Thanks Mark for a great job at getting this reading list together.
Everyone take a look and send off anything you think we should add to the list. Remember we can add Web and Video resources aswell.
Anthony, Wayne. Class of 88: The True Acid House Experience. London: Virgin Books, 1998.
Wayne Anthony was involved in an outfit called Genesis, which ran a series of illegal parties from 1988 to 1989. His accounts of gangster extortion and break & entry don't send the right message, but his reflections on the need for nonviolence and pro-party activism sometimes impart an almost prescriptive helpfulness.
Beck, Jerome & Rosenbaum, Marsha. Pursuit of Ecstasy: The MDMA Experience. Albany: SUNY Press, 1994.
Billed as the first scientific study of MDMA to include user feedback and testimonial, this groundbreaking work nevertheless has become dated in light of more recent, conclusive data linking MDMA abuse to brain damage.
Bidder, Sean. House: The Rough Guide. Penguin Putnam, 1999.
One of a couple of Rough Guides that could be sold as bookends to decorate your collection of real books, The Rough Guide to House is a tourist's treasure trove of house history and cottage-industry trivia.
Champion, Sarah, ed. Disco Biscuits: New Fiction from the Chemical Generation. London: Sceptre, 1997.
The first installment of Champion's Disco series features stories from Irvine Welsh, Jeff Noon, Douglas Rushkoff and Dean Cavanagh.
-----. Disco 2000. London: Sceptre, 1999.
The second Disco anthology features a much broader mix of voices form a variety of sexual, ethnic and class backgrounds, and violates the Law of Sequels by being generally more interesting than its predecessor.
Collin, Matthew. Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House. London: Serpent's Tail, 1997.
Now in its second edition, Collin's account of the rise of rave as Britain's national youth culture reads like a shorter, less fun version of Simon Reynolds' more recent, more comprehensive and far more interesting Generation Ecstasy.
Fritz, Jimi. Rave Culture: An Insider's Overview: A Primer for the Global Rave Phenomenon. Canada: Smallfry Press, 1999.
Dr. Trance's favourite book on the subject, Rave Culture is the only title I've seen that includes any substantial Canadian content (including a quote from the indefatigable Kim Stanford, among others) as well as any historical context that predates '60s folk psychedelia. It includes loads of web sites and other resources.
Gestalten [staff]. Localizer 1.0: The Techno House Book. Consortium, 199?
A multimedia scrapbook of flyer collages, DJ interviews, Love Parade snapshots and I forget what else. Finally -- a coffee table book we ravers can call our own!
Jenkins, Philip. Synthetic Panics: The Symbolic Politics of Designer Drugs. New York: NYU Press, 1999.
Jenkins was named as one of our expert witnesses in the Ho inquest. I know nothing about this book except that we should try and locate a copy of it as quickly as possible.
Noon, Jeff. Vurt. New York: St Martin's Press, 1996.
Arguably a science fiction novel, Vurt takes place in a future "Madchester" that runs amok with mosh pits of dog-human hybrids, ghettos a-glitter with broken glass and the chaos wrought by a designer drug known sold by the feather and known as Vurt. Not useful or anything but the story is one hell of a ride.
Kirk, James T. & Two Fingers. Junglist. London: Boxtree, 1995.
A novel about a weekend in London as spent by a crew of junglist enthusiasts.
Redhead, Steve, ed. The Clubcultures Reader: Readings in Popular Cultural Studies. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1997.
An anthology of academic articles on various musical sub-cultures, from disco to punk to rave.
Reynolds, Simon. Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture. New York: Routledge., 1999.
Published in England as Energy Flash, Reynolds' book on the transatlantic rave phenomenon is probably the best single book on the subject. His critiques of various musical micro-genres are frequently hilarious, and his explicitly political interpretation of rave culture offers countless insights and arguments to ponder.
Rose, Tricia et al., eds. Microphone Fiends: Youth Music and Youth Culture. New York: Routledge, 1994.
Of note in this anthology of cultural-studies articles Sarah Thornton's essay on the UK underground, with its "contention that youth subcultures enjoy negative media attention and provoke public 'moral panic' as a marketing strategy" (Publishers Weekly).
Rushkoff, Douglas. Cyberia: Life in the Trenches of Hyperspace. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1994.
Cyberia's chapter on San Francisco's rave culture comprises one of the earliest cultural analyses of rave culture, but it's more preoccupied with San Francisco's hippy-dippy psychedelics than the politics of dancing.
-----. Ecstasy Club: A Novel. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.
Rushkoff's more recent literary rave remix is pretty forgettable -- a psychedelic conspiracy "thriller" involving a group of west coast squatters who turn a warehouse into a communal residence and party spot.
St. James, James. Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.
New York "club kid" James St. James' account of the 1996 murder of pusher Angel Melendez by promoter Michael Alig.
Shapiro, Peter. Drum 'n' Bass: The Rough Guide. Penguin Putnam, 1999.
Collect the whole set! Shapiro's rough guide to drum 'n' bass conveniently, nonsensically includes full entries on ambient and trip hop genres.
Silcott, Mireille. Rave America: New School Dancescapes. Toronto: ECW Press, 1999.
Apparently the only Canadian city worthy of mention in a book written by a Montrealer and published through government and arts council grants is Toronto, and even then it gets painted as a UK copycat. Either Silcott is trying too hard to do the postcolonial thing or she just hates Toronto.
