A nocturnal gathering on a grassy Welsh farm. Clandestine meet-ups in the guts of a historic suspension bridge. Stony beaches and surreptitious squats. These were the sites of England’s storied free party scene in the early 1990s.

“We had a few summers of doing that week in, week out — parties in crazy, weird places. We never started with any blueprint or grand plan to change anything. It just happened,” recalled DJ Pete Woosh of Nottingham’s DiY collective in an interview with Vice.

For thousands of Britons unauthorized dance parties were a lifeline for emerging forms of youth culture and identity after Thatcherism. Raves were accepting of all kinds—the only rule was to have a good time and do it for free. The covert nature of the events was all part of the rush.