Dance music shouldn’t be seen as drug music :: Wessex Scene Online

Dance music shouldn’t be seen as drug music

14th December 2005
Clare Saxon

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It often arises when I meet new people that it appears to them that electronic music such as psy trance, techno and drum and bass is purely used to take drugs to. I am sorry to say but of whom that harbour these opinions, it is generally indie loving university students with this preconception. Fine if you want to believe this for the rest of your life, then do, look no further into people’s choices, discover no new diverse, intelligent, underground and passionate music and please, don’t read any further.

We as humans listen to music for reasons beyond us. As tribes thousands of years ago humans would dance under the stars to a repetitive drum beat, and they would dance joyously for hours around a fire with their friends and family, together celebrating existence, death and the divine intelligence that is the universe. This primal desire for harmonious and hedonistic ritual is something deep rooted in our souls, and something that is brought to surface when we listen to music, play music and dance to it. To me, nothing brings out this urge and natural ecstatic satisfaction than electronic music.

I have enjoyed many genres of music throughout my life, and although punk, ska, indie and metal bands have entranced me for years, it seems dance music has captured me and held me firmly in the heat of its clutches for the longest. It is the passion that it contains; from the dirtiest breakcore tracks to the most liquid and light jazzy drum and bass, it is powered by the constant sound of the human heart beat.

I was first seduced by dance through producers such as Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and The Prodigy, probably artists you will have heard of. Once you start to discover electronic music you will keep digging. In an addictive way, there is no end as you always find new genres and new djs to dance to. It will only be so long before you are starting to produce or dj yourself, helped because the scene is so friendly and like a community.

The music is the drug. I am not going to say there is no drug culture here, because like every genre there is the hedonistic party people who always take it a step too far, but I know a lot of ravers and this is only a minority. And after all, techno did evolve from the pill popping ‘summer of love’ in the 1980s. But rave has evolved now, and people are looking to more creative and interesting music to get their hits. However hippie sounding it may be, it is to experience a dance night that will really convince you. Nothing beats entering a rave and first laying eyes on so many people twinkling and bouncing in unison to the native sounding beats of London or French techno or even hard German trance. And then to be involved in this collective consciousness, and to be dancing to music with your eyes closed as if nobody can see you, for hours on end, completely falling in love with every breakdown, every drop, every bass line…. the music will have you rushing and hyper in no time. This music is designed to make you high without the aid of chemicals. This is exactly why so many people love it!

Who needs drugs and alcohol when you get such a positive feeling from electronic music and the atmosphere that notoriously comes with it? If you are curious, I warn you... dance music is addictive!