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Jones, Simon (1995) Rocking the house: sound system cultures and the politics of space. Journal of Popular Music Studies, 7 . pp. 1-24.

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tournal of Popular Music Studies (Fom.nr TreAdC: Popular Musi Sturli$) Jownol ol the U.S. RruNh ol the tntnuti0aal Assocrniat lot fie Studr oI Popul$ Musi.

voluc 7 (leet

Editor's Introduction Peter wintler

Artides

1 Rocking the House: Sound System Cultues and the Politics of Space Simon Jones

25 "A11 I Want is to Feel this Wayway:" Rock Music and the MltI of Democracy Marc Ajay Flack Reviews

10 Gendcr Polirics and MW: Voi.ing the Ditercnre By Li.sa A.l,E.,'I,\ Danring in th? Dista.!ion Factory: Mutic Tele.,,ision awl Popular CultureBy Andrcw Goodwin Barry Shank

77 All That GLitters: Country Music inAneri.ca Edited by George H. Irwis Jrmes M. Manleim

8l Microphone Fiends: Youthcuhure & Youth Mr6i. Edited by Andrew Ross and Tricia Rose David Sanjek Simon .Iones

Rocking the Houser Sound System Cultures and the Politics of Space

The hegemony of the "live" group as the privileged mode of pedormance in rock a[d popular muslc has inqeasi[gly been chalenged as other lorms ofmusical activity have been (ecognized and legitimized, especialy those which revolve around f]}e rcproduction atrd reception of recorded frruslc. Recorded music, as a source ofpublic entefiainment, has long occupied a central place irr Aftican-American ardcaribbean musical culh[es, fiom U.S. South- ern juke-joints in the 1930s to fle Jamaican sound system and its counterparts in hiphop culture and the Colombian "pic6s." ' Such practices have been equatly important in youth and gay cultures, ftom record hops and discos to the culent proliferation of dance musrcs and club cultures in the foms oftechno, house music, and their trumerous subgeores. Thele is now a growing body of literature on these vadous musical geffes and formations. In much of this work, however, particularly on darce music, thereis a tendency to tleat these geffes primarily as a series of key texts (records, song lyrics, musical forms) flom which various discourses atrd ideologies - of "sexuality," "race," or the "body," for example - can be read off and What tends to be missing ftom such accoutrts is a sense decoded. 'z of the speciflc prdrr,ces and instifutions, and the paricular spdces in wNch rccorded music is reFoduce4 received, and used. In this paper, I want to suggest that these disparate formations are under- pinned by common kinds ofmusical and cultual activities, and that T they increasingy assuDe similar technologcal and institutional coifigurations in the form of the xolr/id .rlslem.3 I want to look aa how sound systems can become the focus of various musical, technological and social practices which serve to articulate and (eploduce cultural space. I also want to examine whatoccus when these institutions opF.xlte outside the boundades of authorized, legitimate leisure space, add how they become subject to part-icular forms ofsocial control and legal regulation.

AdYentures on the Wheels of Steel The techrical innovatiol ofthe phonograph brought with it cultural alld aesthetic possibilities tlat had several long-tenn implications for the reproduction ard reception of recorded music. As Steve Jones has poi ed out, the possibility of storing musical pedor- mances On the phonogram fieed them from the temporal and spatial confines of their initial production. a This opened up new possibiti- ties, not only in terms olmore flexible and mobile listening modes in different contexts, but also by transformiry the moment of aeproduction into a space ofpoteDtial re-pedomance of recorded music. This potential was idtially limited by the prohibitive price of phonographs, which confined their use to affluent middle-class households 5 and by the ways in which phonographs were marketed and intenaled for use in terns of a particular ideal of domestic bourgeois consumptioD and prNare audio space.6 As the relative price ofphonographs fell, however, they became an important means of musical entertainment within wotking-class aIId Black commuoities. Phonogaphs were being used as sources of pxrlic entertainment as early as 1910 in Egnt. Indeed, as Manuel has sho\rn, the public phonograph existed throughout the Middle East in the early part olthe 20th century with mobile disk jockeys carrying phonographs throughout towns and villages playing records for a small fee.7 By the 1930s, in African-Americar communities, the phonograph andjukebox had acquired a central importance as sources ofmusical entertainment both in roadhouse clubs and juke joints aDd at rent parties and private social occasions.s The lnssibilities of a public enteflainment institutior buitt around recorded music were developed even further in Jamaican

