The Chemical Generation refers to a collection of writers in the 1990s who created work responding to the hedonistic ecstasy and rave culture of the era.
[3] Notable writers in the genre include Welsh, Roddy Doyle, Alan Warner, John King, Jeff Noon, Nicholas Blincoe, Gordon Legge and Laura Hird - all of whom participated in the survey of the scene carried by Steve Redhead for the publishers of Rebel Inc., Canongate, in his book Repetitive Beat Generation,.
[2] Welsh points to the frequency of reading appearing alongside DJs, and often being performed in clubs, as an echo of the Beats.
The concept of a group of writers addressing drug culture was further developed in 1997 by Sarah Champion, whose Disco Biscuits became the UK's bestselling fiction anthology of all time.
In addition to the authors listed above the book was notable for the inclusion of writers such as Alex Garland, Bill Drummond, Will Self, Grant Morrison, Esther Freud, Douglas Coupland, Neal Stephenson, Poppy Z. Brite and Robert Anton Wilson.