UK Acid House and Rave — The Frenzy of the 1988 'Second Summer of Love'

What Is the “Second Summer of Love”?

In the summer of 1988, UK youth culture changed overnight. From the earlier flow of New Romantic, post-punk, gothic, and indie rock, an explosion of acid house / rave erupted.

This phenomenon is called the “Second Summer of Love”:

• Named to echo the 1967 First Summer of Love (Haight-Ashbury hippie culture)
• In 1988, across the whole UK, acid house and MDMA (ecstasy) changed club culture
• The birth of rave culture — thousands to tens of thousands gathering in a single night
• A new experience of drugs + music + unity called “Loved-up”

Traces the two years (1988-1989) in which music made by the US (Chicago house, Detroit techno) caused a mass cultural explosion in the UK.

Ibiza “Freak” (Summer 1987)

The prelude to the Second Summer of Love lies on the Spanish island of Ibiza in summer 1987.

The Background of Ibiza

• Mediterranean island, one of Spain’s Balearic Islands
• A hippie / freak refuge from the 1970s
• By the 1980s, a summer bar / club paradise for European youth
• Representative clubs: Amnesia, Pacha, Space, Ku (now Privilege)

British DJs Visit Ibiza (August 1987)

In summer 1987, four young British DJs visited Ibiza on vacation:

• Paul Oakenfold (1963-)
• Danny Rampling (1961-)
• Nicky Holloway (1959-)
• Johnny Walker

The vacation was planned for Paul Oakenfold’s 25th birthday. The four heard the DJ set of resident DJ Alfredo Fiorito (Argentine origin) at Ibiza’s Amnesia.

Alfredo’s “Balearic” Style

Alfredo’s set:

• Mixed Chicago house + New Order + Kraftwerk + The Woodentops + soul + rock
• Cross-genre “Balearic” style
• An 8-hour long set, playing until sunrise

Alfredo’s set included Chicago acid house (Phuture, Sleezy D, etc.). The four British DJs, hearing this, were collectively shocked and vowed to “bring this back to Britain.”

Shoom (from November 1987)

In November 1987, Danny Rampling with his wife Jenni Rampling started a new club in a fitness-gym basement in south London:

Shoom (Fitness Center)

• Venue: 15 Southwark Street, formerly a Fitness Center
• Entry limited to 250, a hidden club
• Distinctive smoke (dry ice) and smiley-face logo
• Played only “acid house and Balearic”
• MDMA (ecstasy) was openly used

Shoom was the secret center of the UK club scene in the first half of 1988. The word “Loved-up” and the smiley-face (:)) logo were born here.

Danny Rampling’s Successor Clubs

• The Trip (from June 1988) — held at Astoria (Charing Cross Road), on a larger scale
• Future (Paul Oakenfold and Nicky Holloway at Sound Shaft)
• Spectrum (Paul Oakenfold’s Monday night)

These clubs formed the foundation of the 1988 UK acid house culture.

What Is Acid House — The Chicago vs. UK Difference

The Origin of the Sound (Chicago)

• Acid bass sound of the Roland TB-303
• Phuture “Acid Tracks” (1987, Trax Records)
• Experiments by Marshall Jefferson and Ron Hardy in Chicago

Popularization in the UK

• British DJs imported 12-inch singles from Chicago
• In the UK, acid = MDMA (ecstasy) — tied together, became mass culture
• In 1988, acid house tracks entered the UK charts
• S’Express “Theme from S’Express” (1988, UK #1)
• D-Mob “We Call It Acieed” (1988, UK #3)
• Bomb the Bass “Beat Dis,” “Megablast,” etc.

In Chicago, acid house was “a music subgenre”; in the UK, it became “a cultural phenomenon.” This difference decisively made the UK’s 1988 Second Summer of Love.

The Role of MDMA (Ecstasy)

To speak of the Second Summer of Love, the role of MDMA (ecstasy, commonly “E”) is essential:

The Origin of MDMA

• 1912, synthesized by Merck in Germany
• 1970s, used in psychotherapy by American therapist Leo Zeff
• 1985, designated as Schedule I by the US DEA (made illegal)
• Around 1987, spread rapidly in the Ibiza and UK club scene

The Compatibility of MDMA and Acid House

• MDMA’s empathogenic (empathy-heightening) effect
• Heart-rate match with 4-on-the-floor 120-130 BPM acid house
• An experience where music, lights, dance, and drug became one
• “Loved-up” = MDMA + music + unity with strangers

This is the technical and experiential basic model of rave culture and EDM festival culture in the 1990s-2000s. But because it is an illegal drug, it also produces backlash from government and society (see below).

The Explosion of the Warehouse Rave (from Summer 1988)

From small clubs like Shoom, the scale expanded to warehouse rave in summer 1988:

What Is Rave?

