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THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST RAVE PARTIES: WHERE IT ALL BEGAN



📍 By DJ Music Mag

Raves move crowds, hit hard in the chest, and make time seem to stop under strobe lights and repetitive beats. But before the massive stages, lasers, and mega festivals like Tomorrowland and Ultra Music Festival, it all began in a much more modest — almost secret — way. So, where did the first rave party come from? Let’s take a trip through history and discover how this cultural phenomenon was born.


 

🌌 BEFORE THE RAVE, THE UNDERGROUND WAS PULSING: THE ORIGINS


To understand the first rave party, we need to go back in time to the 1970s and early 80s, when the underground clubs of New York, Chicago, and Detroit were bursting with new sounds and subcultures.

New York (1970s): Clubs like Paradise Garage and The Loft were already offering immersive experiences with DJs who commanded the dance floor all night long, nonstop, focusing on music as a form of liberation.

Chicago and Detroit (1980s): House and Techno were born, respectively. Young Black and Latino communities experimented with electronic beats using synthesizers and drum machines, like the legendary Roland TR-909.

But the word rave was not yet being used as we know it today.



 

🌍 UK CALLING: THE BRITISH REVOLUTION AND THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN RAVE TERM


The rave as we know it took shape in England. And it’s there that history records what many consider the first modern rave party.


🎛️ 1988 - THE EXPLOSION OF THE "SECOND SUMMER OF LOVE"


During the summer of 1988, the United Kingdom experienced a true cultural renaissance. British youths who had visited Ibiza began bringing home the style of beach parties from the Spanish island, where DJs like Paul Oakenfold and Danny Rampling stood out.

Inspired, those same DJs began organizing parties in abandoned warehouses, fields, and industrial spaces, playing Acid House, a psychedelic branch of Chicago house, with smileys and ecstasy as symbols of the new culture.


 

🕺 THE FIRST DOCUMENTED RAVE: "SHOOM", LONDON, 1987


Although many underground parties had taken place before, Shoom, organized by Danny Rampling and his wife Jenny, in a small basement in Southwark, London, is widely recognized as the first authentic British rave.

Date: November 1987Location: Fitness Center in SouthwarkSound: Acid House imported directly from the USAtmosphere: Sweaty, foggy, with fluorescent smiles and an almost spiritual energy

Shoom was not just a party, it was a movement. The word rave was used again with full force, reviving its sporadic use from the 60s, now with a new face — electronic, acid, and futuristic.



 

🚧 ILLEGAL RAVES AND THE 90S "BOOM"


The success of Shoom and similar parties led to the rise of increasingly larger events — many in unauthorized, illegal locations. The legendary orbital raves emerged, named after happening near London’s circular motorways (like the M25), organized by collectives such as Sunrise, Energy, and Fantazia.

These parties, which brought together thousands of people in abandoned warehouses or outdoors, operated off the radar, using public phones and secret messages to announce the location just hours before the beat began.


And in the USA?


Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York began creating their own rave scenes. An iconic example is Moontribe, in the California desert, with raves that started in the 90s under the starry sky.

But in the USA, the rave culture took a little longer to solidify compared to the United Kingdom — partly due to police repression and the misinformation linked to drug use.



 

🎶 FROM ILLEGAL TO GLOBAL: THE LEGACY OF THE FIRST RAVE


Today, the spirit of the first raves lives on in large festivals, clubs, and parties around the world. But much of the original DNA is still present:

"The desire for freedomThe communion with musicThe collective energy of the ‘now’The appreciation of the DJ as an emotional maestro"

It all started there, between acid beats, thick smoke, and glowing smiles under black lights, in some random basement in London. The first rave might not have had lasers or mega-structures, but it had the most important thing: soul.




 

🎧 QUICK FACTS

  • The term “rave” was used in the 1950s in British jazz to describe lively parties but fell out of use until it was revived in the 80s.

  • The famous "smiley face" became the symbol of raves thanks to the Acid House culture.

  • The British government created specific laws in the 90s to try to curb illegal raves, such as the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994.

  • Raves influenced fashion design, visual culture, and even the architecture of modern clubs.am o design de moda, a cultura visual e até a arquitetura de clubes modernos.



 

🌐 CONCLUSION: RAVE WAS NEVER JUST A PARTY


The first rave was not just the beginning of a new way to enjoy music. It was the birth of a culture, a creative resistance movement that brought people from different backgrounds together around a single sound. From the basement of Shoom to the sands of the Nevada desert (Burning Man), the essence remains: music, freedom, and connection.

And as long as there is sound and people willing to dance until the sun rises... the rave continues..



 

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