page_title: Rave
section_title: Origin of 'rave' (1950s–1970s)
hierarchical_section_title: Rave / History / Origin of 'rave' (1950s–1970s)
caption_attribution_description: English: Mur Ultim Atom &amp; Biobanas
context_page_description: A rave is an organised dance party at a nightclub, an outdoor festival, warehouse, or other private property or public spaces, typically featuring performances by DJs, playing a seamless flow of electronic dance music. The word also means excellent, great, or brilliant, and can be used to describe any genre of music and entertainment. At its broadest definition, "rave" can be used to describe many forms of music, not limited to just rave music- which is why fusion genres exist, even within rave music itself. DJs at rave events play electronic dance music on vinyl, CDs and digital audio from a wide range of genres, including techno, hardcore, house, bassline, dubstep, New Beat and post-industrial. Occasionally live musicians have been known to perform at raves, in addition to other types of performance artists such as go-go dancers and fire dancers. The music is amplified with a large, powerful sound reinforcement system, typically with large subwoofers to produce a deep bass sound. The music is often accompanied by laser light shows, projected coloured images, visual effects and fog machines.
context_section_description: In the late 1950s in London, England the term "rave" was used to describe the "wild bohemian parties" of the Soho beatnik set. Jazz musician Mick Mulligan, known for indulging in such excesses, had the nickname "king of the ravers". In 1958, Buddy Holly recorded the hit "Rave On", citing the madness and frenzy of a feeling and the desire for it never to end. The word "rave" was later used in the burgeoning mod youth culture of the early 1960s as the way to describe any wild party in general.  People who were gregarious party animals were described as "ravers". Pop musicians such as Steve Marriott of The Small Faces and Keith Moon of The Who were self-described "ravers".
  Presaging the word's subsequent 1980s association with electronic music, the word "rave" was a common term used regarding the music of mid-1960s garage rock and psychedelia bands (most notably The Yardbirds, who released an album in the United States called Having a Rave Up). Along with being an alternative term for partying at such garage events in general, the "rave-up" referred to a specific crescendo moment near the end of a song where the music was played faster, more heavily and with intense soloing or elements of controlled feedback. It was later part of the title of an electronic music performance event held on 28 January 1967 at London's Roundhouse titled the "Million Volt Light and Sound Rave". The event featured the only known public airing of an experimental sound collage created for the occasion by Paul McCartney of The Beatles – the legendary Carnival of Light recording.
  With the rapid change of British pop culture from the mod era of 1963–1966 to the hippie era of 1967 and beyond, the term fell out of popular usage. The Northern soul movement is cited by many as being a significant step towards the creation of contemporary club culture and of the superstar DJ culture of the 2000s. As in contemporary club culture, Northern soul DJs built up a following based on satisfying the crowd's desires for music that they could not hear anywhere else. Many argue that Northern soul was instrumental in creating a network of clubs, DJs, record collectors and dealers in the UK, and was the first music scene to provide the British charts with records that sold entirely on the strength of club play. A technique employed by northern soul DJs in common with their later counterparts was the sequencing of records to create euphoric highs and lows for the crowd. DJ, Laurence 'Larry' Proxton being known for this method. DJ personalities and their followers involved in the original Northern soul movement went on to become important figures in the house and dance music scenes. During the 1970s and early 1980s until its resurrection, the term was not in vogue, one notable exception being in the lyrics of the song "Drive-In Saturday" by David Bowie (from his 1973 album Aladdin Sane) which includes the line, "It's a crash course for the ravers." Its use during that era would have been perceived as a quaint or ironic use of bygone slang: part of the dated 1960s lexicon along with words such as "groovy".
  The perception of the word "rave" changed again in the late 1980s when the term was revived and adopted by a new youth culture, possibly inspired by the use of the term in Jamaica.
caption: A huge bank of speakers and subwoofers from a rave sound reinforcement system.
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