As previously mentioned, the Fuck Buttons are making their way to the Magic Stick along with Washington outfit Growing. This enticed me to delve a little bit into the history of techno, which originated in Detroit in the 1980s. Most Detroit fans are aware of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, or DEMF, or whatever the hell they are calling it these days. What was once a free concert now costs a pretty penny and reflects the popularity of techno, trance, and dub within the national underground scene. Although my goal is not to create a snarky dissertation of what techno means to Detroit and what it should mean to you, I will offer a brief history of the genre and how Detroit made the entire vein a widely accepted and lauded over genre.
Historians debate the evolution of techno music in relation to house music developed in Chicago and named after the venue in which it spawned named the Warehouse. Some contest that Detroit techno drew its influence directly from house music while some believe that techno was an adjunct to house. Detroit techno forewent the choir friendly vocals of house music with clicks and whistles similar to what one would hear on an assembly line. The three names most closely related to the Detroit techno scene were known as the Belleview Three, and consisted of Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May. Like many veins of music, techno was a complete accident.
The three gentlemen drew their influences from acts including George Clinton, the B-52s, Kraftwerk, and Prince, which supplied the inspiration for many of their synthesized beats and hip hop undertones. Under the name Deep Space Soundworks, Atkins and May began spreading techno to the Detroit party scene. They then investigated the house scene of Chicago and the works of Frankie Knuckles and DJ Ron Hardy. Their immersion in the house scene combined the natural progression from disco to house and combined it with the futuristic sound that is still present in modern techno. The reason for the futuristic tinge to techno lies in the belief that Detroit was the most futuristic in regards to moving away from industrialism.
Derrick May of the Belleville Three
Techno hit the British market in 1988 due to the extreme popularity of American electronic music within the scene. May and Atkins took their techno music across the sea where it became a large part of the underground and drug cultures, the drug culture specifically caused some apprehension for the Belleville Three. The trio managed the first Detroit Electronic Music festival in 200, which is now renamed Movement. The mission of Derrick May still claims that his main goal remains “saving the world from bad music”.
Detroit techno remains a popular genre in the vein of music even outside of the massive international acts including Daft Punk, Justice, etc. Part of the underground party scene, Detroit techno from its roots up to its current state remains one of the defining cultures in the Detroit underground music industry and one of the city’s many contributions to the world of popular and underground music.
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