From its first publication in 1997, "Altered State" established itself as the definitive text on dance culture. This new edition sees Matthew Collin revisit many of his interviewees from the original book, with hindsight casting a fresh eye on the heady events of the second summer of love. "Altered State" is the bestselling text on rave culture and acid house, written at the time of the election campaign of Tony Blair (which used an Ecstasy anthem as its musical theme), and the trial and acquittal of a 19-year-old for supplying the drug that killed Leah Betts. "Altered State" re-examines the causes and contexts, ideologies and myths of Ecstasy culture, dramatizing its euphoric narrative from peak experience to comedown and aftermath, and shedding new light on the social history of the most spectacular youth movement of the twentieth century.

About the Author

Matthew Collin is the author of the critically acclaimed books This is Serbia Calling, and The Time of the Rebels. He has worked for the BBC from Georgia and has written for a wide range of newspapers and magazines. He now reports for Al Jazeera from Georgia..

Reviews

Journalists Collin and Godfrey have written a fascinating, compelling account of youth culture in conservative Britain during the last decade. They begin with a brief history of the dual elements at the center of the culture: the spacy version of disco known as acid house and the drug Ecstasy. After setting the stage, they describe the migration of unemployed British youths to the island of Ibiza off Spain, where the culture began, and the transplanting of the Ibiza experience to British clubs. Chronicling the spread of acid house and Ecstasy through large parties called raves, the authors explain the movement as a reaction of disillusioned, lower-class youths against a conservative British mainstream. Collin and Godfrey examine the downfall of the drug-based counterculture owing to gang-police violence and Ecstasy-induced deaths and discuss the mainstream commercialization of the hedonistic dance culture into a £1.8 ($2.8) billion industry. This well-written social history will become a standard for those wanting to understand British youth culture and music.‘David P. Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle

"'At last somebody has written the real history of the last ten years, and written it with such wit, verve, empathy and profound intelligence. I can't recommend this marvellous piece of work enough.' - Irvine Welsh 'Altered State is not just timely; it was crying out to be written' - Independent 'Altered State remains the definitive story of the last decade's love affair with MDMA and mucking about in fields just off the M25' - Q"

The clubs, deejays and bands mentioned in Altered State may be of little significance to even the most meticulous music listener, but that's the idea. In America, anyway, no musical subculture has ever maintained its underground profile as long as acid house, a synthesizer-based dance music characterized by electronic bleeps and squelchy runs. Collin pursues the history of house music from computerized disco music in the '70s to Chicago deejays to London to the small Mediterranean island of Ibiza. Initially, Britain's club kids considered Ecstasy culture, with its combination of house music and drugs, an effortless escape from Thatcher-era conservatism. Ecstasy's cushy, hallucinogenic release offered a customized accompaniment to the bracing electronic beats emanating from a quickly dying New Romantic music scene. The bands New Order and Happy Mondays found small commercial followings, but it was deejays schooled in American disco and cut-and-paste production that would eventually rule house music. Collin (The Face; Wired) goes on to acknowledge the British scene's debt to tiny American record labels such as Chicago's Trax. If his prose occasionally slinks into the hyperbole for which British pop journalists are infamous, Collin's insider knowledge reveals a genuine understanding of all the scene's benevolent affectations. (June)