The acronym PLUR is a mantra of the raver community which stands for Peace, Love, Unity, and Responsibility. There have been a lot of variations in PLUR, as well as contentions even within the rave community as to what the mantra of their subculture should be. The principles of peace, love, unity, and responsibility have been in raving practice as early as mid-1980’s to the 90’s, but the term PLUR wasn’t used to describe their dancing beliefs.
Theories as to who coined the term PLUR and how it all started are often heard through the rave grapevine, and the most commonly spoken of theory is that it was American DJ Frankie Bones who coined the term. According to this theory, DJ Frankie Bones came up with the peace, love, and unity mantra as a response to a fight that broke out while he was spinning and performing in one show. Bones allegedly stopped the music and told the brawlers, “”If you don’t start showing some peace, love, and unity, I’ll break your f*cking faces.”
Following that event, an acid house music-playing DJ named Frankie Knuckles started the Peace, Love, Unity Movement or PLUM. Some say that it was during DJ Frankie Bones’ “Storm Raves” series that Respect was added to Peace, Love, Unity to form the now widely known P.L.U.R. mantra. As mentioned earlier, there are now numerous variations of PLUR and its meaning. Some ravers use PLURR, adding the word Responsibility, as a response to the negative reputation that the rave scene gained due to prolific drug use in the 90’s. There are some who also believe that the R in PLUR stands for Rave, and that PLUR really means Please Let Us Rave.
PLUR is often interpreted as the principles by which ravers should live their lives. It may also be interpreted as the principles that ravers’ partying behavior should follow. Anti-rave communities also parody PLUR, saying that it really means People Look Ugly Raving, or People Lost in Unobtainable Realities. In the rave community, there need not be one fixed meaning of PLUR. As long as its reflective of their lifestyle and dancing philosophy, PLUR can mean a lot of things without being contradictory and separatist.