Electric Daisy: Each generation fervently embraces its music

Critic's notebook: Hospitalization, arrests and the death of a teen at Electric Daisy Carnival raises questions about raves. But really, Woodstock and discos weren't so long ago.

The first news that hit my ears about the Electric Daisy Carnival was all positive. Amazing, said friends who'd immersed in the beats and the force field of moving bodies. Dance culture is still so alive. Then came reports of misadventure, including the tragic death of Sasha Rodriguez. A buried loop of pop-historical scenes began playing in my head.

Woodstock, 1969: "The picture I have in my mind is almost of the famous Lautrec poster of the cancan girls with the man's silhouette in front of that, and that just went on for hours and hours and hours, and folks dancing and getting high, and dancing and dancing and dancing all night long."

A New York City disco, circa 1978: "I loathe crowds. But tonight the music and the drugs and the exhilaration has stripped me of all such scruples. We were packed in so tightly we were forced to slither across each other's wet bodies and arms…. I surrendered myself to the idea that I was just like everyone else. A body among bodies."

A San Diego rave, 1995: "All around me, thousands of people dance, grin, and stare at the same time. Most of them look very high…."

These quotes, from Woodstock campground coordinator Stanley Goldstein and authors Edmund White and Dennis Cooper, reflect the long history of chemically enhanced free-form movement as a route to bliss, if not enlightenment, for music lovers. I risk cliché if I trace the phenomenon back to ancient rites presided over by Dionysus, god of wine and frenzy. My point is merely that the mix of music, dancing and alleged chemical enhancement that led to problems for some and delight for many at the carnival was downright traditional.

In some ways, you could even call it retrograde. Dance music-oriented scenes thrive as a kind of open underground within the larger pop world. Live dance music gatherings attract thousands, as the carnival showed, and the sound of the Top 40 is hugely influenced by the DJs, whose beats and mixes form the basis for hits by artists as varied as Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and the Black Eyed Peas. (Will.i.am, playing ambassador during a winning DJ set, made the connection clear.) But the wild abandon of pop-loving dancers from teeny-boppers to hippies to mosh-pit punks has recently taken a back seat to far more studied moves.

Concerts by Lady Gaga and Beyoncé have gone from what Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia once described as jam sessions shared with fans dancing "to a half hour tune, and you can even wonder why it ended so soon," to highly choreographed productions requiring such precision that stars sometimes forgo singing live in order to hit their marks.

Reality television shows like "So You Think You Can Dance" and "America's Best Dance Crew" stress the professional and artistic aspects of dance instead of its erotic way of breaking down egos and barriers. Kids start prepping their routines as young as kindergarten, signing up for hip hop dance class and busting moves their parents post on YouTube. Youths in urban neighborhoods have fun making up street dances, but also try to turn them into routes to fame, a la Soulja Boy. In the 1970s, suburbia got loose at disco-fueled key parties; now, the wildest many people get is at the gym, during Zumba class.

We are living in a less than free-form moment. Some may call the new focus on constricting the self and perfecting a pose healthy. Discipline has its good points, but its rise within the pop world makes me long for the balance of a few lost nights under the stars: the revel that dance music still offers its devotees.

My coming of age in San Francisco during the 1980s and 1990s involved plenty of crowded dance floors — at raves, reggae fests, gay clubs, punk shows — and I freely admit, more than a few controlled substances. I'm not condoning the wide use of illegal substances. Street drugs, cut for profit instead of mind expansion, are particularly problematic. Still, I know from experience that a carefully tended trip among loving companions, set to music also designed to break down defenses and heighten sensual awareness, can be sublime. It's always a risk, one that can change you for the worse — or for the better.

I viscerally grasp the fear a parent has when contemplating whether her child might indulge in too much of something dangerous (not just drugs, but sex, noise, crowding into the throng) when she goes to a music-oriented event. But I also wonder how many parents are reflecting upon their own rites of passage, set to different beats, when they think about the Electric Daisy Carnival. Woodstock wasn't that long ago.

-- Ann Powers

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Top photo: The crowd at Electric Daisy. Credit: Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times. Bottom photo: Shot of last year's Electric Daisy Carnival. Credit: Drew Ressler / MSO

Comments

[Cover Up]

Thank you. Finally someone in the print, or communications business for that matter, said what has been know for what seems like forever.

[Nate]

This is one of the best articles I have read in a long while. It draws a well thought out parallel between generations. It refrains from bias of either side but instead reflects the power and history in such events catered to the curious youth. I myself have attended this carnival and have often called it the modern day Woodstock.

Where else on earth, other than large scaled music festivals can you turn to a stranger next to you and give a hug or a kiss without any insecurity or fear? Where else can you turn behind you and see the massive amount of people all happy, at peace, and accepting of all whom they come in contact with? I guess this is best captured in the acronym PLUR commonly used in the rave culture. Peace, Love, Unity and Respect.

