by Jacob Phillips, Telegraph
There is no redemption in all-night partying
Those who came of age in the late 1980s and early 1990s were promised redemption from the struggles of daily life. This wasn’t to be achieved by the tried and tested means of prayer, silence, and self-examination – but rather through all-night partying, the noise of electronic music, and endless hedonism.
Such was life for the rave generation. Our formative years were spent in fields, warehouses, and nightclubs like Fabric in London, which has just signed an extraordinary four-year-deal with St Paul’s Cathedral to host events inside the 330-year-old building.
To be fair, unlike other youth cultures, the rave scene always had a distinctively religious – or more accurately, pseudo-religious – tenor.
God is a DJ, the pop-house Faithless tune, said of the dance floor: “This is my church / this is where I heal my hurts.” The music was full of references to heaven and the garden of Eden with samples taken from Martin Luther King about reaching the promised land.
Ecstasy was the drug that drove the scene – a word once reserved for the prayerful raptures of medieval saints.
Theorists of this subculture said it was a reaching for transcendence, using the ancient techniques of rhythm, ritual, sleep deprivation, and mind-altering substances to find meaning.
Thus it might seem that the decision taken by St Paul’s makes perfect sense. We’re all searching for something after all, so let’s all search together. This would appear to be behind the cathedral’s director of visitor engagement, Sandra Lyne Timbrell, saying the partnership will encourage people “to discover and engage with this historic building in new and exciting ways”, promising “unforgettable experiences” in “one of London’s most iconic spaces”.