Twenty-five years since acid house and Ecstasy
revolutionized pop culture, Simon Reynolds's landmark
rave history Energy Flash has been expanded and
updated to cover twenty-first-century developments like
dubstep and EDM's recent takeover of America. Author
of the acclaimed postpunk history Rip It Up and Start
Again, Reynolds became a rave convert in the early
nineties. He experienced first-hand the scene's
drug-fuelled rollercoaster of euphoria and darkness. He
danced at Castlemorton, the illegal 1992 mega-rave that
sent spasms of anxiety through the Establishment and
resulted in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill.
Mixing personal reminiscence with interviews and
ultra-vivid description of the underground's
ever-changing sounds as they mutated under the influence
of MDMA and other drugs, Energy Flash is the
definitive chronicle of electronic dance
culture. From rave's origins in Chicago house and
Detroit techno, through Ibiza, Madchester and the
anarchic free-party scene, to the pirate-radio
underworld of jungle and UK garage, and then onto
2000s-shaping genres such as grime and electro, Reynolds
documents with authority, insight and infectious
enthusiasm the tracks, DJs, producers and promoters that
soundtracked a generation. A substantial final section,
added for this new Faber edition, brings the book right
up to date, covering dubstep's explosive rise to mass
popularity and America's recent but ardent embrace of
rave. Packed with interviews with participants and
charismatic innovators like Derrick May, Goldie and
Aphex Twin, Energy Flash is an infinitely
entertaining and essential history of dance
music.
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