rave diaspora", Reynolds notes that ecclectic experiments have gotten stuck in formal conventions of House, Techno and DnB, and that nobody knows where Techno movement will lead to. (As an example of this claim, see my review of album "Creamfield" by Paul Oakenfold).

If you told me in 1992 that in 2006 I would be reading a book about "Rave" culture in the local public library I don't think I would have believed you. But..here I am.AT the time of this writing it has already been at least 8 years since this book was published and I think we can see how the author's takes on the phenomenon has held up.Good points:The author has a great understanding of the esthetic strengths of the genre,i.e. what makes these songs and their various presentations work.He has a good knowledge of the artists, events and venues that helped to shape it (leaning mostly from a UK perspective, while very relevant, isn't the whole story).He has a great understanding of the techincial aspects of the music and how cheap and malfunctioning gear is sometimes used and how these songs really often take a good degree of skill and effort to produce despite popular public misconceptions to the contrary.I particulary loved his observation that a tepid corporate pop production like Celine Dion uses much much more expensive state of the art equipment than your techno record.The author also has a great understanding of the, in my opinion, wonderous and vibrant philosophical concepts that went into this music and scene, and emerged through and because of this music and scene both expected, intended and unexpected and unintended. I would love to go on about them but I will spare Amazon this forum.Bad Points:I am sad that this author thinks that ecstacy and many other drugs were so important to this movement. I found this element to make for more boring music and conversation. It was also a cause for tragedy.I am disappointed that this author dismisses so much of the more "avant garde" elements that came out of this scene. He even, very wrongly, suggests that this side was not somehow as legitimatly rooted in the scene as a whole. This is complete nonsense.In fact, 8 years after this book was published..when I bump into people I remember from this scene I get the following:The big druggies are dead or crippled.The main scene is declared "dead".And..the avant garde is alive and blissfully unaware of their own reinvention in progress.

This is a readable book, by non-academic standards, so anyone should be able to tear into it.The entire book is cast within Reynolds' personal opinions. His taste is aesthetically-questionable, drug-focused, and rock-centric.Despite this, a great deal of research, chronology, and track examples shines through the grand pronouncements. I was introduced to some new tracks, even if I disagree about their importance within the history.His bibliography and discography are useful tools for the researcher or anyone truly interested in this stuff.We probably have to keep in mind how hard it might have been to get an actual book published on this stuff in the 90's when it was portrayed by the media as, well, you remember.I wanted to puke, over and over again, on his pat conclusions of 'how things came to be' and 'what this track means' and 'what that track means' -- it's stink of that good old rock journalism... But it shouldn't keep you away from the book. Push through and you'll know more about EDM.This is a crucial early reference in the scholarship of EDM.

Difficult to read with the constant emphasis on big fancy words ! Gets very tiring

good read,a time and era now moved on.nothing original has developed musically since rave,techno

Simon Reynolds has meticulously chronicled the development of electronic dance music and the new counterculture it spawned, which became known as ‘Rave’. From the earliest development of the underground Chicago House scene through to the experimental sounds of Detroit Techno and New York Garage. The music would find it’s greatest audience in Europe where ’Ravers’ found a synergetic drug to accompany the music, ‘Ecstasy‘. Heralding England’s 1988 summer of love, Acid House, smiley faces, illegal warehouse parties, and running the gauntlet of the law. Simon reveals all the important musical catalysts, templates, anthems and lifestyles. (Good, bad and ugly) By the early 90’s, adulterated ecstasy circulating at raves and clubs profoundly changed the vibe of the scene, as a result the tempo of the music accelerated. The ‘Rave Scene’ had fragmented into various genres and sub genres: Breakbeat, Hardcore and Trance. In turn alienating the techno purists. During the mid 90’s the BPM’s would morph into Drum ‘n’ Bass ‘Jungle-ism’, and by the end of the millennium would see the emergence of Speed Garage.Generation Ecstasy saw ’Rave’ as a countercultural, transcontinental, spiritual revolution, bringing all walks together under the banner of dance.Essential reading for lovers of EDMNote: YouTube is a great tool for unearthing all the tracks listed in the discography.‘Hardcore you know the score’!Rave on!