The Second Summer of Love: How Dance Music Took Over the World
£8.70£9.50 (-8%)
‘Brilliantly woven collection of aural histories … a damn fine read’ – DJ MAG
In 1987, four friends from London, Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling, Nicky Holloway and Johnny Walker, took a week-long holiday to Ibiza. What they saw there, and brought back home, would give rise to a new global music and counterculture movement.
As the eighties drew to their close, with Thatcherism holding the nation tight in its grip, something funny was happening right across the jungle of Britain’s nightlife scene. People were dressing down, not up, to go to clubs. And they were dancing right through the night armed seemingly with only bottles of water. Ecstasy and acid house music had arrived on British shores, and a tribal battle between for the moral future of the nation, between the youth and the establishment, had begun.
In The Second Summer of Love, author and dance music promoter Alon Shulman uses exclusive contributions from the world’s biggest DJs, including Paul Oakenfold, Carl Cox, Fatboy Slim, Moby, Faithless, Mr C, Farley & Heller, Danny Rampling and many others to faithfully recreate the story of the summers of 1988 and 1989, and chart the birth and rise of Acid House, dance music and club culture right through to the modern day where dance music has become a culturally dominant global industry.
Complete with stunning unseen photographs, this is the first authentic account of what really happened in that glorious period – from the politics and the people to the music, the drugs, the fashion and the culture – told by people who were there, as they bring to life the creation of an underground scene which inadvertently altered the course of modern global youth culture forever.
‘It’s as if house music and rave culture tapped into this ancient predilection of humans to stay up all night dancing and staring into the fire, and just supercharged it with electricity and MDMA’ – Moby
‘What I was experiencing was right in front of my eyes, it was happening right now and I loved it’ -Carl Cox
‘It opened my eyes and ears to a different spirit in music’ – Fatboy Slim
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Additional information
| Publisher | John Blake (10 Jun. 2021) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 352 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1789460883 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1789460889 |
| Dimensions | 12.7 x 2.29 x 19.69 cm |
by Spangs Come to Conquer
This is such a poorly written account of the acid house boom I don’t understand how it was ever printed. It shows no direction, due to poor structuring, goes off on tangents – constantly find myself thinking ‘where is he going with this’. So much of it is utter rubbish: vague and ambiguous. It gives me the impression the author doesn’t know what he’s alluding to himself. I find myself rephrasing the text as I read since it’s so amateur.
Shulman can’t decide whether the book is to be written in a colloquial or more intellectual register. And when he doesn’t know where he’s going with an explanation, it switches to a matey tone to allow him to waffle on about irrelevant rubbish, or use uninsightful analogies in a pathetic attempt to conceal his lack of understanding. An analogy is fine, enjoyable even, provided it is relevant, rich in detail, varied in vocabulary and isn’t just a page full of incomprehensible waffle you’d find in a GCSE exam.
The only thing I enjoyed was Paul Oakenfold’s foreword. I was quick to look to see if he had any books of his own because his authorial skills are far more honed than Shulman’s.
Read Adventures in Wonderland instead because this book is a waste of money and the author writes like he has just finished high school.
by Gerald Frankel
A half decent attempt to sum up a complex history. It reads like it was written by an outsider. I’d recommend Adventures in Wonderland instead, by Sheryl Garratt, as this sums up the emotions, social impact, and just the whole amazing scene like it felt from the inside.
by Natasha
Quality read that took me back to days never to be repeated. Read it around the pool in Ibiza within a week!
by Alan H
This book is an amazing journey charting the rise of dance music and club culture told through exclusive chats with the likes of Carl Cox, Moby, Fatboy Slim, Graeme Park, Danny Rampling, Irvine Welsh and Paul Oakenfold. Witty and punchy, it paints a picture like no other music book with the focus on insights into the moments that made the scene the massive industry it is. The story goes back to gramophone records in Paris clubs through to LSD in 60’s San Francisco to London & Manchester via Chicago, Detroit and Ibiza and looks at how the current scene is still evolving. Very well written with lots of humour and great pictures but the stand out is the honesty in the interwoven stories from over 20 key players. Fave story – the police setting up their own pirate radio and rave to catch the real DJ’s and ravers! Laugh out loud and highly recommended.
by neil whelan
Love reading this book, even though I didn’t experience all of the episodes in this book, I did live though a few. A great read for our generation and the younger ones too, we were so lucky to have lived though such a wondered time, , and thank you for publishing this book, for me to have a journey down memory lane and beyond. If you lived it, buy t, if you love music, buy it. Either way, it will make you smile all the way through.
by R. Clayton
Glad to have been part of those beautiful days..
by Alan H
Whilst it was interesting to hear Londons take on the early scene its a bit galling for early adopters in the rest of the UK to be considered foot notes in a Rampling/Oakenfold bible.
by marina Botton
Interesting topic, and the author is clearly passionate about the subject.
However, the focus on the “Ibiza 4” totally ignores the events happening all over the country.
It is very focussed on Acid House in the capital, mentions Manchester briefly, but not mention of the out of major city events in Wigan, Blackburn, North East etc.
Also omits the fact that the music from London has not stood the test of time as well as a lot of the other acid/techno/house music.
Still, no questioning his passion.
The definitive story remains unwritten…..