E louttut ol Pop"lar Music Strd.izs vd.7 E$ popular music in the form of the sound system. Sound systems emerged in tlle 1940s in working-class Black commudties to supply music at parties and social events. Te€hnical1y, early sourd systems evolved out of an adaptation of'?adiograms", large radto/ gramophone players invariably of German maDufacture. These radiogriuns were progressively expanded with the addition of separate tumtables and speaker systems, and more powerful amplification. By fhe mid 1950s, the sound system had evolved into a sophisticatedmobileentertaiNnentinsti ionand,ftepridcipalsite of musical practice in Jamalcan popular music, rivaling and often supemeding "live", vocal aDd instrumental stage performances in cultural importance- The sound system also rcpresented a collec- tively ow@d cultural and tecbnological rcsouce, one thatprovided a cheaper and more flexible form of public musical entertaiDment than "live" stage performances. Sound systems entailed the customizing oftechnologies, such as amplifiers, spakers, turntables atrd pre-mixers, to perform specific musical functions- These prccesses involved the applica- tiofl of informal technical and practical loowledge such as cafpen- try and electonics. ' Speakers designed for use in public address systems, wefe adapted and customized to handle the reproduction of bass ftequencies that have always been a centra] aesthetic in Jamaicatr poprar music's "bass culture." Eighteen inch speake$ were housed in purpose-built wardrobe-sized cabinets in sets of four or six. Treble, mid-ra[ge, and bass fiequencies were separated and channeled into sepaiate speaker systems for each ieque[cy range, in a vastly expanded version ofthe domestic hi-fi system of woofer, mid lange and tweeter. The iDfluence of Janaican sound system culture otr hip-hop has nowbeenwelldocumented. ro MediatedtlroughJainaicarcommu- nities in urban areas like Miami and New York, and ttuotrgh specific figures like the Jamaican dmigrd Kool Herc, several key technical and cultulal iDlovations from the reggae sound system were incorporated itrm the eoergent hiFhop culture of the South Brcnx, including powertul amplification and size of s?eakers, clear sepa- ration of sound ftequercies, ar1d an enhancement of bass (a feature which later became particularly apparent in geffes like "Miami bass"). I Hip-hop sound systems developed their own specific processes of technological adaptation including the customizing of mixing devices and the use of records and tumtables as performance insftuments. Hip-hop DJs exploited the aesthetic potentia] of the 12" record, whose larger size than the 7" single gave DIs more material to madpulate manuatly in mixing and "scratching". The extended play of the 12", with its dub and instrumentat portions, also invited supplementary creative input ftom rappem and MCs. Many of the technologies developed initially in reggae sound systems have also been iocorpotated into dance-music culture. As a rcsult, most sound systems tow coDform to a broadly similar technological cotrfiguration using standard equipment atrd preferred makes of amplifiers, speake6, and tuntables like the Tech- nics SL 1200. All sound systens involve the creative adaptation of hi-fi and playback systems, and the transformationof domestichi- fi technologies into prrlic performance iDstruments to serve particular musical and cultural needs and sadsry patticula! sound aesthetics. Suchprocesses, asRosehaspointedout,involvemaking technologies oral andtactile, revising and manipul ating them, in the case of reggae and hip-hop, to articulate Black cultual priorities. rr Sound-system and DJ cultures involve commofl kinds of pro- cedues in which rccorded sound is transiomed and ils Ieproduc- tion fumed into a live performance. Themost fundamental ofthese procedures is /rxirirg, now a statrdard practice in most DJitrg, which evolved out of the exigencies of maiftaining the momentum between rccords and keeping audiences dancing. t2 Mixing has many genre-specific variants. These include the conventional disco aesthetic of creating a seamless flow of soufld by c&efully synchro- nizing the beats tr)er minute of successive records, arld various hip- hop DJ practices such as the "rredk" (cuttirg back atrd forth between the same pofiions of two records playing on different tufntables), "punch phasir,8" (cutting in fiagments aod phrases, such as vocal parts, bals lines or rhlthn sections, iiom one tecord across another), and "scratching" tecords, used as a percussion device to puDctuate and add rhlfimic and textual embellishment to recorded sound. Recorded music is alsoprocerrel at tlre point of its transmission through equatize8, pre-mixeft, and digital delay units. Itrreggaesoundsystems,thesetechnologiesenablethe"dub"

E Ioutflal afPoputat Music Studbs vd.7 1ss process to tE re&eated live. Sound effects ca, be dubbed over recorded music, while individual components of the musical mix, such as drums, vocals, guitars, and particularly lhe bass, ca[ be p(ocessed or retracte4 thetl reintroduced iDto the mix. A related practice in rcggae culture is that of interrupting a popular song during its opening bars, pulling up the needle and cutting the record back to tlE beginniry. Many aspects of these dub processes have gogressively been incorporated into hiphop and darce-music cultures itr getreral. Their influence is detectable itr early house music, where DJs enhanced the bass lines and rhythm tracks of drsco and r'n'b classics by mixing in their own bass lines and percussion produced on drum machines or tlrough sequerrced keyboard patterns.13 Techno DJs sjmilarly draw on the aesthetrcs of dubintheoverlayingofsampledsoundfragme s,voices, andother effecs overrecoidedmusic. Thecharacteristicpractrceof refact- ing the bass line or &ums for several bars at a dme, thetr rcintoaluc- irg them into the mix, a procedure developed inidaly in reggae sound-system culture, is also now widely used in dance music to deate a sense ofak:rma and articipation withinthe audience, and to eo}aoce ihe pleasues oflislening ard dance. Tlre atlof reLection ls L central aesthetic ofDJ plactice. The choice of which rccords to play atrd in what order can be crucial in creating a particular &ama$rgy and narrahve stucture for an event. Tfuough selection practjces, the DJ aftempts to "work" the oowd, leading it ttuough mood shifts and building clim&xes and crescetrdos over the cou6eof an event. By juxtaposing records with particular musical and lyrical content, the DJ can also set up intertexfual meadngs between and across selections. These practices arc particularly sophisticated in rcggae culture. Here the meanings of songs can be underlinexl or expanded through lheir counter position. Songs can thereby be made to comment on, critique or "answei' one arother. The practrce of "versioninS" similarly involves juxtaposing different stylistic and musical variants ("versions") ofthe same drum atrd bass afiangement ("riddim" in reggae, or "beats" in hiphop). Thereviving oftimeless origidals, standards, and "old school" tunes is a way of paying homage to respected forerunners arld predecessors. Here, the DJ functions as a musical "culator," as "master ofrecords" and "archivisf'ofsound. T In reggae and hip-hop sound systems, by far the most important means through which the reproduction of recorded music is ren_ dered._lire' are lhe specifically orrrt pract;ces of..loasling.. "rapping.' ! and Ttese practices originared. in rhe live danie-hall context, as ways of rhythmically embellishing rccorded music through voca.l improyisations and rhymes delivereal in time to the rhythm. of rbe music. Sl)le of delivery. rhyming abiliry and orscurstveand rhythmic.'fl o\L.. remaincenlraj ae\theticcdteriabv which the performances of mppers and DJs continue to be judgej. In fie mosr sophi\ticated forrns of rhese practices. rhe voiie iisell becomes percussion ..humdn a device. In beat_boxing... for er_ ample, an individual mpper or group of rappers performing in slnchronizarion imilares and litera y reproduces-orally. the sounds atrd rhythms of a drum kir or drum macbine. The deliren of recorded music is al\o embeltished through lire singing by DJ iand pefiOrmer\ who \Uperimpose lheir own melodtes over lhe instru_ mental rhythm tacks and dub versions of songs. DJs and rappers also serve as public voices for their audiences in the dance context, their status as public performers signified in their rs adopted mmes, aliases, and personae. Delivery siyles may vary from the more spontaneous, improvised stream_of_conscious_ ness style in which rhymes, puns, wordplays, and couplets are delivered in "freestyle," to morc stmctured narratives and dis_ courses. In the live context, rappers and DJs engage with the discourses ofrecorded music, using particular song l),Tics as sources of inspiration, commenting or amending them, for example in re8gae roa\ling. or inrerjecring one s own lyric\ o\ er lhose;l rhe _mic .. eilslrng record in the checkin or.Tegxlalrn... sr) le charac_ terislicof Mlami hip-hop. 6 The DJalsoengages rhecrowddirecd) through exhortations and call-aad-response exchanges, giving.,name checks," "shout outs," and ',special dedications,, to individuals and groups in the audience. These naming procedurcs sene to confer status, glace and publc recognition on those in the audience and are part of the DJ's ritual function as peace keeper and mediator of tensions within the dance. i7 It is in these spaces ofperformance that DJs and rappers practice lheirafl. and hone their s(ills in compelltion wirh otber DJs. al local dance:. house panies. amareur nlghl\. talent \ho\a.. and jam \e\-

