Rave America: New School Dancescapes

By Mireille Silcott

For the last three years, the sale of Technics 1200 turntables (used by DJs in clubs) have outstripped those of electric guitars. Raves have gone from parties involving a few hundred people to commercially sponsored festivals drawing tens of thousands of fans. Rave America is the first book devoted to this massive phenomenon. Through hundreds of interviews with DJs, recording artists, producers, promoters, drug lords, club celebrities, and nightworld casualties, this book takes readers into the deepest recesses of the electronic dance culture, uncovering secrets and stories never before seen in print. Rave America begins with a whirlwind tour of North American club culture in the 70s and 80s, then plunges into the diverse sounds, sights, and histories of some of the most vital rave territories: the deafening walls of sound of DJ Frankie Bones's earliest New York Storm raves; the acid-fuelled dreams of San Francisco's hippiefied Full Moon beach parties; Florida's DJ Icey and his factions of teenage breakdancers on Ecstasy; the dark Satanic techno rituals of the Midwest's Drop Bass Network; the twelve-hour post-aids "muscle raves" of the cross-country gay circuit parties. Rave America examines both the dreams and nightmares of a pre-millennium continent after dark. Written by noted music critic and dedicated club culturist Mireille Silcott, Rave America: Inside Club Culture will appeal to everyone from the most jaded scenester, to those who just want to uncover a bit of nighttime drama. A definite must for anyone who's ever wondered what's been lurking beneath the gleam of this decade's dance floors.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1550223836
• ISBN13: 9781550223835
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: ECW Press
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.6" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Every Raver should read this book

If you are a party kid wondering how the scene finally reached your part of the US you should read this book. It reveals the history of the rave and how the different styles of electronic music were created. City by City the story of DJs, promoters, and the common partier are told with an unbiased tone giving you the freedom to create your own views about the scene.

i loved this book

well, I just have to say that Rave America was thought provoking, mature and intensely visual. Certainly a point of reference for a generation. I loved the last chapter... This is a great book.

it is amazzzzing

I agree with the previous review­this book is great. Culturally fascinating, especially the gay circuit chapter at the end. An important book I think

TELLS IT LIKE IT IS

This book is an amazing chronicle! The author seems to have travelled to all of these diffferent rave cities and capured what seems like the true spirit of every one. The stories she unearths are just amazing--and she is pitiless in unearthing them. And I'm talking heavy stuff. This is the best book I have ever read about American club culture. It is beautifully and simply written, the analysis is succinct, and I think it would appeal to both the raver and the cultural scholar alike. A true find!