'Rave music' is a very broad term. Although it is very different from any other type of music in its potential for diversity and creativity, it is also very all-encompassing for the same reasons. There are many different sub-categories of electronic music, each of which contain a broad, ever changing range of styles within themselves. This type of music is very multi-dimensional. It is repetitive but interesting at the same time. Simon Reynolds brings up a very interesting question in his book Energy Flash, "whether the meaning of rave music is reducible to drugs, or even a single drug, Ecstasy. Does this music only make sense when the listener is under the influence? I don't believe that for a second; some of the most tripped-out dance e music has been made by straight-edge types who rarely if ever touch an illegal substance. At the same time, rave culture as a whole is barely conceivable without drugs, or at least without drug metaphors: by itself, the music drugs the listener."

While Ecstasy is a very real part of rave culture, it has been my experience that it is not an integral part. Nearly everyone I spoke to who talked about having gotten into Ecstasy when they began going to raves also talked about how they realized quickly that it was the music that they were hooked on. Being on drugs was a detriment to their overal club experience rather than an enhancement. I believe, from my interviews and candid chats with people, that Simon Reynolds is right in the last part of that quotation, "the music drugs the listener." Some people are going to be on drugs at a rave. Some people are going to be on drugs at any given concert. Some people are going to be on drugs at a frat party or walking down Franklin Street. The people who will stay hooked on rave culture are those who do so because they love something more tangible, the music.