lownal af Populat M sic Studies sions. At ma{y of these smaller-scale events, the microphone is often "open' to would-be rappers, MCs, and toasters in the audr- ence. In the formative years of hiPhop, for example, DJs like Grandmaster Flash would invite SpoDtaneous audience panicipa- tion by attaching ar open mike to their sets. '*

Space Bass Music, in a key sense, is sound in movementthroughtime and space in specific, organized patterns. Iithisis so, then a major part olits power.rr mr6lc mustlie in its temporal and spatial qualities. These qualities give musical forms and practices the apparent ability to articulate and actively organizetime and space throughtheir ftythms and tempos, and thet melodic and harmonic textures. These abilities are par:ticularly clear when one considers foms such as dance music, which are produced for a particulal receptron context (the dance floor) alld are, as a result, ercoded with panicular aeslhetrc and formal qualities, wheher the 4/4 rhythms ofdisco and HiNRG, the accelerated beats of techno, the bass patterns of reggae and hip-hop, or the pobrhythmic layers of house. The affective power of these forms is enhaDced iII the receptiotr context by theil powertul amplification, which rcnders them a distinctly physical impact, enabling dancers Iiterally to "feel" the music. In these contexts, audiences have an immediate bodily relation to tlle pulses, rhythm, and structures of recorded music. These musical elements combine witi the vadous oral, ritual, and transformatrve practices of DJ and sound-system fl tlrles to create an aural, acoustic space for listercrs and dancels. In forms such as house and techno, for example, rh,'thms, bass lines, samPled sound effects, and voices work in conjunction with laser lighting and the psychologcal and physiological effects of drugs like ecstasy to qeate a sensual e[vironment which envelops the ]istener/ dancer. The net effect of these practices is to create a particular temporal and spatial structure which dancers entei inm and temporarily inhabit. This explains da{ce music's apparent ability to stop and suspetrd the conventional dme passing outside the dance floor context. Langlois has @marked on the ability ofhouse and techno to create an effect of'lemporal drstortion" within listeners, and to

, rq twist their sense of time and space. Dance music, as Frith has ..now,, argued, intensifies the experieNe ofthe present, the sense of onthedance-floot wheremusicisexperiencedas acontinuousflow of sound in which one song dissolves into the next. a In these ..compels coftexts, as Frith has suggested, music oul immediate bodily involvement in an organization of 2t time that the music itself controls". T]le active, participatory character of audiences in these spaces makes them an integral part of tlrc performance anal the event as a whole. Audiencesrespond andd.ancers express feedback not only bodily thrcugh daace responses, but oiien vocally too, through cheedng, whistling,,'barking,,' and other foms of vocal appreciatiol Through dance, moreovet, the audience can itself become a performance spectacle in the mote choreographed and acobatic individual and group dance moves. The space ofthe dance-floor is always inscribed with particula! meanings and connotations in different formations, meanings that areitrvariably age, Iace, and gender speciflc. Within Black musical cultures such as reggae and hip-hop, the dance_floor can represent a space of solidarity, survival and affirmation of communal sensi_ bilities. The space ofthe souncl system can also be important as a defense enclave within a dominant white culture, a space in which the aesthetics, philosophies a.trd pleasures of expressive Black cultures call be aiEmred and celekated. In sound_system dances alrd blues parties, as Gilroy argues, symbolic communities are constructed by means of oral alld musical dtuals which act to camivalize , the spatial and temf,oral relatioDs of the dominant cultue. WithiD these spaces, Fractices like versioning _ the rcviving of timeless odginals and iffercuttitrg past into present music - serve not oaily as ways of paying rcspect to important predecessots i]1 Black musical fuaditions, but as ways ofarticulating a sense of continuity and he(itage within those traditions by worl<- ing around popular memory and shared musical klowledge. The use of patois and Black vemaculat in practices like rapping and toastitrg works similarly to create an inclusive sense ofcornmunity in the immediate audience by defining the specificalty discursive .?aci ,3 and litrguistic boundaries of a al,' collectivity. The sense of tradidon and community articulated in these ;paces. and heir characteristic musical ard cultural practices, can also be inclusive

Jo rut al Populdt MBit St dis of non-Black participants. In areas of urba[ Britai!, for example, the leisure spaces and institutions of Black communities have long been inhabiM and shared by adjacent social groups, particularly white working-class arld Asial youth. a Similar senses of "tradition" ard continuity catr be found articulated in gay culture ttuough the playing of acknowledged gay dance music "classics," "standards," atrd "anthems" in dlsco and genres like HiNRG and house. Within gay culture, the dance floor can similarly b€ a site of cornmunity and social survival, a safe haven in which homosexuality can be celebrated a.trd explored. As one London promoter of a gay dance club, "Queer Nation," ex- plained, club life is a central component ofgay culnual expression: It iJ gay expression. It's where p@ple meet thefu extended gay lamily, it'swherethey meettheirlovers. It's verymuch aD extended family thing, thal's what gay life is about, your sisters and broth-

