Rave

The term was originally coined in the late 1950s as rave was used to describe anyone who was having a great time, and quite regularly, at parties. It was also a common term in the 1960s in reference to garage rock and psychedelia, and also more generally used as a term for garage events.

The term fell out of use as the popular music changed along with the change of era in the late 60s - it was eventually in the 1980s that rave resurfaced along with Acid House Parties. The term was adopted to describe these parties by the media in the very late '89. There was a running link for people who attended raves and that was that they were from a working class background. Raves were linked to club drugs, particularly ecstasy. Politicians became involved with raves, in a way that they didn't like them, and they did everything in their power to stop them from happening. At this point raves were being held all over London, from industrial spaces to the countryside.

North America also had a thriving rave scene. In the early 90s raves were harder to organise with so many laws and the scene soon started to fade out. However, the Internet has enabled an underground rave scene to resurface.

American raves have been likened to the hippies and the new wavers because of their similar non-violence ideologies and love for music.