I'm addicted to watching archive rave footage on the internet

Why does the combination of grainy footage and old overplayed tunes do this to me? It’s a question I ask myself day in and day out in the cold light of a computer screen. I wasn’t even alive for most of this shit; I was born in 1990 for fuck’s sake! But as a 90s kid we seem to have a sense of nostalgia drilled into our psyche. From net art to Simpsons memes, VHS apps to Friends reruns, sentimental longing has become the vice of a generation. I don’t drink or smoke. I just mainline nostalgia through rose-tinted glasses into my frontal lobe. It’s obvious I’m in need of a hit when my eyes start wobbling and I inexplicably start searching for Fila gear on eBay.

It would have been easy for me to remain in my pile of filth, eyes on the laptop and a Google alert set for the key phrase ‘90s rave footage’. But I want to change because I’ve realised it’s time to embrace the future. We should all change for that matter. I see my affliction developing in new forms across dance music. The Hacienda Classical is a nice night out but it’s comfortable and will make you age faster than crack. You want illegal raves? I’ve heard of some wild ones in a Newcastle sewer. You want strong drugs? Pretty sure there are warnings out there for the purity of MDMA and cocaine. You want phones off the dancefloor? You won’t get that track you’ve been trying to discreetly Shazam for the last two months. I might be addicted to the past, but the constant evolution of our dance culture will get me through.

Louis Anderson-Rich is Mixmag's Digital Intern. Follow his trials and tribulations on Twitter