Ok, this is REALLY something. Villalobosjayse (Ernie) has been archiving these incredible old school rave flyers for some time, and they span the gambit. If you are into electronic music and went to any kind of electronic music show or rave more than a few years ago, you will probably love this site. I guarentee it’s worth a click (actually, there are so many rave flyers on the site, you could probably spend a whole day just clicking through and having fun!)

I love the imagery of these flyers; there was a blurring of psychedelia with a kind of D.I.Y. punk aesthetic (as rave culture was completely underground – and when I say ‘underground,’ I don’t mean that they were just small-time and ‘indie’ – I mean they were underground because just throwing a rave could land you in jail pretty easily.)

Click here to view the entire archive.

Some of the flyers have a number you can call to figure out where the rave was going to be held, as to ensure as much secrecy as physically possible. Those were the real PLUR days.. But, I don’t mean to sound like too much of an old man, as I believe there is still an element of peace and love (both of the music, the rave ‘lifestyle’ and the people around you) in what we today consider rave culture.

The last couple of years have seen a lot of long-time electronic fans complain about how events are too saturated with bro’s… But remember, rave and dance culture has traditionally ALWAYS gone through transitions of being mainstream to going underground to going mainstream again, and then, eventually, back to going underground, once more. That’s just the way it’s happened, and that’s probably the way it’ll keep happening.

Or, if it doesn’t, maybe the PLURinatti should step it up and outweigh the negativity with positivity? Just a thought. And no, when I use the seemingly loaded phrase ‘PLURinatti,’ I don’t mean to rip on ravers too much, I just thought that word sounded really cool ;)

So, anyway, if you’re an old producer, a new fan, or just a curious onlooker, please consider a click on this Click link to enjoy some fun graphics from rave’s roots in the U.S. and Canada from the last twenty years.

Oh yea, and btw…

If you have any flyers you wouldn’t mind parting with, or at very least, taking a photo of, please consider doing so and hitting up Villalobosjayse to help build this massive archive!! :D

Please share this page (or preferably, the page I’ve linked several times throughout this post) to help spread some of these lovely images throughout the interwebz even more, and to help get the word out there that a massive archive is currently being built. It might be impossible to have EVERY rave flyer in existence all in one place, but considering there have been literally tens of thousands of rave parties throughout the last twenty-five or so years, I’m sure this collection could be ten times what it is now, potentially! I, for one, think it would be great to have a cultural document that huge and encompassing :)

Thanks for checking this out, everyone!

Here’s what Ernie had to say, on his site:

HAVE RAVE FLYERS FROM THE 90s?