First originating in Britain, the term rave was used to describe bohemian parties in the 1950s and was associated with Soho beatnik culture. The term was then reused in the 60s by mod and hippie culture. Rave was used as a general term to describe “wild parties”. Rock musicians such Velvet Underground, Nico, and the Grateful Dead were known to attend these raves and perform, along with influential artists such as Andy Warhol who would arrange his own rave called The Exploding Plastic Inevitable. Often at these raves, garage rock and psychedelic music was paired with the experimentation of drugs.
The term rave fell out of style until the early 80s with the rise of warehouse parties. This is when “rave” started to become the generally recognized term of the current day. Genres such as East Coast Hip-hop, Chicago and Detroit house, rare groove, and funk were very prevalent at these warehouse parties. It was not until the mid 1980s that warehouse parties became popular; profit made from the parties would go to fund pirate radio stations and independent dance studios. The Second Summer of Love was a movement during the 80s that also contributed to the boom of EDM (most notably Acid House) and drug use.
By the 1990s more subgenres spawned from the rave scene such as hardcore, gabber, breakbeat, happy hardcore, jungle, drum n’ bass, post-industrial, etc. Raves also fell under more scrutiny by the government. Crackdowns on illegal raves increased, due to the fear of rampant drug use and anti-social behavior. The UK passed the Entertainment Act in 1990, hindering rave parties by allowing fines up to £20,000 if anyone hosted unlicensed raves and was caught squatting. This was due in part of the government wanting to disperse countercultural spaces that go against the expectations of British life. Despite the law being put in place, it did not stop ravers from having raves. The rave community took more initiative to communicate when raves are starting through telephone or pirate radio broadcasts. In modern day, raves are still underground and mostly private however different types of rave settings have emerged such as mainstream raves held at legitimate venues with security and well known performers, large-scale music festivals held outdoors with less organization, underground raves in illegitimate venues with lesser-known performers, and outlaw raves usually held on abandoned property with no security.
