On Mar 5, 2004, at 12:33 PM, Brendan Nelson wrote:
I was in America in around 1991 with my 808 State t-shirt
on - some girl noticed it when I was in a shopping mall,
and started chatting to me; she even asked me out to an 808
State gig that was going to be happening in about a month's
time!
You must've been over here in February of '91, then ...
I was pretty shocked that anyone in the US would have even
heard of them at the time (was also shocked that wearing an
808 State t-shirt had attracted the interest of a member of
the fairer sex!), but clearly they were having some impact.
Unfortunately I had to turn down the offer as I was only
going to be in the States for the next few days; but it would
have been a good laugh, I don't doubt!
The very first rave I ever went to was O(sub)3, held at the
Long Beach Convention Center in early March 1991. I haven't
got the vaguest idea how it came about that I was to go to it,
but I do know that the fact that 808 State was headlining
had a lot to do with it. (Ex:El had just come out, and they
were touring the States to promote it)
(Side tangent - my first Techno record - if I can't count
"Computer World", that is - was A Homeboy, A Hippie And A
Funki Dredd's "Total Confusion" in late 1990. As an Industrial
rivet-head at the time, I *totally* missed out on the entire
early Detroit era ... grrrr. Anyway, it wasn't too long after
"Total Confusion" came out that I found out about raves, and
went looking for one to go to ... )
I had no idea what to expect. We got down there, parked,
started walking towards the Convention Center ... and started
to notice people with bulging pupils and clenched jaws at
each street corner stoplight - and we weren't even inside yet!
Eventually we got inside - and what we found were thousands of
dancing kids (I thought it was about 4,000; 808 State's official
Web site claims 12,000 - heh), 4 huge Jumbotron screens playing
mad vids, insane green lasers, and just massive synaptic overload
in general.
My jaw smacked the floor and I think I mumbled something
about "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?!??!". I was gobsmacked.
Later on, 808 State played and Bjork came out to sing with them on
"Qmart" (or "Ooops". Or both? I forget). The crowd went ballistic.
My life has never been the same since.
- Greg
