Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House

This new and updated edition sees Matthew Collin revist many of his interviewees from the original book, with hindsight casting a fresh eye on the heady events of the second summer of love. When Ecstasy was first mixed with house music sometime during the 1980s, the reaction triggered a diverse youth movement. It affected music, fashion, the law, government policy and other areas of public and private life. This work trails the drug from California, through New York and onwards in the history of Ecstasy and the culture and politics that surround it. This fully revised and updated edition includes the account of the Blair administration using an Ecstasy anthem as its musical theme amongst other examples.

Drawing on a wealth of background research and original interviews with key figures on both sides of the law, Altered State re-examines the causes and contexts, ideologies and myths of Ecstasy culture, dramatising its euphoric narrative from peak experience to comedown and aftermath, and shedding new light on the social history of the most spectacular youth movement of the century.