Altered State
On sale
4th June 2026
Price: £14.99
‘The definitive story’ Q Magazine
‘I can’t recommend this marvellous piece of work enough’ Irvine Welsh
From its first publication in 1997, Altered State established itself as the definitive text on Ecstasy and dance culture. This new edition, reissued as part of White Rabbit’s prestigious Deep Cuts series, sees Matthew Collin take a thrilling trip through the acid house Summer of Love and the rave scene’s euphoric escalation as MDMA became a mass-market narcotic.
Using a cast of memorable characters to track the origins of the scene and its signature drug through psychedelic subcults, underground gay discos and the Balearic paradise of Ibiza, Collin provides an anatomy of not only its ideologies and myths but also the criminal underside to the blissed-out image.
Altered State illuminates the social history of the most spectacular youth movement of the twentieth century and its enduring impact on music, politics and popular culture.
‘For anyone who’s ever lost themselves on some dark, dry ice-filled dancefloor . . . it’s a book that conveys the very essence itself‘ Bethan Cole, i-D Magazine
‘Anyone who has played a small part in this unfolding story will want to read this book because it explains what they have lived through‘ Geoff Dyer, Independent
‘A fascinating history . . . Altered State keeps politics in the foreground even as it tells picaresque stories of rave promoters with suitcases of cash‘ Hari Kunzru, London Review of Books
‘I can’t recommend this marvellous piece of work enough’ Irvine Welsh
From its first publication in 1997, Altered State established itself as the definitive text on Ecstasy and dance culture. This new edition, reissued as part of White Rabbit’s prestigious Deep Cuts series, sees Matthew Collin take a thrilling trip through the acid house Summer of Love and the rave scene’s euphoric escalation as MDMA became a mass-market narcotic.
Using a cast of memorable characters to track the origins of the scene and its signature drug through psychedelic subcults, underground gay discos and the Balearic paradise of Ibiza, Collin provides an anatomy of not only its ideologies and myths but also the criminal underside to the blissed-out image.
Altered State illuminates the social history of the most spectacular youth movement of the twentieth century and its enduring impact on music, politics and popular culture.
‘For anyone who’s ever lost themselves on some dark, dry ice-filled dancefloor . . . it’s a book that conveys the very essence itself‘ Bethan Cole, i-D Magazine
‘Anyone who has played a small part in this unfolding story will want to read this book because it explains what they have lived through‘ Geoff Dyer, Independent
‘A fascinating history . . . Altered State keeps politics in the foreground even as it tells picaresque stories of rave promoters with suitcases of cash‘ Hari Kunzru, London Review of Books
Reviews
The first book to forensically document the acid house explosion . . . It's written with the authority of the first-hander, but what makes the book so compelling is his political perspective
Remains the definitive story of the [1990s] love affair with MDMA and mucking about in fields just off the M25
At last somebody has written the real history of the last ten years, and written it with such wit, verve, empathy and profound intelligence. I can't recommend this marvellous piece of work enough
Not just timely; it was crying out to be written
