Rating: 
Summary: hardcore tilt...
Review: I agree with the leading review; the notion that reynolds is comparing everything to his beloved hardcore is very tight here. Reading this book, it becomes quite plausible that reynolds thoroughly enjoyed a few years in there, with a certain style of music, and holds it dear to his heart, comparing/shunning the rest. I admittedly was interested throughout the entire book, mostly because this is one of few books (around here) of its kind. A more obvious example of reynolds letting his hardcore bias in is his thrashing of FSOL; how they use too many sounds (I consider an extremely ridiculous idea), and how simplicity is best....and of course, hardcore is so simple that it is beautiful blah blah blah. He is clearly quite knowledgeable but needs to learn (discover) that each of the other genres he discusses have entire histories and cultures of their own, and that hardcore is, although a vital part of the uk rave scene, not the epicentre of electronic music. Thus the title including 'techno' culture was a bit lacking in the entire spectrum of techno (although the coverage of detroit was tight and necessary).
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent overview of a culture and a generation!
Review: I am currently doing research on rave culture and the music and drugs associated with this culture. This book has everything - the early history to the present, including specific details on the development of house and techno music and the drug Ecstasy. Anyone who is slightly interested in this subject should definitely read this book!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent read for enthusiasts and shut-in bedroom DJ alike
Review: I bought this book expecting it to be all about raves and the history of the whole scene. I was only half-right. This book is an excellent source for people who are looking for insights into the scene, as well as the music. In the music side, many acts and genres are covered, and the book does a good job of treating the electronic/techno scene as a whole. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Outside kinda glancing in through the fog
Review: I read this book in hopes of finding some interesting journalistic insite into the history of Rave culture. Oh well. While some of the musical history is interesting, if innacuarate at times, the take on 'Generation Ecstasy' (the title should have warned me) is just off. First off, it's a small sub culture, not some generational happening. Second, it never addresses the whole 'Peace, Love, Unity, Respect' aspect of the scene. Third, it missed out on how important the global aspect of this scene is/was. Fourth, it never quite gets across the music itself, the variations, styles, inventiveness. The way in which it discusses the drug activity associated with raves is probably the strongest element of the book, but overall, I was terribly dissapointed.
Rating:
Summary: Overly dramatic, but still a decent read
Review: I'd have to agree with the above reviewer about Reynolds' annoying pseudo-intellectual speak. This guy obviously just read Baudrillard's _Simulacra and Simulacram_ one night while wasted and thinks that any throwing around polysyllabic nonsense qualifies one as an intellectual. (Really, we're dealing with a somewhat anti-intellectual topic here.)Nevertheless, this is all from the perspective of someone older who should know better. If I was 19 again, I would probably love this book, and the attention to detail is very impressive. The accompanying CD is a very well-thought anthology of the scene. Who wouldn't like to go back to the days when this was all fresh, before techno music was on Sprite commercials with every bonehead feeling the need to bring glo-sticks to the club?
Rating: 
Summary: Informative,,,,, But Biased , Inconsistant and Boring
Review: If you're looking for history then this is your book. But un-like most history books this one is full of biased ideals that is typical of an OLD SKOOL raver. Imagine if you will reading a book about the civil war that always states How it wishes the south had won the war? Well this is exactly how this book is. He describes the plethora of genres within electronic music and then tries to prove the viability of one over the other. Even though I agreed with some (very few, but some) of his ideals, I still felt it was useless to include it in the book. Why state that IDM is bad and hardcore and BIG Beat are good over and over again in a book? Is this a book or a thesis paper??? Here's a quote from the book that ironically not only describes a genre that Simon didn't like but also clearly describes why I Didn't like this book. "As a result,no matter how superficially startling the form-and-norm bending mischief sounds,drill and bass feel pale and purposeless compared with music created by the jungle fundamentalists." Mr. Reynolds needs to read his own quote and apply it to his writings, because no matter how startling his use of words are, his description of our music scene pales in comparison to even a candy raver.
