Reflection#3:
The Drugs Don’t Work
Reflection#3: The Drugs Don’t Work explores the period October 1991 to January 1994, covering the growth of Amnesia House, the demise of The Eclipse super-club, and the evolution of hardcore dance music into jungle and drum ‘n’ bass.
The season features 4 completed films: Amnesia House - Hardcore Generals (Parts1&2), The Eclipse - Duds, Thugs & Hardcore, and The Edge - Hardcore to Jungle.
Whilst The Eclipse (Part 2) and The Edge films provide a chronological continuation of the story told so far in season#2 of Reflection, Hardcore Generals picks up the threads of the Amnesia House story. With typical working class humour Hardcore Generals makes a nod to the spaghetti westerns, as David ‘Bam-Bam’ Lynas tells how his father gifted him a donkey for Christmas. From humble beginnings to the first legal all-nighters, Hardcore Generals tells the story of how Amnesia House progressed to a residency at Shelley’s in Stoke on Trent, playing to crowds of over 10,000 ravers at Donnington Park, and Micky Lynas getting married at the world’s first outdoor ‘house wedding’.
Forthcoming in this season we have 7 feature-length radio documentaries continuing from Reflection#2, and 3 new films: Man Parris - To You Brain, To Your Vein, I like Cocaine, Jungle Fever, and Drug Dealing.
This uncompromising season takes an honest look at the early 1990’s drug culture and its normalisation in society, and how dance music culture and drugs were inextricably linked. A document for future generations to learn from…
“To your brain, to your vein, I like cocaine
” - MC Man Parris, Amnesia House at Donnington Park, September 1991
Films
Amnesia House: Hardcore Generals (Part 1)
After Amnesia House held the 1st ever "legal" all-night warehouse raves from June to September 1990 in Coventry, the story continues.....
This one's a western and documents the rise of Amnesia House from the dusty streets of Wood End, Henley Green and Bell Green. It explains how Mickey Lynas, David 'Bam Bam' Lynas and Neville Fivey played their part in a movement which changed world youth, music and drug culture over 30 years ago.
“The revolution in our age, the boom. Football violence was prominent at the time, lots of firms, the Baby Squad, the Zulu’s, the 157 Crew… it was like a light-bulb moment, it just sort of blew up, everybody had found this music, this new beat”
Amnesia House: Hardcore Generals (Part 2)
In September 1991 Amnesia House are given the opportunity to hit the big time by an organisation called Nemesis. Jumping from 2000 capacity events to 10,000, at Donnington Park, Amnesia House once again stepped up to transform the scene. From illegal to legal, from underground to commercial, from 2000 to 10,000+, these large capacity raves paved the way for today's festival scene with the format copied all over the world.
On 27th June 1992, Amnesia House promoter Mickey Lynas realised his dream of getting married outdoors, at the worlds largest “house wedding”, in front of 15,000 ravers, at The Book Of Love, Brayfield Stadium. Many thought it was a crazy idea, but he, along with the other Amnesia promoters made it happen. It went down in history as of the greatest raves of the era.
Featuring Amnesia House, legendary DJ’s Grooverider, Jumping Jack Frost, Micky Finn, Top Buzz, M.C Mad P and many more…
“It was just acres of people, it was like being at a football match, but you’re in the middle of the crowd and the crowd goes in ever direction. It was like a stadium concert”
Hardcore Generals Part II gives a unique insight into the next stage of the rave era.
The Eclipse Part 2
Duds, Thugs & Hardcore.
It’s October 1991, The Eclipse has been open for one year, but the sound has changed and the club is now hardcore: the rave scene has been born.
This tale is told with Coventry working-class humour, and highlights the selling of dud ecstasy pills, and thuggery experienced in the car park before you even got through the door. It also shines a light on how Barry Edwards, the business brains behind The Eclipse, policed the club in his own special way.
Meanwhile, Stuart Reid, the creative brains behind the club, masterminded the bootlegging of live DJ sets, which brought rave culture to young people’s homes and bedrooms, bringing the scene to an even wider audience. This bootlegging scene developed on an industrial scale, and was copied worldwide.
Amongst all this, the hardcore sound in the club was developing, sowing the seeds for the genres that came after, with DJ's using the club to experiment with new sounds.
“The Eclipse car park was like an early TripAdvisor, once you have a couple of bad experiences you don’t come back again”
The Edge: Hardcore to Jungle
October 1992, The Eclipse was gone, The Edge was here. A cutting edge hardcore club, and everything was being recorded. The tapes were legendary and influencing music worldwide. Dreamscape, Amnesia House, Fibre Optic, Quest and Dance Planet staged massive events at The Edge. The 1st all-night jungle event outside of London was staged at The Edge by Jungle Fever. But the crowd had changed, the drugs had changed, and Coventry was at the centre of it all. The Edge, where hardcore mutated and morphed into jungle/drum & bass.
