You know there are so many different motives for people, even among subsets of the communities. Different promoters have different motives (plur, money, music, fun, benefits for people/org's, send a message, etc.), djs and performers are the same, and there's an abundance of varied motives for ravers (fun, friends, the vibe, escape from stress and parents, drugs, music, dance, make money, be the mack =), dj groupie, the sake of the scene, be seen, or some subconscious tribal need =)

I was just wondring if anyone had any insights into why you've chosen this as a lifestyle..i think it's easy to get caught in the err of assuming other people do it for the same reaons you do...thinking about why we do this is something we don't really do, but when you do it forces you to think about where you're coming from, and also helps other people know where you're coming from.

--

   ___/  )           andy hawks@colorado.edu           (  \___
  (___) (_____   peace!  love!  unity!  respect!   _____) (___)
  (___)> _____       !! have a happy day !!        _____ <(___)
  (___)_/                                               \_(___)

From: "The ONLY one..." <lovey@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu>

for me, i dont think that i chose this lifestyle.. i believe it chose me. as far as my "younger" years, i was basically a yuppish type person. i always loved to dance and loved industrial/alternative music but never really knew about the scene. well, here in austin the scene began in about 92.. some of my friends were doing visuals and invited me and a friend to go. my friend had heard of raves but never went so we figured "cool.. something new!!" well, when i got there i was trasformed immediately. i knew this is where i belonged.. friendly, happy ppl everywhere that didnt judge you or expect you to be some one else.

i never really fit in anywhere or felt like i didnt until raves found me. i have never been happier and have met the most wonderful ppl i have ever met. friends of mine that are not in the scene really dont understand why i "rave" about the scene so much (forgive the pun), but that`s ok. as long as i have ppl that understand thats all that counts.

you always know, no matter where you go that beacon will be there and there will be ppl welcoming you with open arms.

so why do i rave.. the ppl, the music and the love.. life cant get much better :)

peace,
kat

On Tue, 6 Jun 1995, Misery wrote:

myself personally. I love to dance. There are very few moments in tyme where I can dance (sometymes I dance alone in graveyards, sometymes I dance alone in a club, sometymes not) and not just dance to look good or to do this i-wanna-pick-her-up-and-dance-like-an-idiot-dance but for the act itself. Sometymes I dance (well ok, this is more why i like to dance but it i feel the same way at raves) for some odd way of therapy (pent up emotions, writing doesnt help so I look to some sort of physical therapy). But overall, I like to dance and go to raves, because for that small moment in tyme I forget all about the world and its problems, i forget all about my own problems, and just move, whether its directly to the music or to a tune i have in my head. Stimulation of the senses. Shit now I miss dancing and sex. damnit.

From: Abu Hajj <jihad@ugcs.caltech.edu>

That's totally cool! i know exactly what you're talking about.

sometimes, when the stress level gets high in school, i go into my room, put on the blacklight, turn off the other lights, put in some cds, hit shuffle, and spend a few hours dancing. Forget about stress, forget about the bs we're fed. I become one with the universe.

As far as raving goes, not only can i become one with the universe, but i get a chance to meet cool people, have interesting conversations, and dance till McDonalds serves lunch. It makes me really appreciate humanity. I may be a relative newbie at raving, but i sure know cool people when i meet them . . . ;-)

smile and stuff!

until later - jim pierce

Date: Tue, 6 Jun 1995 16:34:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: *M*A*T*T*I* <toomesm@db.erau.edu>
Subject: why I rave or sumthing like dat

okeedo, u wanna know, hu?

funny story why i got into raving. one of my bestest friends was into raving a little bit, while i was more into hardcore (the guitar one). i used to crack jokes about him and the way he danced and so on. when we went out in the clubs, i started dancing like him, only that i exaggarated, just to make him angry. =) all of a sudden, tho, i realized how much fun it was to dance to the music. so i kept dancing (my friend still thought i was making fun of him - he prolly thinks i still do). i got more and more into it, and soon i dragged him into the places were shit was happening.

