The History Of Techno

[MARKEG]

I did a massive aritcle in the old Generator mag once and it was most interesting article I think I ever did. Does anyone here know their history on techno? Juan Atkins, the Belville Three, Blake Baxter? How did techno start? How did it blow up in Europe with Joey B and CJ Bolland?

I thought this would be really great thread for ppl to post links to how it all started. And to say their piece on how they thought it all began or developed. Not just Detroit and Belgium, UR, but even the early Plus 8.

This would be a great thread for the new guys out there too. If you know anything, any links, anything, please post here - share the knowledge ;)

[drift9]

no links, per se, but Dan Sicko's book Techno Rebels should be required reading. Great history and well-written to boot.

[The Germ]

Techno was primarily developed in basement studios by "The Belleville Three", a cadre of African-American men who were attending college, at the time, near Detroit, Michigan. The budding musicians – former high school friends and mixtape traders Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson – found inspiration in Midnight Funk Association, an eclectic, 5-hour, late-night radio program hosted on various Detroit radio stations including WCHB, WGPR, and WJLB-FM from 1977 through the mid-1980s by DJ Charles "The Electrifying Mojo" Johnson. Mojo's show featured heavy doses of electronic sounds from the likes of George Clinton, Kraftwerk, and Tangerine Dream, among others.

Though initially conceived as party music that was played on daily mixed radio programs and played at parties given by cliquish, Detroit high school clubs, it has grown to be a global phenomenon. High school clubs such as Snobbs, Hardwear, Brats, Comrades, Weekends, Rumours, and Shari Vari created the incubator in which Techno was grown. These young promoters developed and nurtured the local dance music scene by both catering to the tastes of the local audience of young people and by marketing parties with innovative DJ's and eclectic new music. As these local clubs grew in popularity, groups of DJ's began to band together and market their mixing skills and sound systems to the clubs under names like Direct Drive and Audio Mix in order to cater to the growing audiences of listeners. Locations like local church activity centers, vacant warehouses, offices and YMCA auditoriums were the early locations where the underage crowds gathered, and where the musical form was nurtured and defined.

The music soon attracted enough attention to garner its own club, the Music Institute. It was founded by Chez Damier, Derrick May and a few other investors. Though short-lived, this club was known internationally, for its all night sets, its sparse white rooms, and its juice bar (the Institute never served liquor). Relatively quickly, techno began to be seen by many of its originators and up-and-coming producers as an expression of Future Shock post-industrial angst. It also took on increasingly high tech and science-fiction oriented themes.

The music's producers were using the word "techno" in a general sense as early as 1984 (as in Cybotron's seminal classic "Techno City"), and sporadic references to an ill-defined "techno-pop" could be found in the music press in the mid-1980s. However, it was not until Neil Rushton assembled the compilation Techno! The New Dance Sound Of Detroit for Virgin Records (UK) in 1988 that the word came to formally describe a genre of music.

Techno has since been retroactively defined to encompass, among others, works dating back to "Shari Vari" (1981) by A Number Of Names, the earliest compositions by Cybotron (1981), Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder's "I Feel Love" (1977), and the more danceable selections from Kraftwerk's repertoire between 1977 and 1983.

In the years immediately following the first techno compilation's release, techno was referenced in the dance music press as Detroit's relatively high-tech, mechanical brand of house music, because on the whole, it retained the same basic structure as the soulful, minimal, post-disco style that was emanating from Chicago, Illinois and New York City, New York at the time. The music's producers, especially May and Saunderson, admit to having been fascinated by the Chicago club scene and being influenced by house in particular. This influence is especially evident in the tracks on the first compilation, as well as in many of the other compositions and remixes they released between 1988 and 1992. May's 1987–88 hit "Strings Of Life" (released under the nom de plume Rhythim Is Rhythim), for example, is considered a classic in both the house and techno genres. At the same time, there is evidence that the Chicago sound was influenced by the Detroit Three — allegedly, May loaned Chicago-based house musician Keith "Jack Master Funk" Farley the equipment to make the classic track "House Nation"; early Detroit techno records reportedly sold well in Chicago; and Atkins believes that the first acid house producers, seeking to distance house music from disco, emulated the techno sound. [1]

