A history of rave in dance music documentaries
Hours of gold watching material, from '88 to '16
Lola Da Musica: Gabber (1995)
With an average tempo of around 170 bpm, gabber is one of the most frenetic genres of dance music ever made. It’s certainly not for everyone, but its popularity in Holland was astronimcal, and as the genre name indicates (“gabber” is Amsterdam Bargoens slang for “friend”), it was built on love and community. English subtitles are available on the YouTube version above.
Dancing on Narrow Ground: Youth & Dance in Ulster (1995)
Desmond Bell looks into the sectarian political landscape of Northern Ireland in the '90s via the lens of rave culture, and questions the idealised narrative of rave’s impact, asking whether it had long-lasting, unifying effects or if the respite was only temporary.
