Up from the underground

While Kolesar was swept away by the musical value of the rave scene and the magic he found on the turntable, others were drawn to raves for the drugs often associated with them.

Ryan Fitzgerald, aka DJ Prophet, a psychology major, says many rave-goers were wooed by the drug availability.

“Most people didn’t know what was going on with the music. They were just trying to escape,” he says.

The adundance of drugs at raves gave the entire scene a bad image. Kolesar says the negative attention from the media, especially on the use of ecstasy, had an impact upon the rave scene.

As the scene’s reputation changed, Kolesar says there was a noticeable drop in attendance — especially among drug users. While this is creating a safer, more music-oriented scene, Kolesar says it is harder to get a large attendance at raves, making them happen less frequently and giving DJs fewer venues to spin.

Most resilient DJs found refuge in nightclubs where drugs were replaced with 50 cent draft specials.

“It’s really a club culture now, not a rave culture,” Kolesar says.

Small, smoky clubs like The Avenue in Kent still hold a weekly techno night, but even those are becoming more difficult to find without going to a larger city.

Tom Sikler, a sophomore electronic media production major who spins under the name DJ Kritikal, says there is a lack of a scene right now. There are plenty of people willing to listen to electronic music, but there aren’t many places for them to gather, he says.

He says more and more people are listening to techno music without realizing it. Electronic influences can be heard blended into pop tracks and as background music in television commercials.

“Eventually people will develop a taste for it,” Sikler says. “The problem now is there is not too much of a demand, especially in this area. In New York and L.A., it’s a lot different.”

Sikler says he has seen raves with up to 30,000 people in Los Angeles, while the few raves in Northeast Ohio may attract 1,200 to 1,500.

Finding places to play and hear techno music is not impossible, though. People just have to actively search them out.

The future of a genre

Despite the negative media attention and the challenges that have faced them, loyal techno performers and followers have stuck by the genre, waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.

Wilson says techno is transcendant of all cultures, races and ethnic boundaries. It can be found in countries all over the world, overcoming language barriers with its focus on beat and rhythm.

“It’s a worldwide phenomenon,” Wilson says. “That’s not true about a lot of music.”

Kolesar says the ability for musicians to be a “one-man band” in the genre gives DJs more ability to express themselves than they would in a rock band with four or five people.

While rock musicians are limited to the instruments they can play, a DJ has access to any instrument he wants with electronic clips.

With the excitement of many still buzzing around techno music, Kolesar sees big potential for electronic music in the future.

“Something is going to happen here,” he says. “I am waiting for it to get super big. You never know.”