A spate of techno-influenced releases by new producers in 1991–92 resulted in a rapid fragmentation and divergence of techno from the house genre. Many of these producers were based in the UK and the Netherlands, places where techno had gained a huge following and taken a crucial role in the development of the club and rave scenes. Many of these new tracks in the fledgling IDM, trance and hardcore/jungle genres took the music in more experimental and drug-influenced directions than techno's originators intended. Detroit and "pure" techno remained as a subgenre, however, championed by a new crop of Detroit-area producers like Carl Craig, Kenny Larkin, Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills, Drexciya and Robert Hood, plus certain musicians in the UK, Belgium and Germany.

Derrick May is often quoted as comparing techno to "George Clinton and Kraftwerk stuck in an elevator", even though very little, if any, techno ever bore a stylistic resemblance to Clinton's repertoire. For various reasons, techno is seen by the American mainstream, even among African-Americans, as "white" music, even though its originators and many of its producers are Black. The historical similarities between techno, jazz, and rock and roll, from a racial standpoint, are a point of contention among fans and musicians alike. Derrick May, in particular, has been outspoken in his criticism of the co-opting of the genre and of the misconceptions held by people of all races with regard to techno.

In recent years, however, the publication of relatively accurate histories by authors Simon Reynolds (Generation Ecstasy aka Energy Flash) and Dan Sicko (Techno Rebels), plus mainstream press coverage of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, have helped to diffuse the genre's more dubious mythology. The genre has further expanded as more recent pioneers of the scene such as Moby, Orbital, and the Future Sound of London have made the style break through to the mainstream pop culture.
[edit]

Musicology

Stylistically, techno features an abundance of percussive, synthetic sounds, studio effects used as principal instrumentation, and a fast, regular 4/4 beat in the 130-140 bpm range. It is very DJ-friendly, being mainly instrumental, often without a discernible melody or bass line, and produced with the intention of being incorporated into continuous DJ sets wherein different compositions are played with very long, synchronized segues. Although several other dance music genres can be described in such terms, techno has a distinct sound that aficionados can pick out very easily.

There are many ways to make techno, but a typical techno production is created using a compositional technique that developed to suit the genre's sequencer-driven, electronic instrumentation. While this technique is rooted in a Western music framework (as far as scales, rhythm and meter, and the general role played by each type of instrument), it does not typically employ traditional approaches to composition such as reliance on the playing of notes, the use of overt tonality and melody, or the generation of accompaniment for vocals. Some of the most effective techno music consists of little more than cleverly programmed drum patterns that interplay with different types of reverb and frequency filtering, mixed in such a way that it's not clear where the instrument's timbres end and the effects begin.

Instead of employing traditional compositional techniques, the techno musician treats the electronic studio as one large, complex instrument: an interconnected orchestra of machines, each producing timbres that are at once familiar and alien. These machines are set in motion one by one, and are encouraged to generate the kind of repetitive patterns that are more 'natural' to them. Depending on how they are wired together, they sometimes influence each other's sounds as the producer builds up many layers of syncopated, rhythmic harmonies and mingles them together at the mixing console.

After an acceptable palette of compatible textures is collected in this manner, the producer begins again, this time focusing not on developing new textures but on imparting a more deliberate arrangement of the ones he or she already has. The producer "plays" the mixer and the sequencer, bringing layers of sound in and out, and tweaking the effects to create ever-more hypnotic, propulsive combinations. The result is a deconstructive manipulation of sound, owing as much to Debussy and the Futurist Luigi Russolo as it does to Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream.