Rating: 
Summary: Generation Ecstasy
Review: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture by Simon Reynolds "A revved-up, detailed and passionate history and analysis of the throbbing transcontinental set of musics and cultures known as rave." --Publishers Weekly "[Reynold's] hard-core history of [rave's] first decade is a heady remix of the soundscape's greatest hits." --Kirkus "...Striking and well-reported... a classic chronicle of the Nineties rave movement" --Rolling Stone In the early nineties, rave culture exploded with the availability of cheap computers and sampling technology, causing a punk-style do-it-yourself revolution. The resulting upsurge of independent labels and home studio-based artists spawned a legion of subgenres: hardcore, trance, jungle, ambient, gabba, big beat, and many, many more. Today, DJs and producers such as Fatboy Slim, Prodigy, Goldie and The Chemical Brothers have huge followings, while mainstream artists like Madonna and Bjork have turned to rave's offspring for artistic rejuvenation. In GENERATION ECSTASY: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture (Routledge; August 19, 1999; $17.99; New in Paperback!), Simon Reynolds takes the reader on a guided tour of this end-of-the-millennium phenomenon, telling the story of rave culture and techno music as an insider who has dosed up and blissed out. The first critical history of techno music - and the drug culture that accompanies it - GENERATION ECSTASY traces rave's origins in Detroit techno and Chicago house, then shows how these black American genres were transformed by British and European youth. Here is everything you ever wanted to know about the artists and the DJs who created dance culture, the fans for whom it is a complete and mysterious way of life, and the dance club and outdoor rave scenes that brought it both fame and infamy. --more-- GENERATION ECSTASY is the story and celebration of rave culture and electronic dance music. The first critical history of the music --as well as the drugs-- it charts the journey from Chicago house to Detroit techno to the blissed-out daze of acid house and "Madchester", through the mass hysteria of early 90s hardcore rave and the birth of jungle, right up to today's glorious confusion of scenes and styles. From the crusty raver free party scene to pirate radio, from the politics of Ecstasy culture to the dark side of recreational drug use, and incorporating interviews with the prime movers in electronic dance music, GENERATION ECSTASY is the definitive chronicle of rave music and dance culture. About the Author: SIMON REYNOLDS is a freelance writer for The Village Voice, Spin, The New York Times, Artforum, and The Wire. He is the author of Blissed Out: The Raptures of Rock (1990) and co-author --with Joy Press-- of The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and the Rock n' Roll (1995).
Rating:
Summary: Generation Ecstasy
Review: Lots of useful information, however too many dates (likened to a history book).
Rating:
Summary: Generation Ecstasy
Review: Lots of useful information, however too many dates (likened to a history book).
Rating:
Summary: Informative, but misses the audience
Review: Most depictions of the Rave scene tend to preach from an extreme. One will present a picture of modern-day-Sodom, while another voice will extol the discovery of Nirvana-on-Earth. Reynolds has the ability to [beautifully] describe both faces of the scene with an impartial voice.
Unfortunately, that is the end of what he has done well. Simon will take one paragraph to state that in years past the focus was simply the event, and no one bothered to learn the names of DJ's, let alone the name of individual tracks. After which he will begin a 10-page meandering description about specific track titles released over a 6-month period, 20 years ago.
It is in that example that highlight's Simon's shortcomings: no one involved in the scene at that time can recall DJ or song titles, which are similarly meaningless to everyone who is reading this book in an attempt to learn about the scene.
Scenesters of today aren't seeking a book that provides a blow-by-blow account of Simon's search for an illegal party on a particular night, they're looking to be reminded of the time, feeling, and "vibe" they recall from those days. And people reading the book to learn about the history of rave are seeking the human experience at the time, not the name of a producer living in Germany who released a top-40 track at the end of the 80's.
In truth, Simon does cover enough information from front cover to back cover that the reader will indubitably have gained a clear understanding of the history of the electronic dance scene. Unfortunately, the reader will have to winnow through 90% fluff to reach that goal.
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