Detroit Techno

Where Detroit Techno Came From:
From across the sea, where it had been making a name for itself at the rave parties in Europe. There are real American fans out there who swear that the music was exported out of Detroit to Europe and came back in an electronic form. There are traces of African American rhythms so this could well be true. However, in its current form, techno came back to Detroit repackaged and electronic.

What It Is Detroit Techno All About:
One of the distinguishing traits of Detroit techno is the actual use of the analog synthesizers and the early drum machines, especially the ever so popular Roland TR-909 for the production or during the later releases, and the use of digital emulation in order to create the characteristic sounds of all of those machines. Several of the early techno music tracks had robotic or futuristic themes. There were also strains of sadness, fear and poverty that one could sense through the music. However, one has to admit that through the sonic themes of desolation, there runs a thread of hope. Detroit Techno is not all bleak – it is lit up, though dimly, with a sense of anticipation.

The early 1980s saw the eruption of Detroit Techno -- led by visionaries Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins and Derrick May -- as the Michigan city turned from industrial boomtown to urban wasteland. The general mood is a mixture of simultaneous euphoria and anxiety. Still alive in its Third Wave of popularity with artists like Jeff Mills, Stacey Pullen and Drexciya, Detroit Techno maintains minimalist, driving beats, smooth grooves and breakbeat excursions. The distinctive Detroit sound blends sonic themes of fear and poverty with a dim, but pervasive, light of hope and anticipation.

Detroit techno is a very early style of electronic music that originated from the suburbs in Detroit in the middle-eighties. The Detroit techno music genre has cultural origins in Detroit which is located within Michigan in the United States of America. The instruments that are typically used in Detroit techno music are the drum machine and the analog synthesizer. Detroit techno music was able to enjoy its mainstream popularity by a large following underground and a low international popularity among the mainstream, as well as mainstream popularity within the metro area of Detroit.

Originally, the Detroit techno music genre was viewed as a subset to the early style of the house music genre in Chicago but there are some critics out there that believe that the movement of Detroit techno was just an adjunct to the house music genre.