• Unauthorized large-scale parties, held in former factories, warehouses, or outdoors
• Thousands to tens of thousands of participants
• Often held around the M25 (London orbital motorway)
• The location was kept secret until the day, announced via phone hotline (a linkage of “pirate radio” and “landline”)

Main Rave Organizers

• Sunrise (organized by Tony Colston-Hayter)
• Energy (organized by Anton Le Pirate)
• Biology
• Genesis ’88

These organized tens of thousands-strong raves every weekend in 1988-1989. The mainstream of UK youth culture shifted completely to acid house.

The Participant Experience

• A 9-hour rave from 21:00 to 06:00
• Location announced same-day (wait on the M25 for instructions)
• Huge sound system + strobe lights + smoke machines
• MDMA / Ecstasy consumption
• Loved-up unity

Manchester and “Madchester” (1988-1990)

In the same period, another acid house scene was born in Manchester (north UK):

The Haçienda (1982-1997)

• Location: Whitworth Street West, Manchester
• Operated by New Order (band) and Factory Records (Tony Wilson)
• Opened in 1982, but reached its peak in the 1988-1990 acid house era
• Called “Haç”

Madchester

• Madchester = coined from “Mad” (crazy) + “Manchester”
• The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, 808 State, etc.
• Fusion of rock band + dance music
• Origin of modern indie dance / crossover music

Mike Pickering and Mark Kamins (Haçienda resident DJs)

• Mike Pickering — began playing house music at the Haçienda from 1985
• Later formed M People and had huge UK chart success

The Haçienda closed in 1997, but it is still spoken of as the sacred place of UK club culture.

Government Reaction — The Criminal Justice Act (1994)

The rapid expansion of rave culture invited backlash from government and police:

1989-1990

• Criminalization of rave — if music has “a certain repetitive beat,” treated as an illegal party
• Police raids on raves — raves of thousands surrounded and dispersed by police
• 1990 Entertainments (Increased Penalties) Act — strengthened penalties for organizing illegal parties

1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act

• Section 63: the police can disperse a gathering of music with “sequential or repetitive beats”
• In effect, banning rave
• But rave culture moved to “legalized clubs” (Ministry of Sound, etc.) and continued

The Criminal Justice Act 1994 is still criticized as a symbol of government suppression of rave culture.

Ministry of Sound (from 1991)

As a legalized form of rave, in 1991, the Ministry of Sound opened in Elephant & Castle, London:

Features of Ministry of Sound

• Designed by Justin Berkmann (former Paradise Garage regular), inspired by Larry Levan
• Loud Speakers System (LSS) — the world’s top sound based on Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage
• 24-hour operating license as a licensed nightclub
• Still in operation, developed into a global club brand

Ministry of Sound is the model that locked the frenzy of rave into a legal nightclub. The direct origin of the modern superclub (Fabric, Berghain, Warehouse Project).

Representative Tracks of 1988-1989

Representative tracks that colored the Second Summer of Love:

• S’Express “Theme from S’Express” (1988, UK #1)
• D-Mob “We Call It Acieed” (1988, UK #3)
• Coldcut “People Hold On” (1988)
• Bomb the Bass “Beat Dis” (1988, UK #2)
• The KLF “What Time Is Love?” (1988)
• A Guy Called Gerald “Voodoo Ray” (1988) — Manchester-produced acid classic
• Todd Terry “Bango,” “Weekend” (1988) — NY house that was a big hit in the UK
• 808 State “Pacific State” (1989) — Manchester-produced ambient house

Japan and the 1988 UK Acid House

The Tokyo club scene of the same period:

• 1988-1989, imported house music began to play in a few clubs like Aoyama’s Blue Note and Ebisu’s Yellow
• UK-born acid house settled into the Japanese club scene in the first half of the 1990s
• 1990, early clubs like “Gold” in Setagaya introduced house / techno

Japan’s acid house / rave culture went into full swing around 1990-1993. The Tokyo clubs of the first half of the 1990s (WOMB, agent, GOLD) were established in this stream.

The Significance of the Second Summer of Love

What the UK’s 1988 “Second Summer of Love” left to modern club culture:

1. Rave Culture = Large-Scale Outdoor Music

• 1990s Glastonbury, Reading Festival, Fabric series
• The direct origin of modern Ultra, Tomorrowland, and Coachella

2. DJ = Star / Celebrity

• Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, Pete Tong, Judge Jules
• The UK-side origin of modern EDM superstar DJs (Calvin Harris, Skrillex)

3. The Superclub Model

• Ministry of Sound, Fabric, Cream (Liverpool), Gatecrasher (Sheffield)
• The business form of massive clubs housing thousands

4. MDMA + Music + Dance = Culture

• The basic model of modern festival culture
• The formalization of “gaining unity through music” as an experience

5. Pirate Radio and Rave Hotline

• Location announced by radio waves and mobile phone
• The prototype of modern SNS-based parties

From This Article to the Next

The UK’s acid house / rave advanced to a technical next stage in the 1990s. In 1994, Japan’s Pioneer released the CDJ-500, and the era of DJing with CDs began. This later developed into the rekordbox ecosystem (from 2001) and made the club-equipment standard of the 21st century. The next article traces the history of Pioneer DJ and the CDJ.