now this was all about 4 or 5 years ago in stuttgart, germany. raving was still very underground then, it actually reminds me a lot of what i see here now at some places. nevertheless, raving became more and more popular and more and more commercialized over there... then i got my lil girlie and we basically only went to one big club who played "techno" as it is referred to in germany. we had fun. lotsa fun. but i wasnt really raving as in a lifestyle. then, last august, i moved to daytona beach, fl. i went to a lil rave here in daytona. and i was amazed. i thought *wow - thats the spirit - thats what i have been missing*

i got into contact w/ ppl over the net and went going more and more. why? cooooos: i love the music. who dusnt? i love the ppl. since i came to the us, i had trubble talking to so many ppl, becos of different views on many things. ravers often share these views or try to understand them and me. what more cna u ask for? everytime im at a rave, i feel safe and close to everybody else. i fell *yeah - these are the ppl i like to look at* and its not the girls in tank tops (altho....:P). i just like the way they look and talk. i like to express myself. i can do that raving. in dancing and doing pictures and stuff like that.

and one last thing. i asked that my roommie (obnoxious) yesterday. he likes to go to clubs and get drunk and hit on girls (a daytona favorite). i asked him: *when was the last time u went out on a weekend and were so happy u just screamed and yelled?* he couldnt answer. i could"*last friday, the week b4, the week b4 that, and the week b4 that*.

THAT'S WHY I RAVE!
there are more reasons, but i keep forgetting.

From: Tom Butcher <bit@hyperreal.com>
Subject: Re: Why Rave?

Let me first start by saying I don't consider myself a raver. I enjoy going to raves, spinning records, making music, etc., but there's much more I do than that. The main reason I'm interested in raves is the music. Never before in Western culture have we seen a tribalish-dance ritual where people are encouraged to explore emotions and 'spirituality' (if you call it that).

Tom Butcher                                      [bit@orbitrecords.com]
Orbitrecords                                             [412.392.1505]

|| orbitrecords information superlink
|| http://hyperreal.com/music/labels/orbitrecords/

From: cyberteach <cjnelson@ouray.cudenver.edu>

I'll second that. I enjoy going to raves, making music, DJ'ing, doing visuals and all that, but I couldn't go to those things every weekend. I find it kind of scary when people delve into one thing and one thing only without exploring. I guess it's like the difference between a liberal arts and a vocational education. One is there to give a sampling of all the different arts and sciences and provide a well-rounded education, while the other is geared toward one end. Which is cool too, but, given the variety and nature of different experiences on this planet, it seems a bit limiting.

But definitely the beauty of periodic raving is somewhat like the periodic sacrament in the religious world. I get this certain feeling, a rush through my body, even on the way to an event. Amazingly, I can dance for hours and not realize the sun is coming up and I got up 24 hours ago to go to work. And then next weekend, maybe some art galleries, performance art, a play, or a campout with a couple close friends, or a noise band, Zappa movie, or an evening reading Burroughs. So much more to do than just that, for me anyway...

I like to rave but I don't understand all the talk of peace love stuff very well yet. Except that the ppl at raves are generally better mannered than at heavy metal concerts. I still find conversation with folks you don't know

Good God I'll second that! I went to the KMFDM concert when they were here in Denver and I was totally out of place. I felt that to be in place, I needed to look like an advocate of the devil! Everyone looked so angry. They all just stood there facing the band, and about 98% of them didn't move a muscle. I yearned for the rave scene, where everyone can't stand still...where everyone can't look mad and angry....where everyone says "Oh I am sorry. Excuse me." Manners....

before going difficult. Oh sure you meet some people and I like that casual hi there where are you from kind of interaction and even the ppl are warm and pretty nice to talk with gennerally speaking. I see alot of hugging between folks who have known each other for a while. Yeah and well there's a feeling like ppl are happy. But after I thought about it - what makes a rave so different than a freindly social party with some ballroom dancing afterward. I mean just exactly how is all of this peace and love expressed in an ongoing basis after the rave and we all go home in the morning? :) Jus' thoguht I'd say that to stir the conversation up ......

