Your Vue

A PLUR-fect crime

Publication title: Vue Weekly
Page: 4
Publication date: September 30, 1999
Document type: Opinion
Transcribed by: MW

Rantin' Raver misses the whole point in his dis of our scene today ("Scene of the crime," Your Vue, Sept. 23]. He writes that people who cannot under-stand the fact that the scene is about music and who cannot understand PLUR (Peace, Love, Unity, Respect) should not be in it.

Yet his cynical and negative attitude shows a limited understanding of the whole concept of PLUR. I'm just going to focus on one of the four words in PLUR: respect. As in respect for others. Respect for people to be who they want to be. Respect for the right of others to do things in their own way. If they want to blow a whistle or look goofy with a soother in their mouths, who cares? Who said raves and raving had to conform to some kind of dogmatic standard? (By the way, whistles were a huge part of raves going back to their beginnings in the early '90s.)

Our scene is a scene because of everything in it. Of course it's about music. It's also about sharing a collective vibe, and empathy for others and a sense of belonging to something special. And yes, it is also about fashion. But mostly, it's about having fun, and for a short time escaping the mundane day-to-day world.

Go back five years? A tiny scene with parties maybe once every three months, where promoters lost their shirts, where DJs were paid very little (if at all), and everyone lamented the fact that we seemed to live in the only place on the planet the dance music revolution had missed? No thanks.

Fast-forward to 1999. There are events almost every weekend. Big events, small events, club nights, house nights, trance nights, drum 'n' bass nights, two after-hours clubs to choose from, and freakin' amazing DJs and five artists passing through this city on almost a weekly basis.

If you've got a problem with large events or promoters, just don't go! Support smaller events and local DJs. If you don't like candy ravers, go elsewhere. Or maybe just buy a copy of Hardcore Rove Classics 1995 and stay home. We actually have a scene now where you have those choices, instead of a few frustrated people struggling to make something happen.

I'm tired of listening to old-school rave purists talking about how things have changed and how uncool everything is now. I'm tired of that old "sellout" cliché trotted out one more time by elitists who despise the fact that more and more people are discovering the thing that they love. I've got bad news for you: the underground has been getting subverted and assimilated into the mainstream since Elvis thrust his pelvis on national TV, since Dylan went electric, and since three stinky guys from Seattle went quadruple platinum (or whatever it was)—and that's not likely to change. —O.F., LUSH NIGHTCLUB, THERAPY AFTERHOURS


Hey, Rantin' Raver, every human endeavour starts off due to the energies of a small, grassroots group of people like you, who believe in what they're doing for its own sake. Then when popularity grows, the endeavour attracts people with money who want to make more—but that's the price you gotta pay. Otherwise, everything in life would remain stagnant; only money precipitates evolution.

Although I'm pretty much an outsider to the scene, I'm curious which criticism goes with which promoter. But it's good that you didn't name specific names, since you didn't want your own name printed. That shows, if not exactly PLUR, at least respect. — T.A., EDMONTON

[Actually, Rantin' Rover did name promoters' names; we decided to leave them out because not only would printing them have been against the spirit of the original article ("A PLUR by any other name,” Sept. 16), it would have been borderline libelous. As you'll see in the next letter, Rantin' Raver didn't agree with our decision—and this time, he neglected to request anonymity. —Ed.]


Look back at Anger

Hi there. This is Rantin' Raver and I just wanted to thank you for printing my letter—or should I say thanks for nothing, assholes.

The references made were specifically towards promotion groups in town, and if you think they'll get it, they won't. Also, since when is your paper too politically correct to print the word "dick"? Who honestly says "genitalia"? Also, the P.S. was for you, you retards, not for print. When you figure out how to edit, let me know; until then, you suck as much as See, or shall I say the "other to be unnamed [sic] paper in town." —JEFF FUCKING ANGER