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Clubland: The Fabulous Rise and Murderous Fall of Club Culture
by
Frank Owen
Outrageous parties. Brazen drug use. Fantastical costumes. Celebrities. Wannabes. Gender-bending club kids. Pulse-pounding beats. Sinful orgies. Botched police raids. Depraved criminals. Murder.
Welcome to the decadent nineties club scene.
In 1995, journalist Frank Owen began researching a story on Special K, a designer drug that fueled the after-midnight club scene. He w
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
June 8th 2004
by Broadway
(first published 2003)
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Frank Owen's Clubland: The Fabulous Rise and Murderous Fall of Club Culture offers a far more objective version of the same events in James St. James' Party Monster. Though St. James had the benefit of having intimate involvement with Alig and company, Owen takes a more measured, journalistic tone. Beginning with an investigation into the drug Special K, Owen moves through the subculture to offer a broader context of the 1990s New York nightlife scene, with corruption and criminality evident at ...more
Fascinating read, though I could do without Owen's moments of moralizing and self-aggrandizing. This book wonderfully complements "Disco Bloodbath" in the sense that both (inadvertently) illuminate the policing and hierarchy that (inevitably?) arise in initially radical, subversive subcultures (of many kinds, though "club kid" subculture in particular here). I recommend reading the two texts together. You end up feeling like an expert on the subject - and you might just get t...more
Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. Few things epitomized these cliched ideals like the mid-90s club culture. Especially Peter Gatien's Limelight and Tunnel nightclubs in New York City. They were a place for people to be whoever they wanted to be and anyone they never thought they ever could be, meet new people who will never judge them, and just have fun. But, you can't forget about the drugs. Ecstasy, roofies, Liquid G, Special K, you name it and it could be found at these clubs. Owen is a writer fo...more
Frank Owen went into the Limelight like many of us. To listen to a new new sound of Techno music. What he uncovered was an underworld of drugs, kidnappings and death all dancing around the same groove. As an eyewitness to his account, there is no fabricated nonsense in this book. it is matter of fact, exact and precise to the timeline, making it a fascinating book to read.
My first introduction to the FABULOUS (and deadly?) club culture. The movie, Party Monster, is even better. Macaulay Culkin plays Michael Alig, the terrifyingly cherubic club king/murderer.
A nice look into Michael Alig's club kids, though far less sensational than James St. James.
Great look at the major players in an era that produced the most unlistenable music of all time.
great book that really gets into the details of how nyc stunts are really are pulled off.
This is a page turner. Not what I expected at all (oh, those goofy clubland kids, so cute), but more like a true crime novel about the drugs and violence behind the hood-infested club scene. An easy read.
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who knew it was all so shady and connected....
Overall, I liked it. The author had some petty biases he aimed to get across--it made the story feel a bit less professional, and some of the language felt contrived, but it was pretty interesting.
Excellent read on the Club Kids and the death of Disco which led to the "rave" generation.
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