[Music] Photos of the 90s rave scene

[Happy Exile]

I know there's a few people on here who have talked about the 90s rave scene before. Stumbled across this today so thought I'd share. Nothing local to here but a bit of nostalgia I'm sure.

https://britishculturearchive.co.uk/90s-rave-scene-uk-tony-davis-british-culture-archive/

 

[AmexRuislip]

Great times

 

[1066familyman]

Scotland The Rave.... Was quite a good watch on BBC iPlayer.

Rave was never my thing, but I like learning about different music scenes.

 

[banjo]

These times will never happen again. We’ll not for me.

 

[BN41Albion]

Highly recommend Carl Cox's new autobiography to anyone interested in/who experienced the beginnings of rave culture and the dance scene. Brilliant read, especially obviously as he was one of the pioneers. Some great stories.

 

[Dancin Ninja BHA]

It was the BEST of times, it really was.

Just so glad I was around in the early 90s / mid 90s to experience what I did club-wise

 

[Weststander]

Was it always a high ratio of blokes or too spaced out to notice?

 

[Dancin Ninja BHA]

Was it always a high ratio of blokes or too spaced out to notice?

Not at all in my experience. Loads of girls there also. Just a really good mix of decent people who were there for mainly two things.....taking drugs and dancing all night. It went hand-in-hand with the music. Booze was never a consideration. The bar takings during those years must have been rubbish

I 'may' have been under the (very!) heavy influence of ecstasy, but my memories of those days are still clear.

 

[Cotton Socks]

I wasn't into the drugs side of it, but the music... wow. Close your eyes, dance and feel the bass. Hastings Pier, Sterrns, Passion & Storm. Very wide eyed people everywhere who were nothing but nice & would randomly tell you they loved you!!
The split into Happy Hardcore and Jungle killed the scene in my opinion. Prodigy and Carl Cox yes, 'Sesames treat', nah! It split again into House, Trance, Jungle & DnB, It's now coming back together with Hard House and Breakbeat, apparently Wilkinson and Sub Focus are DnB, they're Breakbeat as far as I'm concerned. Loved it, still love it & my Oldskool rave vinyl is my treasured collection.
Yoof of today will never know what it was like, I think they're all too coked up to randomly hug a stranger.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

 

[Gabbafella]

The rave scene was my teenage years.
It all started at Sterns, then local raves like Origin, Mad-Tech and Fusion. Then the step up to Dreamscape, World Dance and my favourite, Helter Skelter.
Seeing the evolution of the rave scene first hand was something truly special that will never be repeated. How the music constantly transformed and branched off into new genres and sub genres was amazing, jungle-techno, breakbeat, hardcore, happy hardcore, bouncy techno, gabba, jungle, drum and bass, ragga, and more.
I travelled all over the UK, met some wonderfully colourful characters, no two nights were ever the same in any way, from the sticky floor and "Sterns rain" with a couple of hundred people in the underground to the 20,000+ ravers at Dreamscape 20 out in the open, you always came home with fantastic memories. I still listen to old tape packs and they always put a smile on my face because each mix paints a picture in my head and certain tunes still give me goosebumps (Vertigo by Rap and Aston makes my hair stand up every time.)
It's one of those "you had to be there" kind of things, but I'm so, so grateful that I was there.

 

[Happy Exile]

Likewise wasn't into the drugs side but loved the music and people - was slightly later than the heyday of rave so got the tail end sadly but not by much. Could go clubbing on your own and never feel remotely self-conscious, make great mates for one night only and have the best night, or go with old friends and make memories for life. Good times.

 

[Garage_Doors]

Not at all in my experience. Loads of girls there also. Just a really good mix of decent people who were there for mainly two things.....taking drugs and dancing all night. It went hand-in-hand with the music. Booze was never a consideration. The bar takings during those years must have been rubbish

I 'may' have been under the (very!) heavy influence of ecstasy, but my memories of those days are still clear.

