’89 is a key year for Liverpool … After Hillsborough so many people and so many things changed … And then this drug popped up; a small tablet that created happiness. Liverpool Narcos II: Ecstasy, Emile Coleman, Sky Documentaries 2021
Best buzz you’ll ever get. It’s a love drug. ibid. user
In a sense there was something evangelical about selling ecstasy. You were doing a good thing for people … Demand outstripped supply in terms of quality. ibid. counsellor
This is the story of a radical nightclub. Bankrolled by an iconic band. The Hacienda: The Club that Shook Britain, BBC 2022
House Music: ‘And then all fucking hell broke loose.’ ibid. Noel Gallagher
The club transformed an entire generation. ibid. caption
How the Hacienda happened: the success of Joy Division 1976-80. ibid.
‘I heard during the day that Ian Curtis of Joy Division has died … ibid. John Peel
‘He said it was necessary to build a cathedral to popular culture in Manchester.’ ibid. dude
The culture of Manchester had that electronic music background, from New Order. House Music is just a baseline, a drumbeat, you know, that is so radical. Bang. Something is happening here. ibid.
‘And then around 88/89, the ecstasy pill was then married to our house music and the rave scene was born.’ ibid.
‘Nobody would settle for going home at two o’clock in the morning any more.’ ibid. Shaun Ryder
Brink’s-Mat money: … had come back and it had funded the importation of ecstasy in this country. The Gold: The Inside Story, rozzer, BBC 2023
Pop culture has met the microchip and a strange new creature has emerged. At the heart of this techno trip is a drug called Ecstasy. But the pleasures of Rave have their price. Ecstasy can kill. But despite dangers known and unknown, this heady mixture of music, drugs and technology has created a brand new experience. Equinox: Rave New World, Channel 4 1994
Midsummer in Kent: an airport hangar is being turned into a beach. A quarter of a million pounds’ worth of lights will sear eyeballs with lazers and strobes. A hundred thousand watts of sound will hammer ear drums. ibid.
It all began in 1988, the so-called second summer of love. ibid.
The new dance music arrived at the same time as a new drug called ecstasy. ibid.
Welcome to Limburg. The biggest fruit-growing region in western Europe. And a paradise for nature lovers … But what they don’t tell you is that most of the world’s ecstasy is made here … The whole world goes mad for our beans … Limburg is the Colombia of ecstasy. Undercover s1e1: Camping Zoonedauw, Netflix 2019
And then it became the drugs capital of Europe. Ibiza Narcos I: Disorganised Crime, observer, Sky Documentaries 2024
You soon realised it can be quite dark. Gangsters, cartels, people big and strong enough to kick the fuck out of you. ibid.
A lot of hash smoking, a lot of acid being taken. ibid. early days
This was the start of the party island Ibiza was to become … The hippies were the ones who started the party scene. ibid.
Organised groups from France, England, Italy, they see a market, they come and take the market. ibid.
At the beginning the mafias were more hidden. ibid.
They started spending money in Ibiza in an exaggerated way … We are able to see that problems are coming. ibid.
People started talking about this new drug – ecstasy. ibid.
The police targeted the hippies originally, even though the professional crime groups had started to come in, because they were easy targets. ibid.
You could see by the way the clubs were developing, and the drugs scene was growing, that it was all gonna explode. Ibiza Narcos II: No Sleep Till Wednesday, observer
The rave scene was just about people who wanted to escape their lives. ibid.
Ibiza was the best place on earth to take party drugs. ibid.
People started to get greedy, and things started to change. ibid.
Before we all came, the island was this beautiful, lovely spot. We were the one who brought all of this club life to Ibiza. ibid.
Ibiza is a land of inconsistencies. As I kid I loved it. ibid.
None of these has been as dramatic, as drastic, and with devastating consequences as mass tourism. To arrive in the morning and see the rivers of vomit and urine in the streets. ibid. islander
It’s a pity because they were almost always young. ibid. Rozzer
I realised that I was damaging my mind. ibid. hardcore pill-taker
The more money you were making, the more cocaine you did. ibid. geezer
You come here, you are in paradise. Ibiza Narcos III: Giving It the Absolute Big ’Un, early club promoter
If you didn’t die, you had a story to tell next day. ibid.
Sometimes one bullet is better than twenty words. ibid. old-time gangster
Cocaine brought with it a new, colder type of criminal. ibid. journalist
Ibiza was a very loving place. But I never went nowhere without guns and knives. ibid. gangster