Pitchfork

It may be hard to fathom, but dance music did not actually originate with Daft Punk. There was a whole decades-long history of beats and breaks moving people on drugs in clubs before our favorite French robots arrived, and British critic Simon Reynolds ably documented it in the book Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture, known in the UK as Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture.

Originally published in 1998, the book delves into the histories of electro-driven scenes in Detroit, Chicago, London, Ibiza, and across the globe, spanning sub-genres from house to techno to trance to hardcore to jungle to rave to big beat to trip-hop. It's a book stuffed to the gills with information, and its insights into how drugs like ecstasy can offer a point of access to the music are fascinating.

Of course, plenty has happened in the world of dance music since Generation Ecstasy/Energy Flash was first published, and that's where a new edition comes in. On February 1, Picador will publish the updated version of the book, complete with six new chapters and 40,000 new words. Covered in the additions are developments such as grime, microhouse, dubstep, and garage, among others. (Note that the "20th anniversary" mentioned on the cover refers to the onset of the rave boom, not the book's original year of publication.)