In rave culture the space of the dance floor is articulated in terms which are alefined against the perceived sexual "cattle markets" represented by mainstream dlscos and against the exclusivity oflhe more elitist fotus of club cultwe. 6 Rave culi]re, Langlois suggests, represenls a shift away ftom the space olthe dance-floor as an arcDapredominantly ofsexual contact and drsplay, towarals a space in which sociability, social exchaDge, and sensuality in

physical contact are more valued. '?7 In rave culture, alancing is as much about the pleasures of bodily expression as it is a vehicle of mutship antl sexual encounter. As Tagg points out, this is partly signaled in the fact that participants tend to bolh arive ard leave raves in mixed groups, rather &an pairing off into individual couples dudng the course of tlre evening. '1r McRobbie s@s rave culturc as a space in which sofrer, more malleable foms of masculinity lha[ dominant modes, are expressed and explored. In these, youDg men are able enter into relaiioDships with their owlr bodies which me morc tactile, sensuous arld less focused arcund sexual gatlficatron than in conventional male sexualities.zq These shifts in social behavior wilhin the space of the dance floor, have been seen partly as the result of a post-AIDS social awareness a.Dd caution about sexual encounters, and partly as a T result of the effects of dmgs such as ecstasy, widely used as a receational drug in rave culture in Euope and No(h Amedca, whose effects reduce social inhibitions and the rced for private space and create an empath.ic, positive form of codscious[ess. r White the sound system represents something of a mobile cultural space that can be redeated in differcnt institutional con_ texts - ftom night clubs, bars, ard fnivate houses to warehouses _ such spaces do not exist in a social or eronomic vacuum. They depend on, and are supported by, wider social networks. modes of organization, and inftastuctures Of informal cultual production. These spaces and instjtutions invarjably exi\l a\ pan of larger ''scenes - formations and coalitioos of DJs. da ncer s, and follow_ els which crystallize around specific musical styles and genres. r, While these "scenes" may coalesce around specific musiial stytes in a given space or locality, lhey do not always mirror fixed geographical "communities,, in the conventional sense. Thev ca, also tal€ more fluid forms. in whjch disparare paniclpants are linked, through wider spatial networks and infiastructurei of musi_ cal production and distribution, itr sharcd tastes aIId common allegi,nces to particular scenes aDd genres. 32 Sound systems also invariably exist wit}litl smallscale local economies. They depend on the eDtrepreneurial activities of fromoters who play a crucial role in securitrg tocations and equipment, ard id otganizing events. Sound systems themselves have their own particular sources ofrevenue and modes of self-fundinp. These can raDge Aom volutrtary cash dotrations at daaces aid ravJs and nominal entrance charges, to revenue ftom sales of food and alcohol andmore organized forms ofticket selting. Sound systems also have their owlr communication and publicity networks. The preferred medium of pubticity and advertisiDg of forthcoming events in sourd-system cultures is the handbill or flver. potentiel pafticipanls are also kept inlormed by ofie{ modes oi commu nic a_ tiotr including systems of telephone numbers artl answering ma_ chines, used especially in the mye sceDe to maintain secrecv from lhe police. lhe lntemet. fanzines. and. i0 Britain. pirate radio broadcasts. Soutrd systems are also often tied into local inftastuctues of recording and distribution through which music is produced and

lo nd of Popttat M$i stuni$ circulated to DJs. Sourd systems rely on the work ofproducels and musicians rccording music in smal, DIY studios with keyboard and computer-based instruments and appliances for particulal scenes and reception contexts. Sound systems are also the locus of speciflcally rocldl networks ard have their own informal modes of organization and divisions of labor. These are particularly elaborate in reggae culture, where roles and responsibilities are often delegat€d out to speciflc individuals, such as "selector," "operator," and speakerbox carriers, a.nd in rave culfure, where sound systems are often collec- tively run ard organized. These social network extend outwards embracing wider formations of corc followers, helpers, and sup- porters. The "posse" in reggae and the "crew" in hip-hop, for exarmple, operate as local support systems ard important focal points ofidentity and affiliation. 33 These informal groupings may include coteries of DJs, rappers, and teams of dance$ who attach themselves to a particular sound system, rehearsing moves and 14 routines with DJs who might Foduce special mixes for them. These social iretworks often extend olt ol existing peer-group, ftiendship, and neighborhood affiliations, a feature panicularly apparetrt in hip-hop culture which emerged pardy out of African- America[ and Puerto Rican male youth peer groups and gang strucfures itr specific locales ofthe South Bronx and Harlem. Sound systems irr Aiio-Caribbean communities similarly tend to &aw their own "posses" offollowers ftom particular neighborhoods and "play out'' in their own local communitres and "terdtories". 35 Such lletworks have taken more explicit politica] forms in organizations tke hip-hop's Zulu Nation wi& its attempts to rearticulate inter-gang dvalries and violence around musical prac- dces, darce, and graftiti writing. Sound system cultures can also form a basis for consll]] ctng patethnic and CIoss-cultural affiliations and identities. In Bdtain this has occurred most rcticeably arouDd Asian hip-hop and dance-music scenes which dlaw in second-ard third-gercration young British Asia$ fiom diverse ettulic and religious origins and backgrounds.'o Similarly, in South- em Califomia, a Chicano hip-hop and dance music culture has evolved around "crews" of DJs, promoters, and followers who organize themselves around an ideology of "Raza' unity siSnaledr in lle names adopted by these groups such as Hispanic Tlibe, Latins, and Vilans. 37

