• Techno Music History

Techno music is a form of electronic music, greatly influenced by the popular electronic music of the 1970s, characterized by regular, pounding beats in combination with indistinct synthesized sequences. Techno music emerged during the mid-1980s and refers to the typical style of music developed in and around Detroit.

Techno music was born in a basement studio by Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, referred to as "The Belleville Three", and Eddie Fowlkes, in 1983. These three African-American budding musicians were attending college, near Detroit, Michigan during that period. These three people were former high school friends were deeply inspired by a late-night radio program -- Midnight Funk Association, which produced eclectic music hosted on various Detroit radio stations from 1977 to the mid-1980s. They were particularly inspired by a radio DJ Charles, ‘The Electrifying Mojo’ Johnson, who played eclectic music like George Clinton, Kraftwerk, and Tangerine Dream together in a particular dance party. In 1983 Atkins and Richard Davies, came up with “Clear” under the name of Cybotron which was not a hit right away, but greatly influenced the music culture of the youth in urban city clubs.

Techno music employs themes which are only based on urban life and science fiction. The themes are usually futuristically based. Initially, Techno was only played in the major urban dance clubs and elite parties. It is more popular in Europe than in the US. While Techno made it to the dance clubs in Chicago and New York, it continued to be an underground style in most other part of the world throughout the later part of eighties. It was only after Neil Rushton assembled the compilation ‘Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit for Virgin UK’ in 1988 that Techno music came to be formally recognized as a unique genre of music. Immediately following the first techno compilation's release, many producers came up with many new compilations.

However, many people still believe that Techno music originated much earlier than the compilations of "The Belleville Three". Compilations like "The Rhythm Modulator", "The Bass-Line Generator" and "IBM Probe" apart from other compilations like "Shari Vari", compiled by Cybotron in 1981, "I Feel Love", compiled by Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder in 1977, "From Here to Eternity" compiled in 1977 and Kraftwerk's repertoire compiled between 1977 and 1983 are clear evidences in support of this argument based on the chronology of these compilations.