My deep condolences go out to the family of Sasha, who passed away at this years event. I think I speak for all festival goers when I say may peace be with her and she will always be in our hearts.

It brings me great sadness when the media stomps on something that brings such happiness, peace, and hope to this world. If you have ever been in a crowd at such a festival then you hold the knowledge of the undescribable feeling and vibe. You come to fully envelope the understanding of "The power of the people." Those that have never felt it are very quick to judge and underestimate its power. If only everyone had as much love and unity as the people at this festival it would be a much better world.

I also saw the most incredible scene this year when I was in the bleachers of the Coliseum when a police officer was trying to maintain peace among fence jumpers by asking them to remain calm and then embracing each of them with a hug. It was probably the most liberating and powerful statement I have ever seen and by far the most effective. Wish there was a picture of that posted all over the internet and media!

[aduncan]

very honest and insightful piece

[John Zavesky]

Obviously the illegal substances Powers took in the 80's severely impaired her ability to differentiate between music played by musicians at Woodstock and some thumbing Euro-trash techno garbage being spun by some DJ. It takes talent and time to learn to play a musical instrument. It takes even more talent to perform on a big stage. A monkey could be trained in a day to do what any DJ does. Therein lies the primary difference between a rave and a real rock concert. To compare the two only highlights the ignorance of the individual making the comparison.

[Dwayne o]

MDMA causes brain damage; it's extremely easy to spot in scans... and btw, most house music in this day and age is monotonous, hardly the inspired-improvisational Jerry Garcia vibe you want so desperately to romanticize.

When you write - even in a blog - for a major international newspaper, you might skip the phony old saw about 'key parties' if you can't cite ANY statistical data about ANY thing. What's the % of suburbia that participated in said parties...? Less than one percent? Did you ever attend one? For that matter, do you know ANY one in suburbia that did? Watching THE ICE STORM ain't reporting, nor is it data for writing, even for a lame would-be 'thinkpiece'.

'Drugs are fun.' That's the point of this piece. Yes, they can be. So what...?

It is a terribly written, childish point of view. Drivel. And it says nothing useful about contemporary music. You have lost all credibility. Congrats. Not sure what edgy pose you intended to convey... you seem like a sad old washed-up scenester trying to act cool in front of your neighbors' kids.

[Gernn]

I too came of age in the same time as the author, and his perceptive article points to a fundamental flaw in the "war on drugs." It's not that the war isn't worthy of fighting, or that drugs don't pose an immense risk and demand a massive leap of faith in one's ability for self control. What the anti-drug agenda will not (maybe cannot) acknowledge is that most adult recreational users live otherwise normal, healthy lives. Sadly, the propaganda tactics and often dubious claims used in war on drugs inevitably backfire- curious would-be users search for information on the net, conclude correctly that many anti-drug proponents have laced their arguments with spectacularly erroneous info, thus assuming drug opponents can't mount a bonafide argument. I learned while baring witness to the 90's South Beach drug scene that if you're not doing drugs for fleeting escape from the day-to-day, akin to a vacation, a scary roller coaster, or that 4th or 5th cocktail, you're doing them for the wrong reasons. To be clear: drugs are not for kids, addictive personalities, or those out to offset some abnormal trauma or void in their life. But they are in fact used without penalty by healthy masses (devoted parents, lawyers, execs, civil servants) as an occasional respite. Too bad that's a too much nuance for the war on drugs and knee-jerk naysayers to handle.

[sean]

For the couple of commenters who singled out the music as uninspired and lacking talent or artistic value: congratulation on successfully becoming your parents. Guess what? Your parents said the exact same thing about the music you listend to growing up. And as far as MDMA causing brain damage: so does alcohol.

If you try to create a big brother society that tells everyone else what they can and can't do with themselves (don't start with the children don't know what they're doing line.. let's just talk about the general concept for now).. that becomes a tyranny of the majority that only stagnates society

sorry for the rambling, and please excuse my lack of syntax and punctiation

[Berliner]

@ JohnZavesky: "Euro-trash," classy. How about a Heineken to wash down those Freedom Fries?

[K. Roon]

"Obviously the illegal substances Powers took in the 80's severely impaired her ability to differentiate between music played by musicians at Woodstock and some thumbing Euro-trash techno garbage being spun by some DJ. It takes talent and time to learn to play a musical instrument. It takes even more talent to perform on a big stage. A monkey could be trained in a day to do what any DJ does. " -John Zavesky

I don't understand where your anger is coming from... Producing high-quality electronic music takes just as much time, skill and talent as any other genre. I have now been DJing for four years, and I still have a lot to master before I could compete with the likes of the headliners at EDC (which included the #1 DJ in the world, Armin van Buuren, and production heavyweights Above & Beyond). Why don't you try getting behind the decks some time; I'm sure you would realize there is a lot more to DJing than you give credit for. And have you forgotten that these DJs all produce their own music too?