What makes a rave so different? It is the sense of community, the tribalness, the sacrificing of oneself to dance all night long. I have gotten together with many of the people I have met at raves for things other than raves or clubs. Sometimes we throw private little parties, and these are very much different than a rave. At these I get to know people much better...deeper. I have even gotten a synthesizer party going once a month or so, where friends bring their synths and equip. and we all make music toghether all night long. We meet each other at raves, but we get to know each other outside of them.

-Bob.

Date: 08 Jun 1995 05:35:16 GMT
From: Bryan_T._Ogden@atlmug.org (Bryan T. Ogden)

I guess making connection with ppl outside the rave is really important to having the opportnity to experiance the real community of the rave itself. It seems that simply going to a rave doesn't allow immediate connection but that realtionships take time to develop and it's this outside warmth of freindships that are expressed through the rave. One writer (Sorry I forgot which one of you in this collective tribe said this but I really liked it) expressed that the rave event is like the communion chalice or weekly consumation of the community. hmmm.... I'm thinking too hard now I think I want to just go dance someplace for a while....

Bryan

From: kai@hba.trumpet.com.au (Kai Howells)
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 1995 15:39:29 +1000

I like raving cuz its fun, not cuz ppl think its cool, or the thing to do or a passing fad, I hate the Bubblegum Ravers who go to raves cuz its a scene and its cool, and they all dance perfectly and they all look perfect and they all wear all the brand names, its fucked, raves aren't about that at all. I go to raves, I wear whatever I like and is comfortable to dance in I get on the floor and go sick, who gives a shit what all the bubblegum ravers think, I stomp and march and jump around, I come out of the rave looking like shit, but feeling great cuz I did whatever I wanted to, not what my friends all agree on whats cool. I don't make a deal of wearing brand names, I buy clothing cuz I like the style, or its comfy or whatever. Raving because its an image is fucked and not what raves should be about. Techno is getting a bad name cuz they play crap on the radio and in trendy clubs and the average person sees that and thinks its screwed. Real techno at real raves is what its about, its a way of life.

yours rantingly and ravingly,
Kai

From: Alzayshia@aol.com
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 1995 10:25:20 -0400

I was introduced to the rave scene about a year ago and I haven't gotten into it until Jan. of this year. The reason I love it so much is because I have finally found a place where I fit in. I am not judged because I may not be wearing the latest jean fashion, or what I think of a particular subject doesn't agree w/ those around me. Every rave I have attended, I have been surrounded by love. I am not afraid to go up and talk to people because they make me feel welcomed. We are one big family where we all understand, or try to understand each other.

Also, I love to listen to the music and just dance the stress and tension that I have, away. I also love to just sit and watch the people dance because every person - to me anyway - tells a story w/ their movement. I can see a lot in a person just by watching the way he/she dances. It is absolutely amazing.

Well, i just wanted to share my reasons on why raving is such a big part of my life. Thanks for listening.

Peace and love...
Chris

From: noah@dash.com (Noah Raford)
Subject: Re: about rave ?
Date: 29 Sep 1995 02:58:11 -0600

I like technomusical music but I don't really know what is a rave. A lot of my friends are using to speaking about those kinds of parties and I never went to one rave but I would like to.
May I have any informations please.

Greetings Matthieu. The nature of the rave experience is such that so many different reactions and experience can be accomindated, that everybody seems to see it a little differently. I can only speak for myself and a few of my friends here. To me, a rave is more then just an incredible, mind-blowing party. Although when viewed in that fashion, it basically blows anything else away. It is the ultimate party. But there is also the aspect of dance and the music. For me, this is the prime reason I rave. It's the only place wher I can really let go and go wild. And when the vibe is right, and everyone is going wild, there is nothing like it in the world. And it's all because of the music. The music is the sole reason we shake our butts and jump aroudn grinning. What would a party be without music? All I can say, is the music can take you places. It's also the only thing that can sate my ever present urge to dance. Not much else cuts it anymore. :)

There are loads of other reasons I rave, for the night, for the people, for the vibe, for the DJs, for the scene, for everything. For me, it's a drop of pure life, I guess. Anyway, that's what I think raves are about. A bunch of groovy people gathering to dance like fools. Sometimes it's to different music, often psychedelics and other drugs are involved. But guarunteed, it is -always- one hell of an experience.

Hope I could help out...

Noah