The Everlasting Acid Movement
“The arrival of ecstasy completed the equation, the summer of 1987 is when everything changed”
Charanjit Singh
1985
In 1982, Singh did something unusual. Sparked by the influence of disco imports from the West, which were gaining traction among Bombay's discerning hipsters, Singh created an astonishingly unusual album ahead of its time.
So far ahead, that it pre-dates the first acid house records to come out of Chicago by about five years. The album is one of the earliest records to use the legendary Roland TB 303 synth. “Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat” was recorded in two days and gained some interest in Mumbai, finding its way onto national radio, but it was a commercial flop and was soon forgotten.
Around 1985, Chicago artists, Phuture was a collective group by Earl "Spanky" Smith Jr., Nathaniel Pierre Jones aka DJ Pierre, and Herbert "Herb J" Jackson. Later, Spanky stumbled upon a discarded Roland TB-303, unaware of its pivotal role in music history.
Experimenting with the device, they manipulated its knobs while patterns played, pushing the 303 beyond its intended use. This experimentation gave rise to a groundbreaking new sound, later coined "Acid" by those who experienced its revolutionary impact on Chicago's music scene.
Combined house music's ubiquitous programmed four-on-the-floor 4/4 beat with Minimalism, mechanized tones, and the distinctive squelch of the 303 Bass define the essence of acid house.
The peculiarities of the squelches, the rawness of the drums, and the minimalistic nature of the deep bass lines collectively forge a captivatingly atmospheric yet propulsive soundscape.
The group developed a track known as "In Your Mind", which they gave Ron Hardy to listen to. Hardy agreed to play it at the Muzic Box. The track was bootlegged as Ron Hardy’s Acid Track, later released as “Acid Tracks” by Phuture. Following its release in 1987, its popularity expanded outside Chicago and it became a foundational Acid House track in the United Kingdom.
Phuture
Alongside Adonis 'No Way Back' and Sleezy D's 'I've Lost Control' and Phuture. Creating the realm of acid's sacred trio. They establish the blueprint for unapologetic tech-driven hedonism. Adonis and Sleezy beckon you to let loose, Phuture draws inspiration from LSD-infused nights at the Muzic Box. Roland TB-303 defines the sound of the genre. It was manufactured out of a small Roland factory in Japan between 1981 and 1984, and only a relatively small number were made. While Acid House gained prominence in the US, its era in the UK extended into the early 90s, often called the Second Summer of Love.
During the late 80s, the UK enthusiastically embraced acid house alongside the emerging drug ecstasy, giving rise to a new cultural scene that significantly altered the social and cultural behaviors of an entire generation.
It marked the most significant youth revolution since the 60s. This period is credited with a decline in football hooliganism and violence, as football enthusiasts transitioned from conflict to a peaceful engagement, reminiscent of the San Francisco Summer of Love in 1967. Even indie kids swapped their grey and black for rainbow-coloured hoodies, smiley t-shirts, and dungarees. Being both instantly new and already familiar explains the unusually rapid development of rave and club cultures in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In a lot of Acid, the TB-303 is also combined with a TR-808 which lends that instantly recognizable electronic drum sound that has underpinned some of the most iconic House and Hip Hop tracks of the last 40 years.
The Acid movement gained popularity in British for clubs like London's Shoom and The Haçienda in Manchester. By 1988, the British music press was characterizing the emerging rave scene as heavily influenced by acid-house music.
In 1982 the owners of Factory Records (Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus) with the band New Order, established The Haçienda club to provide a venue for their friends' bands to perform and to serve as a personal clubhouse for indulging in revelry.
Inspired by New York clubs such as Danceteria and Paradise Garage. When Acid-House arrived in the UK in the late 1980s, The Hacienda became the home of Acid House and ecstasy. Factory's vision finally made sense. The Hacienda believed in their approach and stuck with it.
The Hacienda finally had to close its doors in 1997 due to poor financial management and the fact that whatever money was made was filtered back into the hands of the dealers who ran the place.
And there was Shoom. The first club to adopt the smiley logo that would become synonymous with acid house. This logo, previously associated with the Summer of Love of the 1960s, experienced a resurgence in popularity thanks to Shoom, ultimately becoming an iconic symbol of the UK acid house movement.
During the summer of 1985 in Ibiza, while celebrating Paul Oakenfold's 24th birthday, Johnny Walker, Danny Rampling, Nicky Holloway, and Oakenfold experienced a shared revelation at Amnesia Club.
Under the influence of ecstasy, they were captivated by the Balearic DJ legend Alfredo. Upon returning, they were determined to replicate their transformative experience in their unique manner. Rampling and his wife, Jenni, initiated Shoom in 1987 within a fitness center in Southwark, which is now located near Tate Modern. At the time, Southwark was considered a cultural desert.
For many, it was also the first club in London to present acid house as a full package.
Closed early in the 1990s due to a scene that deteriorated and became mainstream. Danny and Jenni decided to close. The scene was receiving negative press and it wasn’t affordable to continue.
Before the emergence of Acid House, nightclubs in Britain were predominantly somber environments where people were searching for intoxication and potentially engaged in confrontations or romantic encounters.
The rapid evolution facilitated the proliferation of diverse musical genres stemming from the initial emergence of acid house. New advancements in production technologies, notably the Akai sampler and Roland drum machine, revolutionized the sonic landscape, expanding the creative possibilities for crafting soundscapes conducive to collective dancing.
During this period, emerging artists began exploring the distinctive squelching synthesizer sound, traditionally associated with acid house originating from Chicago, and started incorporating it into more aggressive forms of techno.
With anarchic roots and a rebellious attitude, Acid was the poster child of counterculture in the late 90s electronic dance music scene. It was often heavily synonymous with illegal parties all around the world in the subgenre's infamous history.
The acid subgenre boasts a rich and enduring legacy, driving the techno scene since its inception. Originating in the late 80s, its influence remains potent today, consistently igniting crowds with fervor, surpassing even the sporadic effects of the substance it's named after.
A new world emerged from the swirl of dry ice and pulsing beats. These three sounds, House, Techno, and Acid — form are the bedrock of the rave culture, inspiring unity and transcendence on dance floors across generations.
The dichotomy of Ruido.
A moment in the present.
Indulge in the music of culture.
A moment in the present.
Indulge in the music of culture.