Second, this is going back a long time and I was pretty full of myself back in the day so some of what I’m about to say is kind of embarrassing. I’ll try to give a modern interpretation of it as well.

My biggest and most enduring memory was when rave had its own September that never ended. Scenes used to be small and tight. It was primarily because promoters didn’t have the money for advertising AND traditional venues refused to host parties. When scenes were small they were very loving and open. It was a place where everyone who didn’t fit in, fit in. Society at large was very homophobic and conservative. But none of that mattered - if you were there, you were cool and we all loved you exactly how you were. Now I get lost here because MDMA was involved. Was it PLUR or the fact that a lot of people were on the same drug? I don’t know the answer. But I do know that I was completely straight edge in the beginning but got deeper involved as soon as I started taking MDMA. I’m leaning more towards believing it was just the drugs.

But then things changed all of a sudden and turnouts started to double or triple. Then there was serious money to be made and the early scene was diluted by people who wanted to make money. That brought in drug dealers, more business minded promoters and eventually sponsorships.

Drugs started to change. Alcohol went from club nights to every single party. When alcohol hit, we had to start hiring the kind of security that would work as bouncers in bars. Some had great attitudes. Others just wanted to beat the shit out of kids.

Cocaine was always a small part of the scene and that was an issue but methamphetamine got much more popular. Meth and alcohol are a bad combination and when security is violent everyone is violent. So fights started getting more common. And as word got out that there were drug dealers with a lot of cash at events, a new element started coming to rob them. Then the weapons came.

Around this time, promoters started putting the words “no thugs, no drugs, no weapons” and “ROAR” (right of admission refused) on flyers. The first actually attracted more of the wrong kinds of people. And the second pissed off the right kinds of people.

DJ’s also started getting ripped off by promoters. In the early days, they kind of filled the role of shaman. A lot of those early DJs who loved the music and the scene stopped playing records. It was just too expensive to be professional and want to throw a good show if there was a 40% chance you would get paid. Everyone was a DJ so the problem didn’t seem acute. But in retrospect, losing a lot of those really early DJs hurt the scene more than we knew. Those DJs used to play for free for new promoters, help them get their feet wet and introduce them to all their DJ friends. They were the on ramp to professionalism.

Looking back, a big problem was that we didn’t believe in anything. Philosophically, we saw ourselves as the 1990s version of flower children. But in the 1960s they had civil rights and the Vietnam war. We had hedonism. In the beginning, we kind of had gay rights but when the September that never ended hit we brought a lot of people in at once. Really deep homophobia came into the scene. In 1992, I could go to parties and see gay men openly and comfortably celebrating being in love. By 1996, there was a high probability of gay bashing at parties. By 1998, the scene was as toxic as high schools.

Basically, parties were neither peaceful nor loving. There was no unity and at $5 for a bottle of water, promoters weren’t even demonstrating respect for their guests. PLUR just didn’t exist and it was kind of like believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.

But here’s where I get lost in being full of myself. We stopped throwing parties in 2002. I was burned out and didn’t care anymore. Did any of that actually happen or was I just so self absorbed that I couldn’t see through my burn out and depression?? I believe it happened and all my friends from that time agree. But they were part of the crew and we threw parties together so they were maybe just as burned out, tired and depressed as me??

I love your question and wish I would have thought of that back in the day. Right now, I’m envisioning a costume party where the theme was ‘stereotypical ravers.’ It would have great to throw that party with you and we could have had so much fun.

The most common plural form (at least in my city) was “positive party people”. “Rave” quickly became a very bad swear word.