To mark the Flyer‘s 20th anniversary, we’re looking back
at stories from our first two decades.
It’s Halloween, the season when we free our inner ghouls. But when
Flyer contributor Matt Hanks wrote about a similar phenomenon in
October 1997, pagan traditions had nothing to do with it.
In an article titled “Rave On,” Hanks took a sympathetic look at
rave culture in Memphis. Remember raves? They were those massive
parties where youngsters would swallow Ecstasy, suck on pacifiers,
dance their asses off, and jabber on about peace and love. Between the
psychoactive chemicals and all that happy talk, it came as no surprise
that in the early 1990s, rave kids were described as “the new hippies.”
Jeremy Lowrance, the rave promotor and subject of Hanks’ story, had
moved to Memphis in search of a “more supportive, more self-contained
environment” after an Illinois TV station ran an exposé showing
an undercover reporter buying cocaine at one of his dance parties.
“Everyone thought it would be a ‘Local Kids Find Non-Alcoholic
Alternative’ type of piece,” Lowrance said of his life-changing brush
with the media. “But I knew their intentions weren’t good. I could
smell it like a fart in a car.”
Hanks caught up with Lowrance at a party where everything was going
wrong. The generators had failed, and the abandoned building on Brooks
Road had gone pitch-black except for one lone strobe light.
Lowrance’s party went on in spite of the technical difficulties, and
rave culture lasted in Memphis through the turn of the century. But
with zombies as popular as they are, maybe we’ll see some undead ravers
out trick-or-treating this weekend. — Chris Davis
