Woebot
Well-known member
Where were you in 92? the thread.
I'm interested in how now legendary times in music e.g. hardcore, acid house, uk garage, grime - have become misrepresented in the media and collective imagination.
Obviously even people who were at Rage or whatever only had a partial view of something much bigger but what are some of the big myths you see now accepted as gospel?
i wasn't at rage, no. but i did go to a number of raves around that time. i heard people like rhythmatic, 808 state, and derrick may around 91. i liked things like the ragga twins and SUAD when they were happening and those records were coming out. i was dj-ing in edinburgh and glasgow in 92 when i was a student - mainly things that were "on a ragga tip". but i did go out a lot. i definitely wasn't in the thick of rave - but my view would count as more distant observer's view - more like your regular 21-year old.
my recollection is that:
a) most of the time as a punter you didn't know what in the hell it was you were listening to. the categories didnt seem obvious because it was all so new.
b) there was almost no sense of purism - you would hear a big mashup of techno, house and stuff that had elements of ragga and hip-hop mixed in
c) the lineups , when you look back at them, you had all manner of different bods sharing the platform
there definitely were these little pockets of aesthetes focused on particular styles - the cluster around reinforced records that played at rage especially. and you definitely hear pirate radio sets that are "pure hardcore" - so i'm not saying it wasn't out there. but straight after "that set" on the radio you might hear another on a slightly different tip that wasn't subBase/shadow and might have been more housey etc.) you'd also find techno or house djs playing tunes that nowadays you would class as hardcore. 93 was when it became much more ghettoised/segregated imho.
my 5 cents strictly.
Last edited by a moderator: