Inside the Acid House Scene - Part One

Acid House was branded by Chicago DJs whointroduce the acid house sound to the clubbers of
were experimenting with the Roland TB-303England in 1987. The club was run by DJ Danny
electronic synthesiser-sequencer in the mid-1980s.Rampling and his wife Jenny in Southwark,
The TB (Transistor Bass) was originally developedLondon, to an exclusive, small number of
with guitarists in mind, to provide them with bassdevotees. But a secret that good, could not be
accompaniment for when they were practicing.contained and acid house spread like wildfire
The word acid was used to describe the acid,through the city of London and out into the
squelchy sound that the synthesiser produced.counties and throughout England, kicking off what
From Chicago, the sound spread to the Unitedbecame known as the Second Summer of Love.
Kingdom, Europe and Australia through theIt was a sociological phenomenon, transforming
growing rave scene.youth culture, as people united under the banner
It differed to the prevalent other sounds of theof acid house, taking ecstasy, throwing illegal
rave scene such as house and techno. Acid houseraves, everything was harmonious, all was love,
was more minimalist, absent of muchjust like San Francisco two decades previously,
instrumentation, creating a harder sound. It sharedergo The Second Summer of Love. Another club,
the common 4/4 rhythm of house and technoTrip opened in 1988, droves flocked into it,
but it was pounded into much harder rhythms.partying until the early hours, the scene was
The London club Shoom was one of the first tograbbing headlines for hedonism and decadence.