What’s Up With PLUR?

I was recently asked to write an opinion article for Doctor Macro about my views on the current position of PLUR and the direction it seems to be going in. After thinking about it for a while, I came up with my perspective and sent it to the guys to post on their site. I drew from my experiences of going to massives such as Insomniac’s events, for example Nocturnal Wonderland and Escape from Wonderland, as well as smaller club like events such as Skrillex at L.A. Live in Los Angeles and Dillon Francis at the Observatory in Santa Ana.

I apologize if it seems like I jumped around a lot, but hopefully I got my points across about what I think is happening with PLUR. As you’ll read, I’m not really a big PLUR fan but I still have respect for what brought me to the scene.

Here’s my stance on the state of PLUR:

“PLUR is dead.

There, I said it. It’s been on its way out for a while now, and except for minority group of people, no one cares about it anymore. I hate to be “that guy” but ever since EDM has gone “mainstream”, it’s taken a different turn. I’ve asked several people to name me five artists besides Skrillex, Swedish House Mafia, and David Guetta, and they struggled to name two or three. Along with the meaning of PLUR, I have always thought that if you’re going to get into a scene, you should know as much about it as you can. Nowadays, a lot of people only know the famous artists, even though there is a bunch of talent out there who don’t get the respect they deserve.

Getting back to my main point, I’ve noticed a decline in PLUR at festivals and even more so in club events. I’ve been listening to a variety of EDM genres for years now and have gone to all types of shows, and it’s gotten a little worse each time. This past weekend, I saw Dillon Francis perform at the Observatory in Santa Ana (who is amazing by the way), and my friend and I walked to the front to get a good spot for him. There was this girl there who was completely out of it and rolling super hard. I could definitely tell she was on ecstasy and she was not taking it well. She was with some friends, but they were oblivious to her so I asked if she was ok. She said she was fine, but a couple minutes later she fell and hit her head on the stairs and started bleeding everywhere. Her friends saw this and….get this…they left her.

My friend and I took her outside where security found out she was on ecstasy as well as underage (she had a fake ID) for the event, which led to them calling the paramedics and her parents. As for her “friends”, I don’t care if your friend passes out because of illegal drugs or whatever, you don’t leave them. In my opinion, it seemed like she was just taking the drugs just to fit in the scene, which brings me to another point.

I don’t think you need to take drugs in order to experience the music there. The reason I go to club events and festivals is for the DJ and the music, which surprises some people when I tell them that. If you need something else to get you amped or whatever, I personally think you’re there for the wrong reason. But if that’s what you do, I don’t care as long as you don’t take away from the good time everyone else is having. People have the right to do what they want, and I’m fine with that. It’s just that when the new people start taking drugs because they think that’s what the scene is all about.

As for my own take on PLUR, I’m not one of those guys with giant Kandi sleeves who goes around hugging people and being super hippie. I like to talk to people about artists, songs, how they started listening to the music, etc. I don’t hate on the newcomers because, come on, we were all new once. But like I said, if you’re getting into it because it’s the trendy thing to do or just for the “drug scene”, find a better reason. One of the reasons why I started listening to this music is because there’s a genre for pretty much anyone out there. Whether it’s house or dubstep, drum & bass or trance, moombahton or glitch hop, we need to stop hating on a genre and start respecting everyone’s opinions. PLUR is a dying concept, but that doesn’t mean we should forget what brought us here in the first place. Music.”

Agree? Disagree? Tell me what you think! I promise I won’t bite…