Fighting for the Right to Party These scenes have always inhabited a range ofdifferent commercial and institutional settings - including maiNtream clubs on particular Dights ofthe week (such as gay ot women,s [ights, reggae or house nights) set up by particular DJs aad promoteG, particulat ,,unalerground , ,.alterna_ rooms within those clubs, and various and tive" clubs otr the ftinges of the mainsteam. Many of these laller clubs have a temporary and preaadous existence, bedeviled by city zoning 1aws, building add fre codes, and liquor licensing regula_ tions.r3 The scenes that inhabit these spaces are themselves highly fluid, vr'ith clienteles and taste groups shifting fiom club to club and spac€ to space, and with clubs constantly Opening, closing, and changing their DJs, music, aIId dress policies. This sphere of authorized commercial institutions and spaces, however, has rcver been able to completely exhaust or encompass the sheer range of musical acdvides that occul around sound- system aDd DJ cultures. The possibilities of musical practice and pleasure within these spaces have been limited by various legal, economic, and social constraintJ. These include extemaL rcgnla- tions such as noise abatement laws, liceDses for public entertainment and dancing, and liquor licensing laws which restrict hours of operation and bring clubs under closer state scotiny aItd police supervision. They also include various i teadl legrrlations operat- ing within these instifutions in the form of drcss coaies and restdc_ tions, management and security practices, constraints on drug consumption, admission and cover charges, and selective aloor ,.quotas,, policies in the form of racist and sexist and screening of potential patlons. For people ofcolor, the mainsteam, cornmercial leisure sphere has long been the site of de facto racist discrimination and segrega_ tion. Such practices have been particularly visible in the exercising of informal racist quotas in club admission policies and racially exclusionary bookitrg policies around Black music concerts, most recenfly a(outrd rap. By refusing to insure an act, or by imposing

lonkat oJ Poputat Music Stad6 extremely hiSh prcmiums oD venue ownen, iDsurance companies can make it impossible for venues, akeady neNous about rap, to put otr concerts o{ book acts. The net effect ofthese policies, as Rose has shown, has been to freeze rap out of most large and medium sized pedormance vetrues. 3q Exclusiomry and discriminatory policies such as these, atong with the imbility of commercial leisue spaces to cater for the musical arld cultural needs of different publics and taste groups, have ensured the existence of a spbere of cultural and musical spaces outside ofthese authorized, comme{cial institutions. These have included a ralge ofinformal, non-commercial social and civil irnctions such as private parties, wedding recaptioDs, birthday celebrations where recorded music is govided by a DJ or sound system. But they have also included awhole s?here ofunauthodzed spaces which exist on the tringes of legality. In answer to the instifutional racism that has pervaded the mainstream leisue spherc, Black conrmunities in both Britain and North America have created their own autonomous cultural and leisure spaces out of a tretwork of private houses (such as the basement "rent party," tlle "blues" and house party) aDd public, muDicipal spaces (town halls and community cE ers secured for sound-system dances aod other social events). { In early hip-hop culture, for exa]l1ple, alances were idtialy held in school gyms, coumuDity centers, parks, and street "block parties" in the South Brcrx and Hadem. Raves evolved similarly, in Bdtain, as alternatives to the exclusive, e4Ensive, and regulated spaces of the mainstrean, commercial club circEit, attacting participants with their all-night hours of operation which skirted around the legal curfew on night life imposed by licensing laws. 4r These early raves were modeled partly on the all-night "blues parties" held in Black communities. The telm "rave'itsef derived from rcggae culture, wherc to go "raving" meant, in Black vemacular, to go to aD all-night party or "blues." Raveswereinitiallyheldharangeof unauthodzedspaces such as apartment blocks, derelict or vacatrt buildings, squats, and warehouses. As police surveillance ard monitoring ofthese spaces increased, however, "raves" moved out of tie limelight of urban areas into a range of mote obscue, semi-secrct, and often rural, locations - disused airfields and aircrafthangers, detelict churches, opetr frelds aadprivate gardeis. fhese culminatealin the mass open_ air raves of 1988 ard 1989, which ftequently drew crowds of l0,U)0 4, or more participants. Regional rave scenes also developed in the United States, particularly in areas like Southern Califomia, where the climate was conducive to outdoor events, atrCl whererave culture catered to yolltrg people's needs for their own leisue sprrces outside of mainstream clubs. UXB magazine afticulated something of the autonomous, DIY spirit that motivated this culture:

'?issed-offbecause almost everlthing is 2l and up? Tired of paying $10 or more to daace? No one plays your music? Watula drint alter 2 am? Do it yourselfl Be careful. Scout your location well, keep an eye otr everrthing to male sure &e parry goes smootlily and most of a1l - keep it safe! Just how what you,te getting into, have a good story fo( the cops and know a back_door out!"{l

These unauthorized lei$fe spaces have always beeD constocfed as a social Foblem and a public '.nuisance,, by local state authorities, such as the police, and within media discourses. As Fdth has shown, youtrg people's public cultural and leisule activities have long presented a problem of social management for the state and 4 vaiious morcl enfepreneurs. The leisure institutiotrs ofgays and Black commudities, ilr particular, have a]so long been the object of moral padics, articulated arcund vadous themes, including their uniegulated character, their unorthodox hours of operation, their "noise," their impingement on rational leisurc time, and the sexuat relations Facticed withitr them. The Black coltutrunity,s musical and leisure spaces have been constructed as sites of,,criminality,., drug consumption, ard prostitution. 6 Large public gatheritrgs of young Blacks in Britain and the Udted States have consistenfly been regmaled as a "tfueat'' to social order. rcflected in media covemge oftap and rcggae concerts inflected by racialized images ,.Acid of "Black violence" and "criminality.,, housd, and ,rave,, became the objects of similar kinds of moral panics id the poputar ,90s British media in the 1980s aDd as sites of drug-takilg and unsupervised youtJl cultural activities. 6

