“You’ve got to keep an eye on things as citizens. It’s all our duty to make sure that governments that supposedly get voted in don’t run away with the law and make it up as they go along to suit their own purposes.” Spiral Tribe, 1995
Yesterday, 23 March 2025, marked 5 years since the UK government placed us into an unprecedented state of lockdown in response to a supposed public health emergency.
I won’t dwell on that too much now. Other than to say it’s not the role of governments or billionaire-backed multi-national organisations like the WHO to dictate how we go about our daily lives.
Instead, I’d like us to cast our minds even further back in time to the sun-kissed summer of 1995 and remind ourselves of the true, ascendant and revolutionary nature of this thing we call club culture.
There are many things I love about this short film. The nostalgia it elicits in me for a more innocent time, the rawness of the music, the texture of the vhs recording, the bright-eyed optimism for a new way of living. I may also have a bit of a crush on the lady in the bandana.
But mainly I’m struck by how eloquent and resolute these rave pioneers were in the face of what they describe as a ‘police state’. The same police state, enforcing the same establishment agenda, that we face in the UK today.
So when we think about 2020, it must be placed in the context of an ancient and ongoing conflict between forces of freedom and forces of oppression. Spiral Tribe placed themselves at the vanguard of a revolutionary movement to break free from the broken system of oppression and establish a system of freedom that works for humanity as a whole.
At its core, this is what club culture is about.
Put all the money and the politics and the bullshit aside.
No matter what they throw at us, let’s not forget it.
From the outer reaches.
Rubin
Thanks to Jonathan Barnett.
PS - I’ll be posting 2-3 times a week on this channel. Music and cultural commentary. I’m excited to see where it goes :)
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