Everyone take a look and send off anything you think we should add to the list. Remember we can add Web and Video resources aswell.
Anthony, Wayne. Class of 88: The True Acid House Experience. London: Virgin Books, 1998.
Wayne Anthony was involved in an outfit called Genesis, which ran a series of illegal parties from 1988 to 1989. His accounts of gangster extortion and break & entry don't send the right message, but his reflections on the need for nonviolence and pro-party activism sometimes impart an almost prescriptive helpfulness.
Beck, Jerome & Rosenbaum, Marsha. Pursuit of Ecstasy: The MDMA Experience. Albany: SUNY Press, 1994.
Billed as the first scientific study of MDMA to include user feedback and testimonial, this groundbreaking work nevertheless has become dated in light of more recent, conclusive data linking MDMA abuse to brain damage.
Bidder, Sean. House: The Rough Guide. Penguin Putnam, 1999.
One of a couple of Rough Guides that could be sold as bookends to decorate your collection of real books, The Rough Guide to House is a tourist's treasure trove of house history and cottage-industry trivia.
Champion, Sarah, ed. Disco Biscuits: New Fiction from the Chemical Generation. London: Sceptre, 1997.
The first installment of Champion's Disco series features stories from Irvine Welsh, Jeff Noon, Douglas Rushkoff and Dean Cavanagh.
-----. Disco 2000. London: Sceptre, 1999.
The second Disco anthology features a much broader mix of voices form a variety of sexual, ethnic and class backgrounds, and violates the Law of Sequels by being generally more interesting than its predecessor.
Collin, Matthew. Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House. London: Serpent's Tail, 1997.
Now in its second edition, Collin's account of the rise of rave as Britain's national youth culture reads like a shorter, less fun version of Simon Reynolds' more recent, more comprehensive and far more interesting Generation Ecstasy.
Fritz, Jimi. Rave Culture: An Insider's Overview: A Primer for the Global Rave Phenomenon. Canada: Smallfry Press, 1999.
Dr. Trance's favourite book on the subject, Rave Culture is the only title I've seen that includes any substantial Canadian content (including a quote from the indefatigable Kim Stanford, among others) as well as any historical context that predates '60s folk psychedelia. It includes loads of web sites and other resources.
Gestalten [staff]. Localizer 1.0: The Techno House Book. Consortium, 199?
A multimedia scrapbook of flyer collages, DJ interviews, Love Parade snapshots and I forget what else. Finally -- a coffee table book we ravers can call our own!
Jenkins, Philip. Synthetic Panics: The Symbolic Politics of Designer Drugs. New York: NYU Press, 1999.
Jenkins was named as one of our expert witnesses in the Ho inquest. I know nothing about this book except that we should try and locate a copy of it as quickly as possible.
Noon, Jeff. Vurt. New York: St Martin's Press, 1996.
Arguably a science fiction novel, Vurt takes place in a future "Madchester" that runs amok with mosh pits of dog-human hybrids, ghettos a-glitter with broken glass and the chaos wrought by a designer drug known sold by the feather and known as Vurt. Not useful or anything but the story is one hell of a ride.
Kirk, James T. & Two Fingers. Junglist. London: Boxtree, 1995.
A novel about a weekend in London as spent by a crew of junglist enthusiasts.
Redhead, Steve, ed. The Clubcultures Reader: Readings in Popular Cultural Studies. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1997.
An anthology of academic articles on various musical sub-cultures, from disco to punk to rave.
Reynolds, Simon. Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture. New York: Routledge., 1999.
Published in England as Energy Flash, Reynolds' book on the transatlantic rave phenomenon is probably the best single book on the subject. His critiques of various musical micro-genres are frequently hilarious, and his explicitly political interpretation of rave culture offers countless insights and arguments to ponder.
Rose, Tricia et al., eds. Microphone Fiends: Youth Music and Youth Culture. New York: Routledge, 1994.
Of note in this anthology of cultural-studies articles Sarah Thornton's essay on the UK underground, with its "contention that youth subcultures enjoy negative media attention and provoke public 'moral panic' as a marketing strategy" (Publishers Weekly).
Rushkoff, Douglas. Cyberia: Life in the Trenches of Hyperspace. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1994.
Cyberia's chapter on San Francisco's rave culture comprises one of the earliest cultural analyses of rave culture, but it's more preoccupied with San Francisco's hippy-dippy psychedelics than the politics of dancing.
-----. Ecstasy Club: A Novel. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.
Rushkoff's more recent literary rave remix is pretty forgettable -- a psychedelic conspiracy "thriller" involving a group of west coast squatters who turn a warehouse into a communal residence and party spot.
St. James, James. Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.
New York "club kid" James St. James' account of the 1996 murder of pusher Angel Melendez by promoter Michael Alig.
Shapiro, Peter. Drum 'n' Bass: The Rough Guide. Penguin Putnam, 1999.
Collect the whole set! Shapiro's rough guide to drum 'n' bass conveniently, nonsensically includes full entries on ambient and trip hop genres.
Silcott, Mireille. Rave America: New School Dancescapes. Toronto: ECW Press, 1999.
Apparently the only Canadian city worthy of mention in a book written by a Montrealer and published through government and arts council grants is Toronto, and even then it gets painted as a UK copycat. Either Silcott is trying too hard to do the postcolonial thing or she just hates Toronto.