Joutnat af Popukt Music Studies These discouses and moral panics have fed into and legitimized various forms ofsocial coffrol, discipliDe, and surveillance by state authorities. In Britai!, there is a welldocumented history of over-policing and harassmetrt of Black cultural spaces and leisure instifutions manifested in recurrent police rards on youth clubs, blues parties, and other Black cultural and musical eveDts. 47 Similar histories of institutional policing of Bl&k musical spaces and events can be charted in Afiica[-American communities, particularly in the harassment and regulation of rap concerts. 13 These disciplimry regimqs took a particularly draconiantum in police actions against raves in Britain in the late 1980s aDd early 1990s. a' Amongst other measures, such actions have included raiding the homes of party organize$: sefting up roadblocks and cordoning off areas in the vicitrity of raves; altering rcad signposts to misdirect trafnc and prevent partygoers Aom reacNng their destinations:mndom stop and searches; mass arests and ovemight detention of party goersl confi scation anddestruction of equipment; serving injunctions onprcmoters, ticket agents, andindividual DJs to prevent them ftom organizing or playing at events, the prosecu- tiotr of sou[d system members add party organizers, 50 a.nd even the setting up of an "Acid House" Intelligence Unit by Kent f,olice to scaD pirate radio broadcasts and monitor fanzines. 5t These disciplinary and regulatory measures have occasionally rcsllted in bitter and violent conirontations with police. There is a long h.istory of sueh coDfrontations, for example, between police and young Black f,eople in Briiain, focused around sound-system dances, house parties, and street carnivals wherc heary policing has provoked mass resistance from young Black on a number of occasions. Heavy-harded policing ofraves has also provoked bitter rcsistance from partygoers with forced entry into events resulting in pitched battles between ravers and police in riot gear.52 There is a similar history ofstruggle aroutrd ldice ha$ssment ofgay discos and clubs. One ofthe key moments itr the emergence of the gay rights movement itr the United States was the struggle around the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greetru.ich Village raided by police in 1969. The resistance of gay meII displayed at Stonewall became asymbolic departuepoint and akey sigoifier inthehistory of gay struggle and organization.53 r These actions have bee[ legitimized by various lega1 getexts, ftom udicensed sales of alcohol, noise abatement laws, and envi- ronnental prot@tion codes, to unlicensed uses of premises for public entertainment and da[cing, and general public order stafutes such as "breachof tlEpeace.,' In B tain, policepowers to restdct raves were wideneal and strengthened in 1990 with the passing of new legslation specifically aimed at such events in the form ofthe EntertaiDment gncreased penalties) Act which increased the flnes for holding unlicensed private effertaitrment for frnancial gain. 5a These legal restricdons have beerr f,nher expanded in the Criminal Justice and Public Orde! bill, which grants policD the power to stop iadividuals within a five-mile exclusion zone of a target event believed tobe making thehwayto thatevent Thebill also gives the police formal powers to disperse groups often ot more people if flle police "reasonably believe ' those people are waiting fot or seffing up a rave, and to confiscate sound equipment and vehicles. The peDalties for suchinfringeme s include up to three months impris- onment or fines of 2,500 pounds. s The bill is noteworthy as &e tust piece of legislation that .,a atlempts to deline a "rave" as gathering on land in the open air of 100 or more pefioDs to which amplified music is ptayed during ..music,, .,sound the night." The bill also attempts to delineate as wholly or Fedominantly characterized by the emission of a succes- sion of repetitive beats." s6 More serious perhaps than this enshridng of raye culhue in legal discouse is the Bill's infiingement of civil lit erties by iestricting {ieedom of movemenL association, alrd peaceful assem- bly, aod by formally extending and tegitimizing police powers and strategies of spatial contlol, many of which were first deployed in the miners strike of 19M. These discipliDary and regulatory practices laise sedous ques- tions about access to, and policing of public cultural and leisure space. Such practices represent an atfack on the very notion of uffegulated, public, Commudal leisule Spaces aDd have, accord_ ingly, become a site of increasing social struggle aDd contesta_ tion.57 As Bertandsuggests, drawing onthework oflefeb!.re, these foms of policiDg and confol are paft of broader pattems of economic ard politica.l ma[agement of uban space which are

Jounlql of Powlar M sic Stadi.s endangering and suppressing people's fundamental dghts in pa.ticular, the "right to the town" and tlE "right to be drfferent"- and Dot to be iorcibly classified itrto categories determinql by homog- tl enizing E)wers.

In examining these various sourd-system and DJ- based cultures, I do Dot wish simply to endorse or unproblematically cel- ebrate them as inherendy oppositional or "alternative" formadons. Elements of such tendencies certarnly exist in some of the writing on DJ cultues atrd da.nce music, particularly in the romaflticization of these formations as democratic, collectrve cultures. Some comme[tato6 frnd evidence of this in the lack of individuai star figures in dance music culture and the rclative absence in these scenes of ideologies of musical virtuosity cha$cteristic of rock crltue. 5e There is atso a tendency to uncritrcally accept these scenes' ideologies and selfaccounts at lace value, particularly inthe coDstruction of dance music as an "authentic," "undetgound" culnue, or as a utopian space of "unity" in which social and sexual categories, of Black aDd white, straight and gay, are temporarily transcended. 60 The temptation to romanticize these scenes in these ways, however, must be resisted. Such accoufis need to be balanced by recognizing the various tensions and contradictions at work within many of these formations. The notron of dance musics and DJ cldtures as necessadly morc democratic and collectrve than rcck Deeds to be underscored by acknowledging the discouses of connoisseurship and esotericism which pervade mally key aspects of DJcultureandpractice. 6r Withinthesediscourses,thefigureof the DJ is vercrated as one of "creative heo" and 'lnahvidual genius," a flgure s€etr to possess neo-mystical knowledge and abilities to select music and control crowds. DJ culturc, moreover, is rct without its own particular star system, evidenced by the m,,thologizing and spotlighting of internationally known, individual star DJs who ftequendy '1our" No(h America and Europe. DJing, morcover, is far fiom being an oPen and democratrc pmctice. lt remains, along with rapping and toasting, heavilyr male-dominated, despite the smal, but slowly irEreasing, number of women DJs, rappers and toasters. Sound-system cultutes in general are also colrstsucted as masculine sphercs, despite a small handful of all-female crews ofpromote$ and sound system opera- tors. In mve, for example, young women, as McRobbie notes, are far less involved in the cultural production of the scene ttun are 61 young men. These gendered exclusioDs are the result partly of deeply rooted sexist ideologies and practices which articulate masculinity with techiical knowledge and expertise, and prrfly of gender-segregated processes of skill acquisition and apprentice- ship, both of which serve to exclude women ftom the production a.nd technical side of these cultures. 6l The romanticization of sou[d-system and dance-music cul- fures as utopian ot optr ositional spaces needs to be oJfset by a sense of the social differences, power telations, and subordinations that exist within fhese scenes. Social divisions are reproduced both within and between these scenes, as Thornton has observed, tfough distinctioDs and diffeterces thatoperate atound notions of,,authen- ticiry," qualities of "hipness" altd exclusivity, and the possession of subcultural capital, manifested itr knowledge of music and DJs, in & dress codes and fiiendsfup networks. As Staw notes, dance music spaces are sites of fragmentation, characterized by tie marking of boundaries and differences around vectors of age, class, gender, race, and sexual orientation, as well as codes of sexual behavior and dadce, audience receptiveness to innovation and the diffe ng roles of DJs (for exampte as taste leaders or taste rcflectors). 6 Various power rel ations and exclusions are enacted and reproduced atound ..old,, these vectors, in tensions, fot example, arcund age, between and "new" school participants, and around getrder and sexual orientation,intheexclusion andsubordinationof women, gays,and lesbians withid particular scenes such as hiphop and across large areas ofdarce music. Poweris also exercised and reproduced inthe spatial relations of the dance floor itself in the demarcation and positionirg ofthe DJ away ftom the space ofthe floot and the qowd (in the booth or behind the controt towet) according to varying degrees of visibility and accessibility. 6 The commuoal and anti- commercial ideology of rave culirre is also problematized by t]Ie increasing professionalization and enftepreneurialism of rave

