Lad blowing a horn standing on a table at The Trip, Astoria, London, 1988.
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Music

Where were the spiritual homes of acid house?

Discover the places where smiley faces reigned supreme.
By Bella Todd
3 min readPublished on
The birth of acid house is such a great yarn that no less a figure than Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh is currently turning it into a TV series. Here we tell the story of the origins of a music and a movement via five historic acid house clubs.
Clubbers dancing outdoors in the Amnesia II courtyard in Ibiza, 1989.

Amnesia II courtyard, Ibiza

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Amnesia

In 1987, London DJs Danny Rampling, Paul Oakenfold, Nicky Holloway and Johnny Walker went on holiday to Ibiza. On the first day they bumped into an acquaintance who told them about Amnesia, a remote farm which had been converted into a huge open-air club. Pooling their money, they made it to Amnesia that night – and went back every subsequent night of their trip.
They still reminisce about the tropical plants, the mirrored pyramid in the centre of the dancefloor, the crowd of colourful international club-goers mixed with racing drivers and pop and movie stars. But the big draw was DJ Alfredo, an Argentian dude who'd been handed the keys to the club by a friend and would spin house records fresh from Chicago there from 3am to noon, birthing Balearic beats seven days a week. Hearing tracks by the likes of Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson and DJ International for the first time, the London DJs had their acid house epiphany here – and the rest of British club culture is history.
A smiling raver, with her hands in the air, Shoom, London, UK 1988

Shoom

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Shoom

On returning from Ibiza, it was Danny Rampling who first attempted to recreate the experience they'd had at Amnesia – in an old fitness centre on Southwark Street near London Bridge, in the heart of the UK capital. Rampling and his wife Jenny threw their first acid house party here in December 1987, calling it Shoom. Carl Cox brought the sound system, and London got its first solid dose of acid house. The defining image of acid house, the yellow smiley face, also originated with Shoom. Although the door policy was tight, the vibe was new-agey, and 12 weeks after opening Shoom was so popular that there were 2,000 people hanging in the street outside.
Ravers on the dancefloor at The Trip at Astoria, London, in 1988.

The Trip at Astoria

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The Trip at Astoria

Equally inspired by his experience in Ibiza, Nicky Holloway helped start the second summer of love when he opened The Trip at London's Astoria venue in June 1988, bringing acid house to the city's West End for the first time. Pete Tong was a resident DJ, and The Trip developed a reputation for intensity, attracting up to 3,000 people. The name was, of course, synonymous with drug culture, so it was later changed to Sin.
Ravers on the dance floor at Spectrum, Jubilee Gardens, London, in 1988.

Spectrum

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Spectrum

All of which left Paul Oakenfold to start Future in the back room of big London club Heaven – swiftly followed by Spectrum, which moved acid house into the main room of one of the largest central London nightclubs. Spectrum ran on Mondays, and the first night is said to have attracted just over 100 people to the 2,500 capacity venue. Several weeks later Spectrum had become a phenomenon. It's even thought to have inspired Madchester favourites the Happy Mondays in their choice of band name.
Inside the Hacienda, the home of rave

Inside the Hacienda, the home of rave

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The Hacienda

Of course, in the north of England, Manchester had its own epicentre of acid house. Opened in 1982 by Factory Records, and financed by New Order album sales, Manchester's legendary Hacienda club had been treading water through the post-punk era, but by the mid '80s it was packing them in with Ibiza-themed house nights and a swimming pool. Suddenly dungarees were in on the dancefloor, where Happy Mondays' Bez could regularly be seen dancing like, well, Bez, and acid house was inspiring a whole generation of bands, as well as DJs.
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