Rave music

For the music played at freetekno parties, see free tekno.

Rave music may either refer to the late 1980s genre of House music, the first genre of music in the world to be played at raves, or any genre of electronic dance music that may be played at a rave, such as House, Trance, Techno, Drum & Bass, Happy Hardcore, and Gabber.. Very rarely, the term is used to refer to less electronic related genres glam, powerpop, psychedelic rock and dub music parties.

The "rave" genre

The genre "rave", also known as 80s hardcore by ravers, first appeared amongst the Acid House movement in the UK during the mid 1980s as a reaction to New Beat. While New Beat usually borrowed an aggressive industrial sound, rave tended to borrow New Beat's elements that were harder than Acid House, while retaining the neutral mooded sound of Acid House. Rave tended to be a happy genre that favoured synthesised melodies over the duller sound of the TB-303 in order to attract a wider audience. The genre was later reestablished as oldskool hardcore, which lead onto newer forms of rave music such as drum n bass and jazzstep, as well as other hardcore techno genres, such as gabber, hardstyle and happy hardcore.

Associated genres

The different genres of electronic dance music played at raves and other forms of dance parties such as freetekno parties can be massively diverse, the term nowadays includes the following:

Breakbeat music

Breakbeat music refers to any form of rave music with breakbeats, this may range from nuskool breaks to drum n bass, some genres such as hardstep and breakcore cross over into the hardcore techno sound (similar to the way Digital Hardcore, a hardcore punk/metal crossover has). Fusions of house and trance also exist but the drum n bass still remains the most popular form of breakbeat played at rave parties. For the article on breakbeat music see here.

Electro music

Electro music refers to electro and techno, these two genres largely featured psychedelic sounds and are largely considered the earliest forms of electronic dance music genres to utilise the term "rave music" in respect to its modern terminological use. Techno sometimes crosses boundaries with house music, hence the genres trance and acid techno. Miami bass and crunk is sometimes included as "electro".

For the article on electro see here; for the article on techno see here.

Hardcore techno

Hardcore techno refers to any hard house genre that was influenced by the "rave" genre, usually these genres have a distorted kick drum, and a 3/4 or 4/4 rhythm. Happy hardcore blended the Dutch hardcore sound with eurodance and bubblegum pop, the genre (also known as happycore for short) featured pitched-up vocals and a less distorted 4/4 beat. Trancecore also exists and is a less vocal fusion of happy hardcore with trance music, however hardstyle is a more purer form of trance/hardcore genre since it retains the hardcore sound.

You may see a list of hardcore techno genres here.

House music

House is the first genre of music to be played at the earliest raves (Summer of Love). House is a genre of dance music that originated out of the african American and latino 1980's disco scene in Chicago, USA. There are many sub-genres of House music that may be found on the respective pages of House music sub-genres (found below). Since house was originally club music, there are many forms of it, some more appropriate to be played at raves than others. In the UK, sub-genres such as UK Funky, Speed garage and dubstep emerged from garage house. Many Pop House club music producers brand themselves as house music, however, in rave culture it is often disputed that Pop House should be separated as a sub-genre of House. Rave House is a sub-genre label of House music that originated from the styles of House that were typically played in the rave scene of the 1993-1999 period. It is a term used by the general population who do not follow the House or Trance scene specifically, but identify certain House records as 'Rave music'. It is a loose term that generally identifies Progressive House or Trance House styles (often instrumental with no words) that one would imagine being played at a large rave.

You may see a list of house music genres here.

Industrial music

Industrial is a goth/rock/punk related genre. While the genre is not usually considered rave music in itself, it is often fused with rave music genres. Industrial is the origin of many sounds found in rave music, it is one of the first genres that took the sounds that are now popular in rave music such as "acid" as its musical backdrop. Industrial music fans are usually considered rivetheads and do not tend to call themselves ravers.

You may see an article on industrial dance music here.

Trance music

Trance music in its most popular and modern form is an offshoot of House music that originated from the Acid House movement and rave scene in the late 1980's. The history of Trance music is complicated to refer to, as multiple generations of listeners and musicians have influenced the genre. The term Trance was (and still to this day by many) used interchangeably with Progressive House in the early rave years (1990-1994).

You may see a list of trance music genres here.

List of rave music genres

• Acid house & Acid techno — 808 State, Guru Josh, Humanoid, The KLF, Phuture, Luke Vibert & Acidwolf
• Breakbeat — DJ Mikey Mike, DJ Icey, DJ Marmik, Rob-e, DJ 303, Brad Smith & DJ Phunk
• Breakbeat hardcore — Acen, Altern-8, Brainstorm Crew, Bobs and Sounds, The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Shades Of Rhythm & Shut Up and Dance
• Brostep — Skrillex, Flux Pavilion, TC, Modestep, Korn, Feed Me & Kill the Noise
• Drum and bass/Jungle — 4Hero, Andy C, Hyper On Experience, Spor, Goldie, Dieselboy, Pendulum & Freaky Flow
• Funky house - Biggi, Funkastarz & We Are Rockstars
• Goa trance/Psychedelic trance — Hallucinogen, Ominus & Astral Projection
• Hardcore techno styles: Happy hardcore, Acidcore, Hardcore house, Gabber, Frenchcore — Angerfist, Evil Activities, Dune, Outblast, Scooter, Scot Majestik, Luke Slater, Anthony Acid, Dave Clarke, Darren Styles, Neophyte, Endymion, Tommyknocker, Hellfish & Vagabond
• Hard trance — Cosmic Gate, DJ Scot Project & Alphazone
• Hardstyle & Dubstyle — Technoboy, Brennan Heart, Activator, DHHD, DJ Neo, Southstylers, Pavo, Showtek, Headhunterz, Zany, Donkey Rollers, Luna, Dana, Isaac and Blutonium Boy & Da Tweekaz
• Speed garage & bassline — Platnum, DJXP, T2 & Double 99
• UK funky — Donae'o, Ill Blu & Funky Dee

Downtempo and less dance oriented styles that might be heard in a rave "chill-out" room or at a rave that plays slower electronic music includes:

• Ambient music, Minimalist & Computer music — Brian Eno, Mike Oldfield, Harold Budd, ATB, The Orb & Orbital
• Dubstep & Breakstep — Magnetic Man, Eskmo, Icicle, Netsky, Chase & Status, Datsik, Borgore, Rusko & Burial
• Electro, Techno, Experimental hip hop, Industrial hip hop & Electro hop — Juan Atkins, MARRS, Dopplereffekt, Egyptian Lover, Afrika Bambaataa, Techno Animal, Coldcut & Kraftwerk
• IDM — Aphex Twin, Autechre & Boards of Canada and Mic-Chek
• Liquid funk — Netsky, High Contrast, Nu:Tone & London Elektricity
• UK garage & grime — Artful Dodger, Roll Deep & DJ Pied Piper

References

• Bennett Andy, Peterson Richard A.: "Music Scenes: Local, Translocal and Virtual." Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2004
• Reynolds, Simon: Generation Ecstasy: into the world of techno and rave culture Routledge, New York 1999.
• Lang, Morgan: "Futuresound: Techno Music and Mediation" University of Washington, Seattle, 1996.
• Dominic Buttitta, electro_DUB-scratch= champaign IL, 2010