lo rul of Porylal Musi Sh.tdies IEomotion, signaled by increasingly expensive tickefs, heavy- haded security, the difficulties of regularly staging large-scale, uDA[thorized events, aIIdthe ensuing loss ofidimacy between DJs a.d a]'ldierces at such events. Despite these very real tensions and contradlctions, however, these scenes rcmaitrimportaff, culturaly andpolitically, as skeletal ftamework of alternative, albeit fleeting ard cofiadictory, "public spheres." They are significant as spaces in which particular musical practices atrd relations ofcultural paoduction andconsump- tion catr be potentially enacted against the curredt dominant trend itr the leisue industy to conline listening alld consumption to particl. ar, ideal forms. At the core of such forms lies a particulat Dode of itrdividualized, private, domestic entertaitunent and 'te- laralion," one that is organized increasingly around pay-per-view and screen-based models of consumption in fhe space of the electloDic "home iheater." Itr opposition to these tendencies, lllese scenes and formations represent spaces in which coosumption is turned outwards, through social rclations which de-prioritize the use of music by isolated, inalividual conslmers a.Dd which tansform the rcproduction and reception ofrecorded music into spaces ofperfoimance, sociability and coliecrire consumptiotr.d In these spaces, altemative public cultural spaces are temporarily brought itrto being for the duration of ar event, spaces in which audlences and dancef,s are connecM both to each other and to DJs and frerformers, through dialogical relations in which taste alfiliations and affective investments can be sbared and celebrated. 63 These fomations are important as spaces ofcultulal autonomy fu subordinated atrd relatively marginalized goups particularly gays, \{orking class young p€ople, and Black aod ethnic communities. These formations ale driven by similar suuggles for autonomous cultuml and musical spaces, spaces fhat are free Aom oppressive iegulatjon and surveillance, spaces in which altemative ide ities, social relations, and modes ofbeing to those represented by work, domesticity, or heterosexuality, might b€ explored, shared, and celebrated.

N or theastetn UniL)efiity r Ns&c

,,The 1. Deborah Pacini-Herandez, pic6 pbenomenon in Carlagena, Coluf.bia'', Atvtica Negrd, no. 6, 1993, pp69-115.

2, Such approaches are most clearly exemplified in the accounts ofalisco anddance music of feredby the following; Carolyn Krasnow," Fear and Loathing in the 1970s: Race, Sexuality, anal Disco", ,ttd njotd Humani- ,tseat ties Revie\t, vol3, no 3,1993t pp.3'7 -45i Ross Harley. in rhe System", in Tony Benneft et al (eds.), Rock and poDulat Music: Politics, Policics. t^stiut oar. Routledge, New york l09l, pp. 2tO. 230; Wal@rHughes, "In ti€ EmpircoftheBear Disciptine anabisco,,, in Andr€w Ross and TriciaRose (ds.), Mictophone Fiends: youth york Music aad Youth Culture, Routledge, New 199 4, W. l4,t_15.7.

3. I use "sound system" hero to refer to a musical institution comparable, techdcally, ro a mobile disco or public address system but invariably much more powerful and sophisticated. lmplicii in the norion of a souod system is De centsat acrivity of pubticty reproducing and tra\sloming recotdedfrllJsic by means of various socializing rituals and pmctices.

4. Steve Jones, nod Forru,ionr, Sage, Newbury park CA, 1992.

5. Evan Eisenb€rg, Ih. Reco Jing Aigel. picadot London 1997.

6. HoIyKfi se,'EarlyAudioTechnologyandDomesticspace.,, Stanford Humanities Review, vol3, no 3, 1993, pp_ 1-14.

l. Pelft M?mlde\, Popular Music of the Non-Westem World, Oxford University hess, New York 1988, p. 146.

8. Jeff Todd Titon, ,arry , oynhonz Bhus Univelsity of Illinois press. Urbana 1977; Albe( Gotdman, Drrco, Hawthom Book. New york t978.

9. Simon Jones, "Music and Slmbolic Crealivity,,, in paul Willis (ed.), Conunot Cuhure, Open Universify press, Milton Keynes 1990, pp. 59'83

10. Steven Hager, fl,p-flop, St Martin's press, New york 1994i Dick Hebdiqe, C t'/t' Mit Culture, Identitt and CaribbeanMuri., Comedia

4 loumat oJpoputarMrsic studi* vd.71e6 London 1987; Tricia Rose, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Cullurc in Contemporary A/hetica, Wesleyan University Press, Hanover 1994; S.H. Femando, I,te 1{e}, Bealr, Doubleday, New York 1994; David Tcnp,\e Rap Attack: Africa Jiteto New york Hip'llop, Pluto Press, London 1985.

11. Rose, op. cil., p.78

12. Daniel Itadley, "Ride the Rhytbm: Two approaches to DJ Practic€," Jou tLL al Populor M sic Srxdi€r, no 5,1993, pp.58-67.

