Finally, the whole story of the rise of electronic music as a cultural movement from the 1940s to the 1980s. The first extensive social history of electronic music, looking at how the music evolved and mutated against the backdrop of social and political changes in society – from the beginning of the 1960s, amid the optimism for the ‘space age’ and a new technologically-enhanced prosperity, through the struggles for social justice of the late 1960s and 1970s to the era of entrepreneurialism and the end of the post-war social consensus in the 1980s. The book explores how life as it was experienced by young people in those years affected the sounds that they made, how electronic music provided an outlet for progressive thinkers to express non-mainstream ideas about gender roles and sexuality, and how it continued to inspire subcultures that also nurtured black and gay musicians over these decades. An expansive and illuminating account of the development of electronic music in the UK, told with passionate enthusiasm by Matthew Collin, the critically-acclaimed author of Altered State and Rave On. Dream Machines tracks the music’s evolution from early avant-garde experiments after World War Two through psychedelia, art-rock and synth-pop to electronic dance music, sampling and the techno era. As well as profiling the sonic futurists who pioneered new styles, it documents the scenes and underground movements that built Britain’s thrillingly diverse electronic music culture in its formative decades. Based on interviews with key players and a wealth of in-depth research, Dream Machines explores genres as diverse as space rock, electro-pop, ambient, dub, industrial music, prog, electro, hip-hop, hi-NRG and house, highlighting how developments in British electronic music were shaped by changes in society as well as technological advances.