This is why the hacienda closed down,

 

[Cotton Socks]

The rave scene was my teenage years.
It all started at Sterns, then local raves like Origin, Mad-Tech and Fusion. Then the step up to Dreamscape, World Dance and my favourite, Helter Skelter.
Seeing the evolution of the rave scene first hand was something truly special that will never be repeated. How the music constantly transformed and branched off into new genres and sub genres was amazing, jungle-techno, breakbeat, hardcore, happy hardcore, bouncy techno, gabba, jungle, drum and bass, ragga, and more.
I travelled all over the UK, met some wonderfully colourful characters, no two nights were ever the same in any way, from the sticky floor and "Sterns rain" with a couple of hundred people in the underground to the 20,000+ ravers at Dreamscape 20 out in the open, you always came home with fantastic memories. I still listen to old tape packs and they always put a smile on my face because each mix paints a picture in my head and certain tunes still give me goosebumps (Vertigo by Rap and Aston makes my hair stand up every time.)
It's one of those "you had to be there" kind of things, but I'm so, so grateful that I was there.

Digitise (sp) your tape packs, if they've not already done by someone else on the net. It's not a quick job by any stretch of the imagination but actually satisfying knowing you can play them if you want too! If nothing else it's a good excuse to listen to them all again!

 

[Tokyohands]

I had the best time and met the best people, some of whom I can still say are my bestest buddies. We don't get to see each other very often at all these days as we are scattered but when we do it's like absolutely nothing has changed. We did manage to meet up a few years ago at a Fusion reunion at what was The Rhythm Station in Aldershot which was mad. Hastings Pier is where it all started for me and I was totally smitten, I felt like I had finally found something and a bunch of people that I could really relate to.

My little bro bought me a rave photo book titled HappyDaze by Samantha Williams which is pretty good.

 

[Deleted member 22389]

90, 91 and 92 Brilliant times. Don't know how managed work on a Monday morning
By Wednesday we were ready to go all over again. I never got to Sterns in that time either

About 93 - 94 I decided it was time to calm down.

 

[Tokyohands]

20,000+ ravers at Dreamscape 20 out in the open, you always came home with fantastic memories.

That was the last Dreamscape I went to, the massive queue to get in and loads of super gurning girls wrapped in blankets as dawn broke with that freezing fog/mist is what sticks in my mind most of that night. Oh and the veins popping out of Mark E.Gs head as he was still banging it out after 13 hours or so as everyone was leaving! That rave had 'The House That Progress Built' tent which made me start getting more into house and techno nights from then on. Did you ever make it up to any of The Pleasure Dome or Fantasy Island events in Skegness? Those were seriously seriously fun, that venue was absolutely mental!

 

[Dancin Ninja BHA]

This is why the hacienda closed down,

I went there, cool club

It was like going to away days for football, in the sense that I went to clubs in Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham, Bristol, London, etc, etc.

Never any bother that I saw, just like-minded people who were there to have a cracking time and dance and the other thing

 

[Dancin Ninja BHA]

90, 91 and 92 Brilliant times. Don't know how managed work on a Monday morning
By Wednesday we were ready to go all over again. I never got to Sterns in that time either

About 93 - 94 I decided it was time to calm down.

Ditto to ALL OF THAT, including the calming down period of exactly the same years.....although did get to Sterns (banging isn't even half of it!!)

 

[n1 gull]

I loved it.

Great photos and brought back some amazing memories.

I loved the Zap club. Did anyone else go to Tonka - first Monday of the month I think - absolutely carnage

 

[Gabbafella]

That was the last Dreamscape I went to, the massive queue to get in and loads of super gurning girls wrapped in blankets as dawn broke with that freezing fog/mist is what sticks in my mind most of that night. Oh and the veins popping out of Mark E.Gs head as he was still banging it out after 13 hours or so as everyone was leaving! That rave had 'The House That Progress Built' tent which made me start getting more into house and techno nights from then on. Did you ever make it up to any of The Pleasure Dome or Fantasy Island events in Skegness? Those were seriously seriously fun, that venue was absolutely mental!

Couple of memories from Dreamscape 20, my brothers mate double dropping rhubarb and custards in the queue and because the queue didn't move for ages, he came up and was clinging on to the fence demanding he be let out to dance. The Gabba coming from the waltzer was better than any other DJ set that night, absolutely banging! Mark E G doing a 15 hour set (longest I ever did was 4 hours and that was grueling, so big respect for that) and someone I was with did speed for the first time, they kept bouncing over and asking people to run fingers through their hair and then bouncing off into the crowd again.
Never made it to Skegness, heard very good things about it though. My second home was always the Technodrome at the sanctuary (which is now an IKEA FFS!) That place was insane, the bouncy floor, the gurning party goers, the 200bpm hardcore, love it!