Ah, lingerave. You know what I’m talking about; all those girls wearing next to nothing at the stadium-sized clubs, dancing to… whatever. There’ve been a lot of angry posts all across the Western web showing comparisons between the Old Ravers and the EDM Kids – and I, like seemingly every other electronic fan/producer/DJ from ‘back in the day,’ click on those posts, get riled up at how different things are now (clothing-wise, anyway). The music is different, too. But you know what? I was thinking about it for a while, as I read the angry critiques by Gen X and Y bloggers about how these kids supposedly, “don’t know what they’re doing,” and how, “PLUR is dead,” etc, and I started thinking, damn, there are some pretty intolerant (and very…uh… ‘un-PLUR’) rants and raves (get it?) out there towards what’s going on now.

Is it justified? I remember the baggy pants, the cool wardrobes, and, of course, the incredible and MIND-BLOWING electronic music that was so new and exciting at the time! Back when I NEEDED my Fatboy Slim fix (yea, I know, I’m that old) and nothing was quite good enough except for that Norman Cook sample-recipe… NOTHING… I even rocked some shitty Hot Topic pants and had pieces of colored fabrics hanging off my belt. At some point, my hair was green, and I wore those leather spiked bracelets. Why? …I’m not sure. But at the time, I had fun with it. I was in high school. What’s the big deal? High school (and the few years of your life after high school) is the perfect time to dress weird – you don’t work a 9 to 5, you want to rebel, you want attention, and you want to have fun. I don’t regret it, even if I do cringe a little bit whenever I see a 2004 photo of myself…

Luckily, though, there was no Facebook or Imgur back then, so the photos are not online (thank goodness!) But like I’m saying: whatever! (Hey, it’s still better than the dumb 2000’s ironic hipster nonsense with the throwback 80s bullshit. Well, in my opinion, anyway…. But now look who’s hating, eh? Damn it. This article started off so well…)

The point is, what’s the problem with fashion changing? And what’s the problem with all that skimpy EDM lingerave gear? And what’s with some of the slut-shaming? You haven’t met EVERY girl at the club, how are you going to judge her based on what she’s wearing?? Anyway, most of those clothes are fine, but if it’s not your thing, you can certainly get away with wearing something more modest in the club, should you choose to… (and many still do!) I mean, if you were at a beach party, wouldn’t you expect to see a lot of skin? So why is it completely unacceptable when it’s indoors? I mean, just because a girl’s not trying to get a tan, her outfit is instantly more offensive?

If you don’t like it, OK. But most of the folks complaining about it, and talking about are of the groups I mentioned earlier; the Gen X (and some of Gen Y) who remember the 90’s and first part of the 2000’s; and when you hear these age-groups complaining about “what kids at the club are wearing,” you sound like your parents complaining about how annoying the Beastie Boys are. In other words? You sound OLD.

‘EDM,’ (with all it’s trap, dubstep, drumstep, dumbstep, lovestep, electro house, top 40 remixes, and that incessant and compulsive urge to constantly keep DROPPING everything, every twenty seconds) is going through a hair-metal phase. It’ll pass. In fact, in my opinion, that part of it has already peaked. You could even say the same thing about the last few years of over-indulgent glossy and glammy rap music. Yea, there are more douchebags involved now, but that’s what ALWAYS happens to a style of music when it gets mainstream and there’s more people involved. That’s just the math of it.

So, before you start thinking, “StrangeFlow, what the eff’n fuck? You’re all into that Skrilly McVicci stuff now?

Oh, FUUUUUCK no.

But, look at it from the longer-term perspective; styles come and styles go. Some rock, some suck. If it really sucks, like, REAALLLY sucks, chances are good it won’t be around forever. Are you old enough to remember when jungle and d’n’b came out, and it was always taking the backseat to the room in the club reserved for house music? So what did jungle do? It developed on it’s own, outside of the main stage. It grew on it’s own, and those who wanted something different might check it out.