13. Greg Kot, "Hous€", Ciicago Tribune, Aqg.79.1990, pp. 4-6.

14. The telm 'DJ" when applied io reggae sound systems is used inierchangeably h€re with that of'toasE(", leflecdng the connotaiions of the term in reggae culture. ln rcggae sound system culture there is no direct equivalent to the figure of rhe "DJ" in hip-hop and dance music cultues. The funclions of the DJ are divided between &e "selector" who chooses records and manipulates the tumlable, and the "opemtof' wbo runs lhe amplifiers, equalizers and otber miling de-

15. Paul Gilrcy, There,4rt't no Black in the U/io, Jdct, Hutchinso4 London 1987.

16.me Source, no 54, March, 1994.

17 . Hebdlge, op cit.

18. Rose, op. cil., p. 54.

19. Tony I-anglois, 'fan you Feel it? DJs and House Music Culture in l}ellK" , Popular Music, to 11., 1992. pp. 229-239 .

20. Simon Frith, sohd E,r€cf, Cotrsfabte, London 1983, p. 26.

21. Simon Flift, "Towards an Aesthelic of Popular MusiC', in Richard LepPn, kd.). Music ad Saciery: the Politics af Composition, Petar- t@rce and Receptiott, Cambridge University, Cambddge 1987. pp. 133-149. (p. 142) r 22.(]j]troy. o!. cit.

23. tbid.

24. Simon Jones, Brrct Cr lture,Wite youth: me Reggae Traditionfrom JA ,o Utr, Macmillan, Basingstoke 1988.

25. Gercrator, no 19, Apm. 1E94, p. 25.

26. Barbara Bradby. "Sampling Sexuality: Gender, Technology and the Body in Dance MusiC', Popular Music, tro tZ,1gg3, pp_ 155-176_

27 . La,'\glois, op. cit.

28. Philip Tagg, 'From Refrain to Ravq The Decline of Figure and lhe Rise of G.ound", Poprldr Music, io 73, 1994, pp. 2Og-222.

29- AngelaMcRobbie, "Shutup andDance: youth Culture and Changing Modes of Femininity", Cr lturol Studies, N j , 1993, pp. 4M426_

30. Steve Realhead. ''The Polirics of Ecslasy,', in Steve Redhead, (ed.), Rave Off.,W.7-2'7.

31. WiI Straw, "Systems of Arricularion, Logics of Change: Communi- ties and Scenes in Popular M,usi,' , Cultural Studies, no 5, 1991, pp. 368-388.

32. Mark Fenster, "Queff Punk Fanzines: Identity. Conmunity, anal the Articulation of Homos€xualiry and Hardcore.,, Jolrrra I oJ Ca mmunic a - tion Inquiry, no l7 , 1993, W. 13-94.

33. Rose, opcr. p.34

34. Marla Donato, "On lheuouf,d', Chicago Tribur?, July 11, 1990, pp. 19-20.

35. Les Back, ' Coughing up Fire: Sound SystEms in South-Easrl-onalon.,. Ney/ Fon@tianr no 5, 1987, pp. 141-152.

36. Gihoy, op cit.

37. A scene covered in ,ttre etbeat tuagazilre, seE eslEcially issue tro 5.

lounal oJ Popll$ Music Shtdies Ocroberl{ovember, 1993.

3t- S€e the sbift towards "smart" clubs wbicb attempt to side step such regulations by providing a mn-alcoholic 'luic€ bai'.

Yt-R!N, op.cit.

.$- JmeE 1988, opcir

41. ]illeSo la Rietveld, "Living the Dream", in Steve Redhea4 (ed.), Ra:tu Oi. W. 41-78.

,l2. Atrlooio Meleahi, "The Ecslasy of Dsappearance', in Steve Red- M, (eA), Raw Oll,W.2940. il3- UXB, oo 33, December/January, 1993, p. 103.

4. k\A Sounl Effects, op.cit.

,15. J@es, 19E8, op cit

46- Sdah Thomton, "Moral Panic: Tbe Mediaand British Rave Culture ', itrArdrew Ross andTriciaRo!f-, (eft .), M ic r ophatu F ierdr, Roudedge, New Yo* 194.

41. loaes, 7988, op.cit.

,l8. Ro6€, op.cil

,19. An indication of tbe scatre of these activilies was given by an Association of Chief Police Officers Report which documetrted that ovel 2,000 people welo arEsted in some 250 public order disturbances between 1987-1988 (Redhed, op.cit. p. 4,.

50. Members of Spiral Tribe, a sound system that provided music at a mrss rave near casllemonon in May 1990, were arrested, charSed with calsing a'lublic nuisance" ihen subsequendy acquitted after a lengthy ard well-publicized trial.

51. Guardion,3oIa taty, 1990, p. l0-

52. Guardian, S May, 1992, p. 6. E 53. Manin Duberman, ,Jlo ewall. plufiz,New yotk.7994.

54. Sunday Tit u s, 2l lttl'e, 7992, p. 5.

55- loy Prcss, "The Kiling of Crusry,'. Spir, Octobe\ 7994. pp_ 69_16.

56.The Ti Es, Oct 11,1994, p.3.

57. David Hafiey, me Cotdlion oJ post todemr), Basil Blackwell. Oxford, 1989.

58. Jody Bedan4 "Radio Space and Indusrriat Time: Music Formats, Local Naratives and Technological Mediation,,,pop utat Music, g. 1993 Do pp. jc2r producttun l7r)- Hetui Leftbvre.Th? ofspak,Basit B IacI well. Oxford, 1991.

you 59. Terry Bloomfield, "It's S ooner Than Think, or Wtrere fue We in $e History of Rock Music?" New Ial Rerkw, no tg0, 1991, pp. 59, 81.

60.Bndby, op.cit.

61 . Stmw, Wi[. "Tbe Booth, The Floor and The Wall: Dance Music amd the Fear of Faling." Pxrlic, no. 8, 1993. pp. 169-182.

62. McRobbie. op.c,l

63. Bradby, op.cit-

61. Thotlton, op-cit.

65. Straw, 1991, op.cit.

66. StIa, , 7993, op cit.

67 . Giltroy. op ct.

68. Ray Pratt, "Popular Music, Free Space anal the euest for Commu- ni\t' , Poputat Music ar.d Soirtery, no 13, 1989. pp. 5 - 19i Chrisopher S all, Mulic althe Ca fian Tongue.lohrl- Caldet,London, 198i.

Jaumat ofPoprtar M*ic Stu.ties