Mike Banks interview

**SlavikSvensk** · 02-12-2009, 03:37 PM

from 2007, but a lot of really interesting stuff in here. one bit that stood out to me was his discussion of the early days in detroit, before cybotron or a number of names:

We were blessed. The guy who really laid the blueprint for Detroit Techno, you know him many times he's been mentioned - in fact a woman in France, Jacqueline Caux did a movie about this guy. His name was Electrifying Mojo. Mojo was a Vietnam war veteran, he was a radio man in Vietnam, he did DJing for the troops, and that's where he learned all the different types of music from around the world, and when he got back from Vietnam, he brought that to Detroit, that perspective, so we got to hear progressive rock up next to Falco, Euro synth pop. Of course he introduced Kraftwerk, which for Detroit was huge, he introduced Prince, George Clinton, all these great synth artists that used synthesizers for bass lines and stuff. 'Flashlight' was first played, I'm sure, in Detroit, because Mojo would break the records for the artists. He broke Juan [Atkins'] early records, Juan's early Model 500, Cybotron stuff. We were really blessed with that wide perspective. I thought it was happening all over the country, because Mojo was so huge, but of course it wasn't, it was only happening in Detroit. So I think he really opened up the ears, and the inspiration, and the minds of young Detroit kids, and I think that's where the whole concept for Detroit techno came from, from Mojo.

We listened to music that I guess in other places would be considered geeky music, or dorky, or whatever. I think personally, and I never got to say this in the interview that I did for the movie for him, I think he ended gang warfare in Detroit with one band. A lot of guys will know what I'm talking about. That summer, the gang warfare was at a height, and Mojo would get on the radio and ask for peace, pray for peace, and then drop the B52s, man. 'Rock Lobster'. You know it. Truthfully, you can't be too much of a tough guy while doing the rock lobster. The whole vibe of being mean.

The gang thing was deep in 78 and 79, it had to be early 80s when he dropped that, that shit ended it. It was the B52s and cocaine, because once cocaine came, a lot of the gangs started selling the drugs. But the B52s had a huge influence, I don't why, but cats wouldn't fight off that record. You know, when you play Funkadelic, that's fighting music, 'Flashlight' was a fighting song, 'One Nation Under a Groove' was a skating song, but B52s had a calming effect.

The Wire: Adventures in Modern Music: Article