IMAGES FROM THE ECSTASY GENERATION

5th Ciruit Activation • Images From X-Gen • Notes

If you haven't seen something like at least one of these images, then you're either over 50, under 16 or have been living on Mars for the past twenty years. How's it going up there?

THE ACID SMILEY FACE

This simple image has gotten everywhere from hot air ballon festivals in America to a car air freshener.

ECSTACY CLUB GEAR AND FASHIONS

Britney and Christina stripping off for the cameras, in typical Ecstasy generation Hot Go-Go Girl style. Before the late 80's, this type of fashion and public semi-nakedness was only permitted in soft porn.

Some fashions dont seem to age. These raver boy and boy band images were taken around 1995 - ten years later, you still see guys dressed like this. They raver boy reminds me of myself in the years 1996 to 2002 so much it's almost frightening!!

THOSE HOT DAMN GO-GO BOYS!

1992 - Take That and other boy bands were an absolute phenomenon across Europe. Whilst America was still trying to look cool, all these guys just stripped off and did their damndest to have as much fun as humanly possible. And they looked fantastic doing it.
2002 - It pretty much took America ten years to catch up on this fun Go-Go Boy image, but still they haven't quite got it. Everyone from Marky Mark to Justin Timberlake is still hooked on being cool and merely looking great instead of going for fantastic. Tattoos are thing now, apparently, instead of foam.

THE WORLDWIDE PARTY

The Full Moon Party, Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand. Each full moon, a free and hedonistic party is still held on the beach. Some say it's lost its edge from earlier years, but still it goes on.

In Europe, the sunshine party still goes on too. Virtually all major UK Clubs - and masses from Europe too - quit for the summer and head off to the island of Ibiza in the Mediterranean. Again, they say it's lost its edge of late, but the party spirit still lives on in places.

TV, ADVERTISING AND THE CORPORATE WORLD

Adverts for Tango, a popular soft drink in Britain, were and still are wickedly hedonistic fun. Everything from sports and sports commentary, British nationalism, nutritional advice, and even hedonism itself are parodied. These adverts have proved continually popular since the early 1990s. Tango and Britvic drinks were one of the first in the corporate world to hook onto the Ecstasy generation.
The Mitsubishi CZ2. The car of the future. Or something. Actually, to me it looks like Ecstasy Club Gear made metal. Did anyone ever notice that the fashion for 'ergonomic' shapes in their cars, stereos, TVs and computers really started to take off in the mid-1990s? Hmmm...

No one escaped the Teletubbies, and just look at them. TV aerials plugged into their brains, running around a perfect wonderland, speaking a senseless babble as if mashed on pills, and generally having a hell of a lot of fun (plus mixed gender roles in the use of La-La's handbag etc). It's the Ecstasy Generation For Kids!!

And one more picture of Justin Timberlake - because if there's a typical Ecstasy Generation Corporate Image, it's Justin Timberlake himself. Plus I get to put a third picture of him on this page - any excuse! By the way... ... did I mention the hundreds of films and TV programmes that have already been made? ...here's just one of them, about the early days.

With Love and Tactile Fun
Bruce Rimell x x x June 2005

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