Rave on Global Adventures in Electronic Dance Music is a new DVD from Matthew Collin, an Australian DJ and internationally acclaimed educator. The movie tells the story of rave culture from Australia to Europe, and from those countries to the rest of the world. Collin was raised in Brisbane as a child and is now living in London. He enjoys travelling and teaching about music, and he’s particularly fond of young people. His DVD is not only a great educational tool, it also includes some of the best raves from Australia and Europe.
The DVD covers the full history of rave from the early 1980s through the present. It includes interviews with everyone from Don Henley to David Gutta. There are many rare interviews with people involved in the making of rave such as John Paul Jones, Martin Luther King, Michael Jackson, and everyone in between. If you’ve been to a few rave parties then you can certainly identify with the ambience and the energy that’re exuding. You may have even gone to one and had a good time – but if you haven’t then you’ll want to. Even if you’ve never been to a rave party, I guarantee you’ll identify with the energy that’s exuded.
The DVD focuses on the growth and evolution of rave from Australia through Europe to the United States. It shows how rave parties have crossed cultural and economic lines and crossed oceans in ways that hasn’t been done before. These days, many people go to electronic dance music concerts instead of clubs. It’s quite possible that if you grew up in Australia, you might have never even heard of rave. The DVD brings rave to life in an engaging and funny way.
Most of the DVD is focused on the history of rave. While it’s obvious that electronic dance music started in the United States, it didn’t start here until the late ’80s. By the time rave made its way over here, it was already popular in other countries including Japan, New Zealand, and even Europe. But with electronic music becoming more popular over time, rave parties became a multi-cultural event.
Part of the DVD focuses on rave parties in New York. The history of rave goes back even further than New York though – it first reached rave culture in Los Angeles around the same time that Britney Spears and Madonna were making their appearance here. In fact, some of the early rave parties were actually held in Los Angeles. The early parties featured plenty of hair, skin, and clothing variety – this made them a favorite for everyone in the party scene.
What’s also interesting about the history of rave is that it was initially seen as a negative. People were talking about it as a waste of time and thought it to be cheesy and stupid. This all changed when rave parties in America began to gain in popularity. Suddenly people who had never been anywhere near a rave party became interested. The party atmosphere became cool in the US, and people began to gather in large numbers – even in the middle of winter.
As the DVD makes its way around the world, we’ll see rave in a whole new light. Instead of seeing it as some kind of evil, rebellious lifestyle or something that’s badly out of date, it will become accepted as just another form of celebration. It will join the parties of the wealthy in Europe and the UK. It will even begin to cross over into other parts of Europe. It will continue to grow in popularity.
The DVD talks about the importance of technology for any successful new event. If you want to experience a perfect rave, you have to have a good DJ or concert goer. You can’t make a beat on your home computer. It takes a professional with experience in electronic dance music. Luckily rave parties in America and Europe are bringing the art form to much broader audiences. It may take a while, but soon we’ll see American and European DJs doing the raves on global adventures in electronic dance music.