Music
How British DJs Helped Birth '90s US Rave Culture
These four British ex-pats brought raving to San Francisco and the rest is history.
West coast raving owes quite a large debt to the UK. That’s thanks to Wicked Sound System, a crew of four British DJs who uprooted themselves and moved to San Francisco in ’91. In the process, Jenö, Garth, Markie and Thomas introduced the anything goes acid house and Balearic-based UK sound to the free-spirited psychedelia of the Bay Area. The parties they’ve thrown across America in their run helped to shape the fabric of not only the storied ’90s West Coat rave scene but also US rave culture itself.
Now, in advance of their 25 year anniversary party in New York, they’ve linked up with Thump for a comprehensive career-spanning retrospective that gets at the heart of what’s made Wicked so special to so many people. Read it here.
Read More: Browse an archive of ’90s rave zines
