Before Burning Man would celebrate it's 30th anniversary in 2016.
Before Burning Man would enter into pop culture being featured in episodes of Malcolm In The
Middle, South Park and The Simpsons.
Before Buring Man would be described as Cirque du Soleil, Coachella, Art Basel and Woodstock
all rolled into one.
Before Buring Man would become a hot spot desditation for A list celebs including Katy
Perry, Will Smith, Jared Leto, Anne Hathaway and of course YouTubers Logan Paul & Jesse
Wellens.
What started out as a spontaneous event for a small group of friends during the summer
solstice of 1986 with an 8 foot tall wooden statue lit on fire has transformed over the
past 30 plus years into a cultural phenomenoa. 30 plus years later, Burning man is a week
long gathering in the Nevada desert drawing in an international crowd of 10's of thousands
who come to experience art, boundary pushing self-expressionisim while practicing self-reliance
in a make shift metropolis known as Black Rock City. It's as close to stepping into
the world of Mad Max as you can get, without being cast in the film.
Instead of running for your life, some of the festivities one can partake include: Roller
skating topless, dancing inside of a shark, watching a man hang 20 feet above the ground
by his nipples, accept candy from strangers dressed in bunny suits, play fire ski-ball,
do yoga, learn to twerk, take in a TEDx talk, jump on trampolines, hook up with whomever
you fancy, consensual of course if your up for it you can enter the infamous orgy dome,
if your not into that, well you can dance, dance, and dance some more.
What's going on guys? My name is Michael McCrudden and today we are trying something a little
different – documenting the history of Burning Man. In the past we have done similar videos
on events and holidays including Halloween & St. Patricks Day. I'm open to all your suggestions
so hit me up in the comments down below or via Insta and Twitter. Now let's get into
this BIO.
Burning Man officially started on June 21st 1986 when Larry Harvey, Jerry James and
a dozen friends met on Baker Beach in San Francisco and burned a 9-foot wooden man as
well as a smaller wooden dog. There was a precurser to this event involving a summer
solstice bonfire held on Baker Beach for several years prior but they didn't burn no man. So
it didn't count.
To be completely fair, rituals of burning a male statue made of wood goes way back in
time. The Wicker Man is a giant effigy allegedly used by the Druids to perform human sacrifice,
this is according to the writings of Julius Caesar dating back in 55 B.C.
Following the 1986 burn the same friends gathered yearly at the same spot erecting larger and
larger wooden statues with the number of attendents growing to 500+. By 1990 'the man' had reached
a height of 40 feet but that same year Park police shut down the Baker Beach festivity
and prevented the burning of the man. From there, the gang was in search of a new location.
In attendence at this event were members of the San Fransico Cacophony Society, members
of a free spirit network which interestingly enough was founded by the suriving members
of the San Fransico Suicide Club.
Yup. Well they let Larry Harvey in on their gather known as Zone Trip #4 held in Black
Rock Desert Nevage and invited him to bring his man to burn. 120 people made the voayage
on the labour day weekend of 1990 and Burning Man had officially found his new home.
The next year a fee of $15 dollars was collected from the 200 attendants and for the first
time the man was decorated in neon lights, a tradition that would carry on for the years
to come.
1992 brought the introduction of musical performances with the first EDM camp being set up. 1996
brought it's first unofficial theme to Buring Man which was Inferno or Hell the Buring Mans's
height grew to 48 ft. Through word of mouth the attendence continued to climb and 1996
8000 made the voayage into the desert. Sadly, the event suffered it's first fatality due
to a motorcycle accident.
The following year, driving was banned on the open playa. They also decided to rellocated
to a private gated property and re-created the event as a pedestriand/bicycle/art-car
only event. Although rules were being made to avoid disasters there was no stopping the
impresivness and popularity of the art works known as Mutant Vehicles.
In 2000 it became custom to begin errecting Temple's which would also be burned down to
the ground the day after Buring Man. Prior to this, festival goers inscribe on the inside
and outside of the Temple.
By 2004 Burning Man was now standing at 80 ft in the air and the attendence had surpassed
35K. It had made such a cultural impact on America that Buring Man made it's first appearence
in mainstream media being featured in an episode of Malcolm In The Middle.
In 2007 with the attendence was now approaching 50K, one Prankster decided to The Man on fire
prematurly dissapointing those in attendence. The man responsible, Paul Addis was arrested
and charged and then the community pulled together to rebuild the statue for it's scheduled
burn.
What a loser, In 2011, Burning Man tickets sold out before the event for the first time
in history. The effigy was errecter to a whopping 104 ft. the highest ever with the exception
of 2014 when it reached the height of 105 ft.
Each year Buring Man contines to get bigger and better. When the event takes place Black
Rock City become the third-biggest city in Nevada and it's intricate city layout can
be seen from the sky. The idea remains for visitors to enjoy life in this society where
there are no fights, no greed, no money, no labels, no genders, no brands and no corporations
and all who have taken the trip have chalked it up as life changing experience where they
were completley free to be themselves.
As for the rest of the story, well that's pretty much it, because this is Before They
Were Famous. My name is Michael McCrudden, if you are new to this channel be sure to
hit subscribe. I got a few videos down below you might want to check out and I'll see you
guys in another video.