It only makes sense to compare Woodstock to EDC, as the author rightly does. Just because your taste in music does not include electronica does not give you the authority to make the judgements you have without giving any evidence to support your position.

[jagexxx]

Kids today have some exceptionally boring music.

[Fan]

I've always believed - if you need drugs to enjoy or enhance your experience of any kind of music, then you have other issues, and can't truly appreciate music. Music by itself is a drug, esp. trance and techno music. I'm a fan of some of the music played at the Electric Daisy Carnival, but would never attend due to the trash (both people and drugs) that it brought together.

I find it interesting that the LA Times is devoting round the clock coverage to the use of drugs at the EDC. You are glamorizing the drug use for the younger kids, and you are inviting the old folks to condemn and be outraged. And you are spinning a story, that in my opinion, doesn't really exist. Drugs seem to get the attention of media more. Movements such as straight edge don't.

[Laura]

What is 'downright traditional' about a 15 yr old going to a rave without telling her parents? What is traditional about MDMA? This girl was not prepared for the risk she took and most 15 year olds are not. That's why they can't drive. This was no carefully tended trip among loving companions. It was an unmonitored entry gate to an event that made the promoters as much profit as a USC football game, but far more dangerous.

[jazzcat]

Electric Daisy Carnival? Glad I wasn't there. Ever heard of tinnitus? Keep going to things like that and you'll find out. The hard way.

[Michael]

I think you did a great job at looking at this event from a larger time frame and considering the past. EDC was great, it is as Will.I.Am. said, the only place where you can have 12 hours of non-stop electro and house music in the middle of the city and have so many great artist and DJs in one area and only pay about $70 a ticket.

Sure you have people getting hurt, I mean when you have 200,000+ people it is almost inevitable to not have 1 person get hurt injured, or in this case die. Consider the numbers when you look at something even as simple as a county fair...how many people are injured or hospitalized from not staying hydrated or otherwise taking care of themselves.

[Jas]

I partied in the discos in the 70s and the gay clubs in the 80s and 90s [I was too young for Woodstock :(] and now I (yes me) am going to raves (EDC, Monster Massive, TAO, etc) and from time to time I even indulge! I went to EDC and it was fabulous.

Thanks Ann for reminding those who clearly have forgotten that every generation has its own "raves" including the Woodstock generation. Although it's very sad that someone died and a couple of hundred people were arrested and/or sick, if you consider the number of people who attended, that number is nothing. The vast majority of people who went and those involved in extra-curricular activities had a great time, didn't get sick, didn't hurt anyone, and danced all night long and then some. When 50,000-200,000 people gather in one place, there will always be, unfortunately, a few who will get sick, drink too much or otherwise overindulge because they don't know their limits. Los Angeles is so lucky to have these events and to be the place where these DJs come to entertain us not just at raves but in local clubs. We're the envy of the rest of the nation. Seems to me the local authorities should be more concerned about potential violence at these affairs and closing off the field to those who purchased General Admission tickets but let those who paid an additional $100 (after the field was closed) get on there. Either the field is overcrowded or its not - $100 per person shouldn't be the deciding factor.

And to those of you who think Jerry Garcia dead head LSD-inspired music is better than this, perhaps you ingested too much of that in the 60s to be thinking clearly at this point.

And John, seems to me you have a lot of anger and bitterness inside you. You know they have medication for that.

[Arturo]

Well put! Glad someone finally sees these events for what it is.

@Berliner: Isn't Heineken Irish beer? I doubt he'd want that, but good point.

[Sina]

Anyone who is arguing here over the music (young or old, age doesn't matter here)...is mentally handicapped. Didn't you realize that this is in the music section...which is based mostly on opinion? You 50 year old dads and moms are never going to understand most hip hop or electronic music....I've tried it on my parents a thousand times. "Ohhhh, it doesn't have any talent because the guy is using a turntable which is not an instrument" I, for one, call myself a youth and have attended these "raves": EDC two years ago and 3 Hard Fest events. I enjoyed the music then....but now its even more evident how "infested" of a scene it is. You can debate whether it takes talent to be a dj or not, but its clearly evident the music isn't serving its purpose. Club drugs aren't that fun when they wear off anyways.

[Connie@Zumba Class]

In my own point of view, celebrations are not bad. It is something we need to remembered always, that there is a thing we need to be thank of. On the other way around it is bad when you overdue it.

We should always think that all things that it too much or less is really not good. Well, thanks for sharing!