Freedom, dancing, recreational drug use, and just simply- being yourself are a few of many characteristics today’s ravers share with the old generation of hippies.
It isn’t only the weird music and sleepless nights that connect these two- there are many similarities between today’s youth and the youth of the 70s.
A Place To Be Yourself
Dress up, get ready, and head to the nearest party in town- a classic Friday night for every raver. A similar experience has been shared with the youth of the 70s. Not only the “party lifestyle”- drugs, dancing, and enjoying music; but also the views and morals they had. Fighting for social justice is the principle today’s youth continued sharing with the hippies.
Whether it was The Woodstock Festival in 1969. or any of today’s raves, these were the places no one around you judges you. Not by your race, sexual preference, or gender you identify with. Both of these places revolve around youth not trying to escape but to combat the world around them.
The Love For Music
The love for music is what connects both of these countercultures, the love for music which is misunderstood by the older generations. Whether it was the weird, jazzy, psychedelic rock of Jimmy Hendrix, The Doors, or Janis Joplin, or today’s many different genres of EDM- pure love and joy which can be felt in today’s raves aren’t much different from what hippies experienced back in their days.
Many music festivals around the world today resemble the famous 1969 Summer of Love- 100,000 people camping, dancing, connecting with each other, and embracing everyone around- these places have no place for hate.
Recreational Drug Use
We cannot leave out the drug culture which is active in both cases- with weed and LSD during the hippie counterculture being active; today it is MDMA and cocaine which circle these events.
Drugs have always been used in these types of events, but the types of drugs changed over the years. The hippies loved psychedelics, which they believed to open up their minds to music; ravers today enjoy MDMA or ecstasy to connect to music and “feel it better”.
