The Rave Subculture essays

The Rave Subculture essays I walked into the dark room after paying the ten-dollar cover charge. The music was what I noticed first. It was very loud and made a ring linger in my ears. The music was house music, also known as techno or electronic music. The next thing I noticed was the people. The majority of them were young adults, anywhere from their late teens to early 20s. It wasnt the people I noticed so much, but how they were behaving. Most of them were dancing, but not just your typical dancing that you would see in most dance clubs. People were very close together and there was a lot of physical, euphoric interaction between them. They were dancing to the beat, almost together as one. Also moving the groove of the music were many lights of all different colors. Most people were dancing with glowsticks as well as other various kinds of lights. It was clear to me right away that the majority of the people inside the room were not sober but were under some kind of influence. I had walked in to the world of the rave. It was a Saturday night in Jacksonville, Florida. I was at a club in the Downtown area called 618. It opens at 10 p.m., a time when most other places are getting ready to close. The patrons there however, were just getting their night started. I walked around the club, observing as I walked. I saw people hugging a lot, giving each other massages or giving each other light shows. I asked a girl what the light show was for. Her name was Sara and she replied, The lights look really cool when youre rolling. Rolling is term most ravers use when are on the popular club drug ecstasy. Sara was 19 and dressed like a lot of the ravers I saw there. Loose shirts and baggy pants. She had jewelry on that looked almost like childrens jewelry. She said kids there who wore that kind of apparel were called candie ravers or candie kids. Ecstasy pills are made of a compoun...