Bring Back Ridiculous Raver Girl.

The other day, as I drove home from work, I heard a song.



It was one of those songs that you hear that floods you with good memories the second you hear it.  Do you know those songs??  Those songs are the best!



I listened....I sang......and I danced, as I drove my little Mazda home that day.




But, as the song played on, I soon realized that this memory may not be so fabulous after all.  I suddenly remembered being frustrated the first time I heard this song. But I couldn't quite pin-point the memory.



But it all came back to me as I fell asleep later that night.

And as I drifted off to la-la-land, my mind wandered back, way back to my university days.



Where days turned into nights…...and nights turned into very early mornings……

It was March 1999.



I was 23 years old and I was in my 4^th year of Honours Biology at Western U.

For those of you who have attended university, then you know that there are 2 prerequisites for getting in.   You had to be smart, and you had to know how to party.  Hard.

One Saturday, my boyfriend Dan announced to me and our friends that he had gotten us tickets to a rave for that night.  This would be our first ever.  We would be renting a car and driving down to Toronto.  The rave would start at midnight and go until about 7 in the morning.

I had no idea what the night had in store for me, and I wasn’t sure I was ready for it.  I loved to dress up and party, but a rave?  All night long?  I didn't know if I could do it.

But it was one of those things that you just had to do, ya know?  

So that night, we drove for 2 hours, and finally arrived at our destination.  It was exactly 12:30 a.m.

I jumped out of the van and took one last look at my outfit in the rear-view mirror.



For your reading pleasure, please allow me to describe said outfit to you now.  You will thank me later.

My hair was very long, dirty blonde, parted in the middle, and crimped.  Yes, I said crimped. 

I wore a choker necklace that was made of hard candies.  Yes…..candies. 

I wore a metallic backless skin-tight crop top.  The back was held together by thin strings only.  Yes, metallic.  And yes, strings.

The pants were baggy black splash pants that sat very low along my waist.  Yes, splash pants.  The pants I can’t really explain…….all I know is that it was super cool to wear splash pants back then.

And the final touch?   Black Doc Martins :)

It was the most epic outfit I had ever put together, and an outfit that still remains as one of my favorite of all time.  (Why I don’t have a picture of this outfit remains a mystery……and believe me..... I checked all 3 of my university photo albums hoping to find it!)

Dan and I led the crew to the front entrance of a very, large industrial building.



This was it.

I had a feeling that once I went in, there was no turning back.



As soon as we stepped through the massive steel doors, I knew I was right.

We had just entered a completely different reality.  One that seemed to have zero connection with the outside world.  It was dark, it was very loud and it was kind of weird.

I cautiously walked behind Dan who led me through the huge crowd of partiers.



The house music was deafening.  Everyone looked weird to me, but they were all amazing dancers.  And they danced facing a DJ who they seemed to worship like a God.



There were 3 massive rooms, each filled with hundreds of people,  thousands in total.



Everyone was dressed in the wildest clothes.  Huge platform boots, faux leather pants, coloured hair, body paint, headbands with flashing lights, fur bras....., you name it, I saw it.  My outfit seemed totally tame compared to these avant garde fashions.


I slowly walked through taking it all in.  Lasers were flashing everywhere.  I could barely see where I was going.

I know it’s silly to say, but a part of me was scared of this new scene that I had stumbled upon.  This wasn’t your typical Thursday pub night, filled with drunken students trying to dance while Brittany Spears "Hit me Baby One More Time" blared in the background.


This was intense.  This was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

And just as I thought that,  a very tall skinny guy walked past me.  And at the last second, he jerked his head un-naturally and turned to stare at me.  He was suddenly inches away from my face, and when I looked into his eyes, I gasped.  His eyes were bright yellow, with black cat-eye slits in the middle.  I quickly grabbed Dan and pulled him in front of me as Cat Man continued on.......searching for his next prey I'm sure.

The night pressed on.  I continued to be very intimidated, and completely out of my comfort zone.

I felt like I had arrived on an alien planet where things like darkness and fear were enamored.

Dan saw how uncomfortable I was and said, “Leo, relax.  Just dance”.

But I couldn’t.  I just stood there awkwardly staring at everyone.

I definitely wouldn't dance, that's for sure!  I wasn't a good dancer anyway, so there was no way that I was going to put on an "Elaine" show in front of THIS elite dance group.

As I stood off to the side, waiting for the long night to be over, this random guy danced right up to me.

He was short, blonde, muscular, and very sweaty.

He yelled over the music, "Do you hear the song???"

I wasn't sure if he was talking to me, but I yelled back anyway, "What???"

And then he started singing "Back, back, back, back back to me......back, back, back, back, back to me......"

Then he yelled again, "You KNOW this song!! I know you know this song!!  This song is the best!!"

Who was this guy??  He was crazy!!

How did HE know what songs I knew??  I definitely did NOT know this song.  So I rolled my eyes, sighed, and turned to walk away from him.  When suddenly the chorus of the song kicked in.....

"Bring it back....sing it back....bring it back, sing it back to meeeeee!  Bring it back, sing it back.........."

GASP!!!

I DID know THIS song!!!

I turned around and quickly searched the area for the sweaty guy.  When I found him, I ran up to him, put my hands on his sweaty shoulders and I yelled "I KNOW THIS SONG!!!"

He turned around to look at me and then laughed and said, "I KNOW!! I told you!!"

I giggled as I watched him dance away fluttering his glow sticks to the beat of the song.



And then suddenly, my head started swaying to the music.



And then my hips effortlessly joined in.


Before I knew it, I was dancing.....hard!! 

I couldn't stop.  The music had taken over me.


Before long, I was as sweaty as crazy muscle guy.  Even found myself a pair of glow sticks :)

My boyfriend of 4 years suddenly appeared beside me and yelled, "Leo!! I've been looking everywhere for you!" he paused for a second, looked me up and down and then yelled, "When did you learn how to dance like that?????"

I laughed, threw my hands in the air, and just kept going :)

I don't know how long I danced that night......but it was alllll night.



Before I knew it, it was time to go.  The DJ's had stopped playing and everyone was making their way out of the building.




I followed Dan outside, into the light.  The sun was already out.   I felt so tired, but so amazing, other than the fact that I was extremely sweaty.  I tried lifting my long hair off of my neck because it kept pulling on something.  I realized then that my candy necklace had melted from the heat and had glued my hair to my neck.

But other than that..... I was on a high.  This was, hands down, one of the coolest things I had ever experienced.


As we drove home, I looked over at Dan.  He looked back at me and smiled and whispered, "Good night raver girl".

I smiled back and closed my eyes.

----------------------------------------------
I woke up to my alarm.



It was 7am.


I opened my eyes and looked around my bedroom.


I was no longer in university, and I was no longer 23.


I was back to being a single mom.  No more industrial parties, no more metallic backless tops, and no more candy necklaces (which I finally got out of my hair in the shower later that day).



The rave was officially over.





I yawned and grabbed my cell phone.



Half asleep, I searched for a song that would wake me up.


A song that would bring me back to that incredible night.



When fashion was crazy, people had cat eyes......and I was a Ridiculous Raver Girl ;)







And here's the song....just in case you wanted to hear it ;)
It's a good one.  Blare it!

Sing it back