The beat was in. At least, that's how it felt for many. The new dance music craze that made such an impact in the UK charts reflected a wider dance scene emanating from the clubs. And, in many cases, that impact was greater than was understood at the time.
Freddy Mercury remarked that Queen's songs were as mere disposable tissues, to be heard once and thrown away. This gross underestimation of the lasting significance of Queen can also be applied to those early pioneers of the electronic dance scene. I'm sure they didn't realise that their tunes would alter popular music for a generation. For them it was all about the now.
People may always have had something to dance to, but the scene of the late 80s and early 90s was different in that the overall dance vibe was incredibly positive – higher and higher, good life, back to life. This positivity, reflected in many of the lyrics and in the atmosphere the clubs tried to generate, must be seen in contrast to the ultra-dramatic death-and-gore focuses of Heavy Metal of the 70s and 80s and in the earlier anti-social outcast rants of Punk. Dance music was much pilloried as being industrially manufactured fantasy, but that didn't really seem to matter. Indeed, if many of the tunes sounded similar then it made the DJs job easier, a crucial matter when he/she drove the club's sound into the night and could literally play on until the sun rose.
The proof of the pudding, it must be supposed, was in the dancing, and that's just what 'de kids' did. Going to the club became an almost-religious activity. In addition, club life spilled into mainstream culture as the tunes were integrated into TV programmes, films and radio ads. It affected the growth in holiday dance destinations like Ibiza and the Full Moon Party in Koh Pha Ngan, a global trend that shows no sign of slowing down.
By the mid-80s 120 bpm Disco had largely drifted out of favour, but by the end of the decade jerky electronic beat-driven tunes were in the ascendancy. It became a focus on the eternal energy beat of 130+ bpm. All-night raves sprang up wherever people could arrange electricity (abandoned factories, empty fields) and this freedom to party frightened the authorities who pounced on such organisers wherever and whenever they could. Drugs were very much part of the scene, but whereas auto-destructive heroin would have been Punk's métier, and mind-numbing alcohol kept the heads banging for Metalists, MDMA made its emotional impact and LSD expanded the consciousness of those all-night happy ravers.
Dance music is still in, although in retrospect the early pioneers of the genre look like a bunch of quaint and innocent youths. Now a sophisticated, money-making industry, it continues to attract those with novel ideas and new takes on what is probably one of the oldest activities of mankind – shaking one's booty! The sophistication has expanded the 'scene' beyond the positive uplifting vibe and has divided into ever-more refined areas – industrial, house, hardcore, gabba, techno, leftfield, etc. The net effect has been an exciting cross-over of youthful enthusiasm into mainstream culture in terms of art, multi-media events and popular entertainment.
This short review merely skims the surface of the outpouring of early 90s music culture, but that some are still talking about it shows its lasting importance: that some still play it shows its endurance. It will be interesting to see quite where this genre takes us.
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