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
UPDATED WITH BRAND-NEW MATERIAL FOR 2025
Long revered as the definitive work on Ecstasy and dance culture in the late 1980s and 1990s, Altered State follows the UK scene from its euphoric beginnings through to the worst of its commercial excesses as MDMA became a mass-market drug. Acclaimed music journalist Matthew Collin brings together a cast of memorable characters – among them DJs, gang members, promoters and policemen – to examine the myths and ideologies of this revolutionary scene, exploring the criminal underside to the blissed-out image and shedding new light one one of the most spectacular youth movements of the twentieth century.
‘I can’t recommend this marvellous piece of work enough’ IRVINE WELSH
UPDATED WITH BRAND-NEW MATERIAL FOR 2025
Long revered as the definitive work on Ecstasy and dance culture in the late 1980s and 1990s, Altered State follows the UK scene from its euphoric beginnings through to the worst of its commercial excesses as MDMA became a mass-market drug. Acclaimed music journalist Matthew Collin brings together a cast of memorable characters – among them DJs, gang members, promoters and policemen – to examine the myths and ideologies of this revolutionary scene, exploring the criminal underside to the blissed-out image and shedding new light one one of the most spectacular youth movements of the twentieth century.
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Reviews
Not just timely; it was crying out to be written
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
