Inside the Acid House Music Scene

Acid House was branded by Chicago DJs who were experimenting with the Roland TB-303 electronic synthesiser-sequencer in the mid-1980s. The TB (Transistor Bass) was originally developed with guitarists in mind, to provide them with bass accompaniment for when they were practicing. The word acid was used to describe the acid, squelchy sound that the synthesiser produced. From Chicago, the sound spread to the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia through the growing rave scene. It differed to the prevalent other sounds of the rave scene such as house and techno. Acid house was more minimalist, absent of much instrumentation, creating a harder sound. It shared the common 4/4 rhythm of house and techno but it was pounded into much harder rhythms. The London club Shoom was one of the first to introduce the acid house sound to the clubbers of England in 1987. The club was run by DJ Danny Rampling and his wife Jenny in Southwark, London, to an exclusive, small number of devotees. But a secret that good, could not be contained and acid house spread like wildfire through the city of London and out into the counties and throughout England, kicking off what became known as the Second Summer of Love. It was a sociological phenomenon, transforming youth culture, as people united under the banner of acid house, taking ecstasy, throwing illegal raves, everything was harmonious, all was love, just like San Francisco two decades previously, ergo The Second Summer of Love. Another club, Trip opened in 1988, droves flocked into it, partying until the early hours, the scene was grabbing headlines for hedonism and decadence.

After-hour clubbing was illegal in London and the police began cracking down on the clubs, the punters needed places to go; they began to hold events in more innocuous venues such as warehouses and disused spaces - the rave scene was born. Demand was mammoth and so the raves in turn became mammoth, they began to be ran by production companies or unlicensed clubs such as Revolution in Progress and Sunrise. These massive events began to garner acres of negative newsprint criticising the hedonism, decadence and drug-taking of these events. The accounts though based in some fact were often sensationalised which had the effect of causing panic amongst the public who began wondering what exactly was going on with their sons and daughters at these gigs. The government moved against the acid house scene, banning it from radio, television and retail outlets throughout the United Kingdom. Youth culture fought back, continuing to hold acid house events in secret locations, trying to stay one step ahead of the police, who in turn had developed special units to combat the contagious scene. People all across the United Kingdom were tuning in, acid house appeared as if it was here to stay. There were reasons for the wildfire like spread, yes it was fun, yes it was hedonistic, but it was more than that, it was about being part of a movement. Detractors held that comparing the movement to the First Summer of Love was ridiculous as it was apolitical maintaining that it’s only interest being in decadence.

But as the old mantra goes, not making a decision, is in itself making a decision. The United Kingdom had been wracked for a decade under the individualist policies of the Thatcher administration. Acid house stressed the collective and offered a means of escape from a country where the wealthy were prospering whereas the masses were suffering deprivation, anomie and isolation from the main. The eighties had witnessed race riots, pitched battles with the police and an increasing brutality in inner city areas. Unemployment was rife and many had being caught in the collapse in property prices, leaving many in negative equity. Acid house with it’s repetitive beat and shared drug of ecstasy offered people a shared consciousness, basically creating a sympathetic community, something that people could feel a part of, a micro-society that accepted them for who they were or indeed for who they were not. The drug of choice was ecstasy, it gave people energy to dance all night, reduced inhibitions and diminished aggression. People of all backgrounds, usually so splintered on the streets were uniting together; dancing, laughing, creating a fraternity; one that was seriously lacking in society. In addition, the music of the eighties had being dominated by the emergence of MTV, which promoted big stars such as Michael Jackson and Madonna. It was all about glitz and glamour, while the New Romantic scene dominated the United Kingdom, a scene of fancy garbs, Utah haircuts, finely produced videos, empty lyrics and nothing of any real substance or relation to the masses.

Teen pop was howling it’s ridiculous chants through every speaker in the country, there was no escaping New Kids on the Block and Tiffany. Lionel Ritchie and Whitney Heuston were telling us fairytales. Alternative rock was beginning to enter the mainstream, but bands like The Cure and The Smiths were still pretty isolated, shouting in from the terraces, and anyway thousands and thousands were not going to gather in a warehouse to sing along to Morrissey and Robert Smith. The point being that the stars of the eighties with some exceptions were stratospheric and untouchable, nobody could relate to these other worldly figures. Within acid house, there were no stars, the DJs and musicians were anonymous, part of the collective, no different behind the decks as those dancing in front of them. There existed no divide, DJs often looking the most ordinary in the crowd, indeed dancing within the crowd before and after their set. No ego, no being told who we were and at what place we stood in the pecking order. The acid house subculture was breaking from Thatcher’s system, but it was not testing it, it did not even criticise it, it was purely a means of escape. And so hence the detractors, as commentators lambasted the scene for having nothing to say, but that was the whole point, there was nothing to say, it was a way of enduring the miserable life that most people were leading. People were fed up, there had been subculture after subculture which had fought against societal convention, from the mods to punk and societal conventions had prevailed, people were now going to spend whatever little money they had to just enjoy themselves.

Life was too heavy to be heavy when out. This is where the whole thing becomes sort of complicated, the authorities feared the movement because from the outside looking in, they perceived the powers that could collect thousands of people into remote fields must surely be doing more than just facilitating them to dance. Anybody with that power would, wouldn’t they? Perhaps, perhaps not, but there was no power behind the curtain, it was music by the people for the people. It was a collective, simple. But nobody perceived it as such, conspiracy theories abounded, one of which spouted that sixties flower kids had reached positions of power and were sparking their oft sang about revolution of bringing love to the people, albeit with chemical enhancers, which were being distributed by highly classified government agencies. Acid House had fist appeared in the United Kingdom in London, but the epicentre of the movement, it’s HQ was most definitely Manchester. The city was the perfect backdrop to the burgeoning acid house scene. Acid house was all about independent organisation, risk-taking and innovation, it was situationist and embraced DIY; all facets that were pure Mancunian. In addition, the city was compact and possessed a type of village scene; new styles, fashions and trends caught on fast and the people were always open to new ideas and trying different stuff out. The city always did things in its own ways, not caring a jot what other places were doing and so acid house found it’s home within the city’s environs, in fact it found a feeding ground.

The heart of acid house in the city was the Hacienda night club which was largely financed by the manager of Factory Records, Tony Wilson and the band New Order. In 1986, it became one of the first clubs to play house music with the Nude night on Fridays featuring DJ’s like Mike Pickering and Little Martin. People turned up, the Hacienda had been ailing for quite some time, house was the way forward, by 1987 there was house seven nights a week., jam-packed with punters from all walks of life. It spread form the Hacienda to clubs like Konspiracy and Thunderdome, though in so doing the sound changed, the latter spiralling into a darker, more urban sound which became known as jungle. And of course, such a good thing was never going to remain trapped in Manchester, it quickly spread across the country. But the demand became too large, the clubs could not keep up and they were receiving hassle from the authorities, so the movement spread into warehouses and fields. This fuelled fears that society was losing it’s grip on the youth, the authorities began cracking down on these illegal parties, and so they became harder and harder to organise. The government passed the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994) which basically prohibited the organisation, holding and attending of raves. The halcyon days of acid house came to an abrupt and far from expected  end. Of course it would continue, some of it going mainstream, some of it going underground but the movement was no longer, nobody ever expected it to last forever, anyway, it was too good for that.