As rave culture rose to popularity in the early 90s, it gained a reputation for bringing with it another rising trend - ecstasy.
In movies and TV shows, techno music and the time period is often portrayed as going hand in hand with drugs and partying.
Ahead of his upcoming gig at the Braehead Arena, Glasgow Live reached out to Jon Campbell to chat about what the rave scene is all about.
Frontman Jon Campbell formed The Time Frequency in the early 90s, with Scotland’s first techno group bringing a new sound to the north. With five Scottish number one singles under their belt, Jon is bringing TTF back to the stage on May 28.
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In an event celebrating 30 years of one of their most popular releases, New Emotion, the electronic group are set to reunite some of the biggest names in dance music from over the years.
Despite the reputation that rave culture has gained, Jon feels the crowds have changed over the years.
He said: "Of course back in the day, drug culture was very prevalent. You had all the bands and raves and all that.
"But we also had a ton of people who didn’t even go to raves or clubs. They just liked the music, they were synth pop fans."
Jon originally got into electronic music early on, after his father saw a musical ability in him. The Dennistoun-born musician told us his career really started at the age of 4.
He said: "My Dad had me shouting up the chimney with a mouth organ, and taught me from a young age.
“He was very insistent that I have a career in music because I shared the same as my uncle, unfortunately Jon died in the Second World War - but he was a musician. My Dad saw I had an ear for music, and I’m still amazed at how he spotted that.”
After making steps from a mouth organ, to an accordion, and eventually a Bontempi organ - Jon’s fate as a musician was sealed.
“Getting the organ was bizarre", he said. "Our house in Dennistoun fell down from the wind, and it was falling to pieces. The money from the forced sale of the house, part of it went to me getting that organ which I’ve had since I was 10.”
Jon went on to buy a synthesiser at the Barras Market for £14, and began to discover his sound.
He added: “It was quite a bit different to what was happening in the charts. The synth pop thing had kind of fallen away, my stuff is more high energy and Eurobeat.”
After pushing to get the TTF music played on radio stations, the band eventually got a gig in an illegal rave at an abandoned warehouse. They released more songs, and before long were the headline act at events.
From here, Jon had a plan. “I wanted to get a record deal, and realised that underground techno stuff had a short lifespan in it", he said.
“We needed something more anthemic. I had Real Love waiting in the wings, which reached number 5 in Scotland but only got to around 65 in the UK charts.”
With TTF’s songs performing well north of the border, chart analyst company Gallup pulled singles down considering the numbers an ‘uneven distribution’. The frontman doesn’t consider this a negative, adding: “We’ve created a very unique niche, and it’s great.
“We have these great artists that have stuck by us, and we get calls asking if people can use our songs for weddings, funerals, movies. It’s great to think that something I wrote in a tenement in Glasgow has lasted this long.”
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After making a name for themselves, and bringing techno to Scotland, TTF were familiar faces in Glasgow’s venues.
Jon said: “When we started playing, there was no rave scene. When the raves did start, they were illegal - but eventually we played in a club called Choice. Then we played in the Tunnel, oh my god.
“That was great, but you don’t even want to know. My shirt got ripped off that night, that’s all I’m saying. After that, we were playing everywhere. We played the Metro, which more people turned up for than any other event at the Metro.”
Despite their increasing fame, TTF still had the drug reputation of the rave scene to deal with. As the genre took off in Scotland, the association between the music and the drug only increased.
Jon recalled: “When people heard the phrase TTF back in the day, a lot of places would go ‘nah’.
“They wouldn’t let us hire venues, so we had an audience we couldn’t reach. We could get the Barrowlands, but we couldn’t really get anywhere else because they assumed we were gonna bring this crowd of people completely wasted to their venue and it wasn’t true.
These days, Jon feels most of the audience at the band's gigs are 70% women. He added: “It’s a joyous night out, I would say there’s a lot of nostalgia.
“A lot of people bring their kids. They want them to see what they grew up with and that is lovely, although it does make me feel really old.”
So it wasn’t all about drugs and wild nights, but what is the rave scene? According to Jon, it’s just like any other genre.
He said: “The rave scene is essentially culture, as much as punk or the New Romantics or disco. It’s really grown legs. I’m quite fortunate that my songs have resonated with people in a good way, so for me that’s probably the reason I do it.”
As for the TTF event on May 28, 30 Years of New Emotion, Jon told Glasgow to get ready for a special night with their ‘best line-up ever’. He added: “We picked different acts that were about at different points of the rave scene.
“I was aspiring to be a lot of these acts, so we had to make sure that everybody who was anybody was there - and we’ve got everyone. It’s going to be a great night of New Emotion, and new memories.”
30 Years of New Emotion will be held at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, with more information and tickets available here.
