Facebook Bug Strikes at the heart of Londons Club Establishment
Something's rotten in the state of Shoreditch
(by Arthur Emery)
Anyone who’s friends with the Nuke Em All crew on facebook, or that irritating Matt Horne from Gavin and Stacey (yes, he’s doing club promotion now too...) will have been a victim of last weekends facebook bug which drove thousands of people to utter distraction and in many cases, unbridled rage. You see a red flag appear at the top left of the screen, have a look to see what’s going on (have i been tagged somewhere?..Oo) and...DJ Fonteyn has changed the name of the ‘Trash Them All’ event (for the fiftieth time). As anyone who fell prey to the bug will tell you, the notification process went wild and people were being sent thousands of notifications a day saying exactly the same thing. The Nuke Em all group eventually had to be closed and re-opened to circumvent the bug, which many are now speculating was designed by facebook themselves to haemorrage support away from ‘spam’ promoters, some of whose friend-lists run into the thousands.
But we see the reaction as part of a wider backlash against the East London nightlife establishment, which many are predicting will give way as the 80s revival seems to have finally run out of steam. Dare we even mention the ‘being a dickheads cool’ vid which has gone viral on youtube after being relased via facebook? With the blatant satire of figures such as Buster Bennett and Chaz John Ross gaining mass appeal (its had 2 and half million views now) this video reflects the demise of the sort of club night run by wealthy fashion students with a pair of CD decks and a meaningless "V.I.P" list, and closes the door on the consequent nightlife staple of the bland leading the bland. As the self-appointed ambassadors of clubbing cool, themselves a product of the neo-liberalism of the New Labour years lose their kudos, what next? Certainly, from what can be seen to be going on in the underground right now, homogeneity has had its day. Anyone who thinks they can still fill a party by cashing in on blitz kid mythology and nostalgia culture has another thing coming.
'Nxt Rave' is the hot new thing
Every scene wanes and dissapears, and as things look to be getting really hot in the south east - Peckham increasingly plays host to the best parties in London - Shoreditch and the 80s revival now seem to be just another atrophying part of Londons clubbing past. With people increasingly turning off to the sheer volume of event invites they recieve online, something had to give. It seems that the Guerilla Rave scene, or Nxt Rave as it has been touted in some circles, is the future of clubbing, with its subversive emphasis on 'private space' versus 'public space', it certainly seems to have a more authentic connection with traditional rave values than the Spin / P.R based parties London has offered in the last few years, and at least it has something to say. If this is the start of the clubbing revolution, the 2010s are coming into their own, and like Camden before it, Shoreditch is dead.
More news as it comes
PARTY LINE
Soz mate it's only disco.
ReplyDeleteBut, i'd love to hear from you if you want to have an open conversation debate about your statement and your general thoughts. This article is as transparent as a stream of dogs piss, luke warm and it's stinks of ignorance.
P.s. last time i checked people don't normally assign themselves to select boroughs of London. I for one don't even live or work anywhere near Shoreditch so to associate me with the place is badly researched.
And Nxt Rave, sounds awfully new rave to me, hardly inspirational!
Shoreditch is dead, lol thanks for letting me know, i'll alert the media! Didn't we all blast that from the speakers in 2006?
*conversation or debate
ReplyDeleteHi Buster, we uphold the right of our writers to submit their opinions as they like. Obviously, this won't be to everyone's taste. However, as we believe in the right to free speech we won't be censoring or moderating your comments either.
ReplyDeleteall best
PARTY LINE
Don't worry i'm not asking you to censor anything. But it would be cool to have a debate about it?
ReplyDeleteOr perhaps you just don't enough about the subject to debate it?
Hi Buster,
ReplyDeleteWe'd like to make it clear that the opinions expressed in the article above are the opinions of our writers, and as such we're duty bound to stand by them. Obviously we wouldnt want to cause any distress by outlining these opinions. But what this article really asks is whether an establishment culture such as yours really has the right to market itself as a counter culture at a time when our social democracy is under attack by the forces of conservatism? Rave culture has and (hopefully) always will be a place from which to critique the mainstream. Since you are the mainstream, this forum has to be the equivalent of the 'unlike' button that facebook denies us. After all, its really through telemarketing in the guise of social networking that you operate at all. If we give voice to the hundreds of thousands of people being routinely spammed by sound systems such as yours only to find that what is on offer is another form of culture industry, then it is with no apology. However, we wish you all the best with your promotion / media business and a very prosperous future.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHey There, Fay - aka K-tron here, fame hungry harridan hipster of hells own spurning.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind people having differing opinions to mine, but when they are based on willful ignorance and prejudice I get angsty. I have read the preceding comments and it frustrates me immensely that people feel so free to write about things they have no real understanding of, but hey, that's the joy of the internet.
I quite often write features for large print titles and they expect strong opinions to be backed up with considerable research and rigorous analysis. If you directly contacted anybody really involved with the DIY party scene that the press later dubbed "Nu Rave" you'd know from talking to us that we were never commercially motivated and that there was a great deal of ideological consideration to what we were trying to do. Vapid consumerism or profiteering it ain't, trust me, there are easier ways to make a buck.
It's a sad fact that to keep running the show the big guys only have to keep the little guys divided and judging by your evaluation of the scene from outside that is exactly what is happening. I never courted press, I just got asked to do stuff, but my primary passions are and always will be fun and creativity. I don't need to be famous to do either of those things. Please stop judging things superficially and engage with us before you comment, we are not the enemy.
Well i'm flattered to think that you imagine me as a 'establishment culture' I'll pop that on the CV.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware there was any such thing as the mainstream. There's a whole river delta out there, your a tiny offshoot as are we. But, like I said earlier, chill out it's only disco. If you're so pissed about the state of the country then get off you arse and do something important. I doubt having a few squat parties will change anything. Maybe try and think bigger, focus on what you mention above rather than people in the same boat as yourself.
There are two main types of people in this world. Those who do and those who spectate. You are clearly the latter.
And to repeat myself a bit, bad research is the sign of amateurs.
Oh and P.s. as amusing as the dickheads video is, i don't see myself in any of it... I'd love to be that stick thin!
ReplyDelete