Excerpt from
Raver's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1996 edition)
passing through
(sometimes pronounced "passing troo" or "passing truh"; modified variations include "just passing through")
Rave buzz-phrase usually voiced by an MC either live at a rave or on a show broadcast by a pirate radio station.
Evokes the transitory mode of the raver, moving through a club, or moving between clubs during the course of a night. It could also apply to a DJ or MC who has several engagements that night and thus is just passing through one particular club / rave on the way to another.
Possible undertone of soundwaves (or radio waves) passing through the crowd body, through building walls and across the city.
Some more fanciful observers of the raving culture have detected a near-mystical existential undertone to the phrase, viz. the transience of life itself.
1 comment:
Whenever I hear an mc say ‘just passing thru’ it always strikes me as being extremely British in its understatement - the MC/DJ, clearly the star of the show, yet referring to themself in rather self-deprecating manner! Popping in, saying hi, dropping by, just passing through… we traditionally don’t like to big ourselves up too much in Britain!
It’s consistent with the peculiarly British sense of humour you sometimes find in nuum tracks - eg the goofy drug references, sampling TV themes like Trumpton or Countdown etc
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