How EDM has swept over one of racing’s greatest parties: The Snake Pit
by Matthew DiDonna
300 miles, 500 laps; the Indy 500 is one of racing’s greatest spectacles. Beginning in 1911, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) has held an annual race that attracts fans from all over the world. Indy cars zoom around the track reaching speeds that are well over 200 miles per hour. The race is home to many traditions. The fastest driver drinks milk after crossing the finish line and Hoosiers tune into the playing of “Back Home Again in Indiana” preceding the race. However, the tailgating, crashes, and pre-race festivities are not the only attraction at the IMS.
Introduced in the 1950s, the Snake Pit was a rowdy party that was full of heavy alcohol consumption and shameless behavior. Inside the IMS racetrack, thousands have gathered over the years to partake in the extraordinary event. Over time, there have been several attempts to shut down the Pit due to its craziness. For example, in 1981 the area was replaced by more seating for the race to cut down on the obstreperous practices. Despite these efforts, the youth would never take no for an answer. The unhinged jamboree has continued well into modern day.
In 2011, the Snake Pit was transformed from an unruly celebration to an electronic dance music (EDM) concert where some of the industry’s greatest artists perform every year. This year, the snake pit–now located on turn 3–is expected to hold well over 35,000 fans. EDM disk jockeys Subtronics, John Summit, DJ Diesel (aka Shaquille O’Neal), and Jauz will rile up the crowd from sunrise to the late afternoon. While the Snake Pit is certainly a one-of-a-kind experience, EDM festivals have grown well outside the perimeter of the IMS.
As of 2019, 1.5 billion people around the world have enjoyed EDM–making it the 3rd most popular genre around the globe. But what makes this genre so popular? According to researchers at the University of Central Lancashire, EDM is a modern genre that made the shift from song to track—and back to “song” (even when electronically DJ-ed), with its appearance at more mainstream venues. EDM is closely related to other forms of music, most notably jigs, polkas, and mazurkas, that are primarily instrumental. These types of music are not supposed to be played in solitude, but rather in public places. Compared to other genres, like rock, the focus of EDM is not the performer but the listener. EDM’s purpose is to induce bodily movements of its listeners in raves, clubs, and more recently, festivals. EDM’s unique instrumentals excite crowds which makes the genre perfect for party scenes like the Snake Pit. EDM is just like racing, it gets the body moving fast.
But EDM was not always as popular as it is today. In the 1990s, EDM was an underground form of music that was played at small venues, like raves, all over Europe. The genre sparked the creation of countless sub-genres like drum-n-bass, house, and techno to name a few. Recently, EDM has evolved to resemble popular hit songs. The inclusion of popular themes, such as juvenile love and happiness, make the songs catchy, relatable, and easy to remember. As a result of this new trend within the genre, the cultural landscape of EDM has completely changed. In the 2000s, local governments in Europe saw the widespread popularity of EDM as a profitable opportunity. They started allowing EDM events in attractive destinations for youth listeners in areas like sports arenas and large public spaces. Other countries saw their success and shortly after, massive festivals, such as Love Parade in Germany and EDC in Las Vegas, started emerging throughout the world. When social media was introduced in the 2010s, the industry exploded. Mass culture events were being streamed on several platforms which brought the popularity of EDM to new extremes. This is why the rave could become part of the race.
In that respect, EDM’s history is comparable to several other genres. Researcher Fabian Holt, associate professor in the Department of Communication and Arts at Roskilde University (Denmark), brings up an interesting conversation: the soft shell theory. The theory differentiates between the hard and soft shell of a genre. The hard shell of a genre is its original roots while the soft shell describes how the genre has moved away from its origins to become more mainstream. Independent vs corporate and local genre radio vs national top 40 are two examples of characteristics that differentiate the hard and soft shell. The hard shell of EDM was the underground raves where the genre first emerged. These gatherings took place at small venues and had a niche group of listeners. The soft shell is how EDM has transformed from these small gatherings to mass culture events where listeners use the music as a vehicle to party. The genre is now being played on hit radio stations, at massive festivals, and on a multitude of streaming services. The new relatable themes (explained in the preceding paragraph) of EDM have facilitated this transition. In regards to the Snake Pit, the festival is a prime example of EDM’s soft shell. The crowd of bobbing heads knows every beat drop and lyric to these admired songs.
However, are there any aspects of EDM’s hard shell still present at the Snake Pit? From EDM’s beginnings, drug use has always been a part of the genre’s culture. Researchers, Philip Kavanaugh and Tammy Anderson, from the University of Delaware studied the hard shell rave culture of EDM. They explain that drugs like LSD, ketamine, rohypnol, and ecstasy were easy to get your hands on and were extremely popular in both the United States and United Kingdom as early as the 1990s. Certainly law enforcement has cracked down on drug usage at EDM events by now, right? In 2022, Researcher Edin Van Dyck from Ghent University and his colleagues conducted a study evaluating party-goers’ motives behind going to EDM concerts. While they found that fun, music, and dance were the top motives that brought people to the scene, there seems to be correlation between these motives and substance usage. Of their participants examined, 95% used alcohol, nearly 60% used cannabis, over 40% used MDMA, and roughly 25% used cocaine. With this knowledge in mind, it is certain that the EDM scene is full of alcohol and drug use which gives partygoers the energy to party all day and all night. EDM, in conjunction with substance usage, has made the Snake Pit just as egregious as it was 70 years ago. While many aspects of EDM have changed since the 1990s, hard drugs and partying are certainly still present at events like the Snake Pit–showing that some facets of EDM’s hard shell still prevail.
As EDM continues to grow, it strays further away from its core. The emergence of hip-hop sub-genres of EDM has completely changed the cultural landscape of the music. While partying and drug use are still present at EDM events, there is nothing small or niche about these massive festivals-like the Snake Pit-popping up throughout the world. With its origins becoming increasingly distant, the question arises: has EDM become a sellout? Nonetheless, the presence of EDM at the Indy 500 truly makes it the “greatest spectacle in racing.”