The techno producer's studio can be anything from a single computer (increasingly common nowadays) to elaborate banks of synthesizers, samplers, effects processors, and mixing boards wired together. Most producers use a variety of equipment and strive to produce sounds and rhythms never heard before, yet stay fairly close to the stylistic boundaries set by their contemporaries.
[edit]

Substyles and related genres

In the early 1990s, adventurous techno producers experimented with the style, spawning new genres that have taken on a life of their own. The most prominent of these techno offshoots are:

* Detroit techno — music in the style of early techno from Detroit, but not necessarily originating in Detroit. Famous for searing strings and crisp, tight but intricate hihat patterns.
* tech house — a slightly lower-tempo fusion that often combines techno with a prominent bass line and other elements of house and dub;
* trance, which now has many subgenres — a form that tends to emphasize continuous synthesized, melodic or harmonic figures in the lower midrange frequencies, and that often uses build-ups, dramatic crescendos, muted bass drums, and sometimes includes vocals;
* a short-lived subgenre called hardcore that evolved into more stable genre jungle — a form based mainly on complex arrangements of sampled percussion, often at high tempos (140–200 BPM), and often featuring loud, dub-influenced bass lines played at half time;
* Gabba, Gabber, or what was known as hardcore techno in the U.S. — a very loud, aggressive, high-tempo (160–220 BPM) techno, much of which originated in Rotterdam and often features a distorted Roland TR-909 bass drum overdriven to the point where it becomes a tonal square wave;
* Acid techno, Chicago inspired style of techno that originally featured the sound of the Roland TB-303 synthesizer; and
* IDM, representing techno's "avant-garde" — a genre often influenced by and crossing over into ambient and experimental music, usually features complex, asymmetrical beat patterns that render it more for listening than dancing.

Less well-known genres or styles directly related to techno include Yorkshire Bleeps and Bass or "Bleep," which was prominent in the very early 1990s; and Ghettotech, which combines some of the aesthetics of techno with hip-hop, house music, and Miami bass. Various other styles exist and have a fan base, although the names and encyclopedic notability of these styles are points of contention. Examples include speedcore, splittercore, bouncy techno, Schranz, Swechno, and Wonky techno.

Occasionally, well-funded pop music producers will formulate a radio or club-friendly variant of techno. The music of Technotronic, 2 Unlimited, and Lords Of Acid were early examples of this phenomenon. Established pop stars also sometimes get techno makeovers, such as when William Orbit produced Madonna's "Ray Of Light".

[The Overfiend]

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[eyes without a face]

i think putting the actual factual history of Techno aside, alot of people do have their own personal histories of techno and how it developed for them, which is one of the most unique things about it i think. One genre and so many different stories to tell within it

[kai]

I spent a lot of time when I first got into dance music (in the mid-90's) researcing the history of dance music in general, from the early Chicago House onwards.

However, I have to say that the piece above writ by The Germ is one of the best, and most complete pieces I have read on the history of techno, so thanks for that mate.

As a genre I knew the basics of its history, about role of Atkins, May and Sunderson in Detroit, the influence of the Belgians, and the work of Bolland and Beltram, but I had no where near the depth of knowledge on the subject that you've gone into. Cheers. :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

[tocsin]

I don't really care for the history because I find it to be mostly hype. Especially for what we are into. It's just too young with thoo many people that did it all at once, completely free of any constraints placed on them by industry models that want stories to sell records. The first "techno" I heard was through random MOD files people used to upload to my BBS when I was like 14-15 (I'm 30 now). A couple were from some guys who I'd later recognize through having music for sale (KLF, The Shamen) but most were just kids playing with computer to do digital audio collages (at least that's what I considered them at the time because, as a kid living very rural, I had no idea what "techno" supposedly was). For every single bit of "history" I've read on the development of techno, it's all been made to linear and, somehow, completely ignores this aspect, amongst many others. A largely anonymous community was writing music and sharing it wih each other. It certainly would have influenced itself in the way any organic movement. I know it influenced how I approached it more than most of these artists covered in "history" lessons. Most of the people I know who are really anal about the history are also really anal in their productions or spinning. In their effort to educate, they often come off as clones of those who they idolize through their lessons. So, just my particular take on it but, for a music made with technology that develops faster than we know what to do with, coupled with the fact that it has been used internationally by a scattered and largely disconnected crowd to make music, I ind most of the history that credit people with being so influential as being more hype than anything else and I find it kinda stifling I lean towards the chaos theory in it since that's what I experienced much more than I ever will the "X artist wrote A which directly inspired Y artists to do B which inspired every Z artist to do C."

