Clubbed with Love
Do you remember your first clubbing experience? For me, it was at this club called the Odyssey, it was in a strip mall in a white trash section of Dayton, Ohio. I had just moved from rural North Carolina and didn’t assimilate very well into the affluent redneck culture that I had been dropped into. But some new friends took me to this club, and even then I was beyond excitement at the prospect of dancing, of escaping for a few hours from the dull grey scenery that seemed to pull Dayton down into a deep depression.
Ah, but this wasn’t a big city club – it was a late-80′s, top 40 hot springs. I remember drinking beers in the parking lot before hand, looking out for cops. We’d walk in to a mix of acid-washed jeans and Vanilla Ice look-alikes, the smell of Aqua Net lingering in the air. But we’d dance our asses off, especially to Soul II Soul’s “Keep on Moving.” I loved that song. Unfortunately, I never learned all the moves to the electric slide that everyone would start doing as soon as that song came on.
I soon moved on to a club in Dayton called 1470′s that was a gay club six nights out of the week, except Thursday’s, which was their industrial night – Front 242, Ministry, Pigface, Meat Beat Manifesto, along with New Wave, like Soft Cell, were mixed alongside early European sample-heavy techno (anyone remember “The Running Man” remix). This club was my church for a while – I could be myself, I could be expressive, enhanced by the excitement of witnessing a new form of music evolve.
Then a friend suggested we go see this guy Plastikman in Louisville. I was game even though I really didn’t know who he was. How was I to know I was to have my mind blown? The black plastic lining the entire room, the minimal lasers, and the music – Richie’s live PA was unbelievable, the way he manipulated and worked the crowd, and the way they responded, they were freaking out. Up until I heard the Plus 8 music, I always had the impression that the music was just silly and fun – until I heard F.U.S.E.’s “Substance Abuse.” It was then I realized this was more than about the music, it was a way of life, an escape from the stagnant attitudes and droll stripmalls that defined the Midwest back then. The music was talking about technology, capitalism and consumption and how these ideals are ultimately what will be our downfall as a society.
I have no idea while music affects me so much, but here I had found a music based around energy and sounds that brought together every cross-section of youth to these early parties. The music is serious and it is making a statement about the world we live in: The music is soulfully designed from cold, inorganic machines, yet these circuits were designed by humans and therefore will always reflect our own idiosyncrasies and nuances that make us unique as a race. The soul in the machine – another medium for humans to express themselves. I was hooked from then on to the sound and the scene, searching every club and party to experience that vibe again. The beauty of it is that it is constantly revealing itself time and again with the right combination of DJ, environment, and the expressiveness of everyone who is there – a truly synchronistic event.
But now I live in the Castro in San Francisco – one of the gayest neighborhoods in the world, and I love living here and I feel lucky there is still a vibrant scene here. Unfortunately, the gay clubs have changed since the early days where they were basically the only outlet for new music. Now they generally only play really awful repetitive NRG music. Back in the day, the only place to hear techno or house was either at a gay club or a rave, and now, both of these have fallen victim to genrefication – the belief that they have to play what the crowd wants rather than being confident enough that their crowd wants the new sound, or even, a mix of the old and new put together in intelligent ways.
But I have to give a shout out to the gay clubs of the 80′s and early 90′s, they helped to spread the new gospel to gay and straight, black and white, they were inviting and ultimately they helped to shape the musical and club landscape that is an outlet for the ever-evolving sounds and rhythms that still bring so many different people together.