Music culture (and all culture in general, for that matter) should be seen as a giant invisible pendulum. Perhaps in 2014 (and the second half of this decade and beyond) we can make things swing more towards the direction we like? There’s already signs of that process coming into fruition as we speak.

Jungle’s been making a comeback lately, along with acid house, and lots of other old early 90s sounds Plus, not to jump the gun (even though I know I am DEFINITELY jumping a number of guns on this) but breakcore has passed it’s “What the fuck is this? Break…core…???” phase, and it could be ready to be normalized now, seeing as half of the techniques of the really noisy and trippy complextro/step sound seem as though they were almost hand-picked from a venetian snares tune and then reorganized into a house format. No, I’m actually being serious. As far as the electronic music that’s aged a little bit, like a good wine, it’s ready to be tasted, once again. It’s retro now, I suppose! Maybe now is the time to get passed the hair-metal phase in electronic – OR, maybe it’s time to ignore the hair-metal-esque qualities of the mainstream styles of electronic (as many do anyway) and focus on growing whatever new scene or style or genre YOU are into.

Especially if you’re a bit older now – in your late 20s, 30s, 40s; it’s a time in your life to start taking on more responsibilities, affecting/organizing people and events and ideas WAY more than you could before. So, perhaps start organizing more ‘underground’ styles of electronic music shows, if that’s something you’re inclined towards. Dress how YOU think is acceptable – but if you do organize a show, PLEASE just don’t have a dress-code; rather, lead by example. A lot of folks dressing ‘silly’ nowadays are completely going with what they think is cool. So, how about showing an alternative? (Remember what they called the rock music that came after hair metal? Exactly.) Chances are, a lot of folks going to EDM shows don’t know about the alternative, because when we were listening to Venetian Snares and Kid606 and whatever, they were listening to some pop or rock music.

Or, maybe they were in diapers…?

Pushing and nagging young kids (who just discovered Daft Punk a year ago and decided to go to their first show) for not dressing like you did 15 years ago is SO irritating. Don’t you remember going to your favorite band’s show, back in the day, and overhearing older folks (well, they seemed older to US, back then) bitching about how the band “Isn’t HALF of what it used to be, back in ___ (insert a year from the 20th century)…” Oh, fuck, it was so fucking annoying to hear that shit! I wanted to scream, “Why the fuck are you at a Korn show, then, douche?” But I didn’t, because I was really overweight at the time, and that old dude seemed tough, drunk, and willing to kick my ass, if need be… Yea, there were a lot of assholes at Ozzfest. Probably still are, to this day…

Fuck, EDM might suck sometimes, but it’s still a THOUSAND times better than anything at Ozzfest… Fuck Ozzfest.

Anyway, just some thoughts. I know it’s not black and white, as there are (and have always been) motivated individuals who really do care about electronic music, whether it’s hip, or whether it’s “that gay techno bullshit,” (as that’s what a lot of people called it ten years ago)… I’m not really loving everything about the new school (by far) but really not trying to hate too much, either. If PLUR’s going to “come back,” into the main room of the club, it should be in a more, I don’t know… “PLUR-ish,” way, perhaps? Not to, “get all Buddhist,” on everyone’s asses, but reactionary complaints can sometimes become very hollow, and I REALLLLY don’t want to start sounding like someone’s parents. At least, not yet. (Just, please, let’s never, EVER allow it to be called ‘NuPLUR,” OK? Can we at least all agree to that? I mean, really… )

A new year is coming, and I’m confident we’re going to start seeing some happy changes as far as a lot of aspects of music are concerned.

TL;DR …Ozzfest sucks.. Hooray for 2014, PLUR shit, retro DnB stuff, the Beastie Boys, and alternative dance music! (ADM? LOL!) …Also, although “lingerave” isn’t all bad, I can definitely see why some folks don’t care for it..

///End of rant.

-StrangeFlow

…..and by the way, in case you’re wondering, and before anyone calls me a douche for this: YES, the acronym ‘ADM,’ is a little bit tongue-in-cheek. If you’re going to call me a douche, there are so many other good reasons! Like the fact that I used to have those Hot Topic pants :P