[Jimfish]

alot of people do have their own personal histories of techno and how it developed for them, which is one of the most unique things about it i think. One genre and so many different stories to tell within it

dude i think in terms of music as a whole techno is probably one of the genres with the least stories to tell.. what about blues, jazz, rock, even ****ing country and western or old seas shantys, anything really. All those things have touched millions more lives than techno has and have been around one hell of a lot longer! there is nothing unique about techno for having its own stories!

[tocsin]

I still think people over emphasize the "artist" over the technology. All but one track I've ever had released had anywhere from a 2-4 year delay from the time I'd completed it and the time it came out. People have compared some of the tracks to sounding similar to other artists who, at the time I wrote those tracks, I'd never heard and, upon looking into them, were not releasing music that sounded anything like it. So, is it always the case that, when songs sound similar, it was inspired by one particular artist or a group of them? Or could it have been something as simple as numerous people discovering a plugin like Quadrafuzz and using it on their kick drums at some point? What's the influence? That artist or the technology? I've seen a little bit of treatment of "technology" in history lessons when it comes to people using Roland or Korg synths and how that technology was used by them to "start" a style of music. But, I just have a hard time swallowing that. A 4/4 beat made with technology that was mass produced will be implemented by artists to make similar sounding music who had never heard of each other before. That's how it goes. This is all too basic to really credit such small handfuls of people. And then, once it came to the software elements where people weren't using gear at all to make music, I've seen little or no discussion of this in any "history." Maybe because it isn't sexy enough to writers or maybe because, in the end, it opened up such a wide pool of musical expression practically from it's birth, that it's nearly impossible to do such a history. Who knows? Maybe I'm different, but "techno" for me and how I've been involved is really just an offshoot of the 80's/early 90's hack scene I was part of. I started screwing around with cheap machines and software in front of me when I got tired of needing to find a drummer to do experimental music. Yet, somewhere, there are people who would attempt to connect that to some guys in Detroit and they would be completely off the mark.


On another note, eyeswithoutaface, even the "one genre" comment which I understand, I view that as industry related. There was a time when a number of people writing stuff didn't have any "genre" in mind and only had their tracks lumped into a genre because critics and stores needed a way to package the sound.

[doc12inch]

dont really have much to say about the history of techno but it kicks ass in everyway end of!!

[koma]

http://www.jacbri.com/images/ELECTROCHOC3.jpg

a must read!
about scene getting started in UK, France, bits of other eu countries included, detroit.. really impressive book..

[detfella]

What's the influence? That artist or the technology?

i think this is an important question. each have equal merit but people often overlook the importance of technology. who are the real artists the people organising the noise or the people designing the sounds/software/hardware in the first place? there would have been no music concrete without tape machines, no radiophonic workshop without Dave Young, maybe no techno without roland, no hardcore without akai...

i think a lot of artists are now intrested in designing their software, just look at the rise of reaktor, max/msp, vst. it will be interesting to see what next is in store.

the future of music is a combination of the tools that are created by inspirational engineers and the artists that fuse the sounds together.

[Ginjin]

http://www2.abc.net.au/arts/soundsliketechno/

Have click on that, it will go over some of the history concerning the detroit boys and how it has spread to europe. Also has a history of techno in Australia part.

[Komplex]

I don't really care for the history because I find it to be mostly hype. Especially for what we are into. It's just too young with thoo many people that did it all at once, completely free of any constraints placed on them by industry models that want stories to sell records. The first "techno" I heard was through random MOD files people used to upload to my BBS when I was like 14-15 (I'm 30 now). A couple were from some guys who I'd later recognize through having music for sale (KLF, The Shamen) but most were just kids playing with computer to do digital audio collages (at least that's what I considered them at the time because, as a kid living very rural, I had no idea what "techno" supposedly was). For every single bit of "history" I've read on the development of techno, it's all been made to linear and, somehow, completely ignores this aspect, amongst many others. A largely anonymous community was writing music and sharing it wih each other. It certainly would have influenced itself in the way any organic movement. I know it influenced how I approached it more than most of these artists covered in "history" lessons. Most of the people I know who are really anal about the history are also really anal in their productions or spinning. In their effort to educate, they often come off as clones of those who they idolize through their lessons. So, just my particular take on it but, for a music made with technology that develops faster than we know what to do with, coupled with the fact that it has been used internationally by a scattered and largely disconnected crowd to make music, I ind most of the history that credit people with being so influential as being more hype than anything else and I find it kinda stifling I lean towards the chaos theory in it since that's what I experienced much more than I ever will the "X artist wrote A which directly inspired Y artists to do B which inspired every Z artist to do C."

What you're really saying is that Techno has more than 1 history. The popular commercial history and the numerous, unwritten/unpublished underground histories?

[conflict]

this really interests me

i've spent many an hour reading about the history of techno

i found this a while ago,i'd love to have gone
http://www.blackoutaudio.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=32786

or speak to someone who went...

[tocsin]

What you're really saying is that Techno has more than 1 history. The popular commercial history and the numerous, unwritten/unpublished underground histories?

Sorta. A bit more than that. I'm saying that techno happened and evolved so quickly, by people using aliases never to be heard from again, that just about any history connected to individual artists is more hype than fact. In a way, I think a more honest treatment of the subject would be through the study of the history of the technology. We will never ever know who truly influenced what in the digital realm. We won't even know how that crossed over to influence straight gear whores. Digital "techno" was being distributed around the globe long before the advent of MP3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Module_file

[TechMouse]

Digital "techno" was being distributed around the globe long before the advent of MP3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Module_file

Yeah - spot on.

Anyone ever have anything to do with the whole early 16-bit demo scene?

Jesus on E's man... how cool was that?

[FMS]

I used to release s3m and it techno modules back in the 90's before mp3... I was also in the music department of the group Share And Enjoy (SAE)... Good times

[G-BO]

as techno is forever turning new corners and seeking new methods of production and sounscapes, this is because of its industrial background, as thats what industrial art/music represented - to bring out feelings, sounds, art and images etc that have not been produced

hence industrial music goes further back to the early 1900s, i thinks thats were the history of this art (techno) form began

once technology became a key figure, that was when the term techno was created, it existed a long time before detroit

[webassassin]

What you're really saying is that Techno has more than 1 history. The popular commercial history and the numerous, unwritten/unpublished underground histories?

Sorta. A bit more than that. I'm saying that techno happened and evolved so quickly, by people using aliases never to be heard from again, that just about any history connected to individual artists is more hype than fact. In a way, I think a more honest treatment of the subject would be through the study of the history of the technology. We will never ever know who truly influenced what in the digital realm. We won't even know how that crossed over to influence straight gear whores. Digital "techno" was being distributed around the globe long before the advent of MP3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Module_file

c'mon, you're going into semantics. issue is not about the technology or so much what the influences were. the issue is that three guys from the d who had their own creative ideas and philosophies, created a style that's all their own that became quite a major youth culture/scene/movement that we all enjoy today hence the history of 'techno', not 'techno technology' or whatever. furthermore, i don't think it's hype, its not like they sat there and did nothing and got all this press. they had their own thing going on in america which interested the europeans and that is it.

[MARKEG]

i thought this was a post about the history of techno?? :lol: :lol: :lol: