Techno Rebels: "Just the [ ♫ ] Tracks, Ma'am"

What follows is an audio tour through the "pre-history of techno" according to Dan Sicko, author of Techno Rebels (1999, Billboard Books: Broadway, New York), "the definitive text on a hard-to-define but vital genre of music."

Techno Rebels, Chapter 2 ("The Pre-History of Techno") takes up where the "austere German group" Kraftwerk leaves off, and carries through to the development of Detroit's own artists, notably Juan Atkins and Derrick May.

Here are all the musical tracks, in order, cited in this pre-history of techno, all with clickable Youtube links.  Every musical note icon [ ♫ ] represents a link to one track.

Following the links in order, you can 'hear for yourself' one interpretation of how techno took hold and evolved in Detroit (a city which is within earshot of Canada's cultural capital, Toronto).

Hence the title of this article: Just the tracks, ma'am -- just the tracks.

from Techno Rebels, Chapter 2 (pp.31-66): The Pre-History of Techno

"Detroit's high school kids [...] recognized how important good [music] programming was, not only to themselves but to the city in general, and some even lobbied radio stations in an attempt to preserve a diverse radio spectrum. This willingness to make challenging stylistic choices is key to the creativity and energy of techno's formative years."

p.34 (quoting Hassan Narullah, Detroit high school student): "I remember [...] when the B-52's first album came out. We saw this bright-ass yellow record and weird-looking people singing weirder songs: [ ♫ ] 'There's a moon in the sky and it's called the moon.' What is this crap, we laughed?'"

Euro-disco and Italo-disco:  "Italo-disco benefited from trade restrictions that had made it nearly impossible to get imports in the United States before 1980.  When this trade restriction was lifted, American DJ's and audiences starving for new dance sounds devoured the 'new' Italo-disco records."

p.45: "Born in Ortisei, Italy, [Giorgio] Moroder was one of the first people to own a Moog 3 Synthesizer, which cost upwards of $10,000 when first released [= $58,600 in 2017].  Accessing new sounds was obviously more important than the price tag, and he wasted no time incorporating the early synthesizer into his music -- as early as 1972 he scored a hit in Britain with [ ♫ ] 'Son of my Father.'"

"By 1975, [Moroder] and colleague Pete Bellotte were using electronics to ordinary dance floor numbers into sweeping, sensual epics like the seventeen-minute span of Donna Summer's [ ♫ ] 'Love to Love You Baby.'"

p.46: "Jacques Fred Petrus was behind [ ♫ ] 'Fire Night Dance' by the Peter Jacques Band and [ ♫ ] 'I'm a Man' by Macho, while Easy Going's [ ♫ ] 'Fear,' Vivian Gee's [ ♫ ] 'Give Me a Break' and the music of Capricorn masked the production talents of Italian producer Claudio Simonetti."

p.47: "Robotnik was another Italo-disco favourite [who] hit it big with [ ♫ ] 'Problemes d'Amour' [...] one of the first records to feature the Roland TB-303 synthesizer."

"Also from Italy was Kano [...] their self-title EP featured [ ♫ ] 'It's a War,' one of Billboard's top ten dance hits and a Detroit favourite. The group's follow-up single, [ ♫ ] 'I'm Ready' would become one of Detroit's most-revered dance cuts [...]"

"Other major influences on Detroit's sound in particular came from the likes of Klein & MBO ([ ♫ ] 'Dirty Talk'), the kitschy Belgian trio Telex ([ ♫ ] 'Moskow Diskow'), and French artist Martin Circus ([ ♫ ] 'Disco Circus')."

p.48: "Some experts point to [Jean-Marc] Cerrone's 1976 single [ ♫ ] 'Love in C minor' as the first recording to sever all ties with traditional musical conventions [...] the start of 'conceptual disco' from which house, techno, and a myriad of other styles would flow."

p.49: "Detroit was also receptive to Japan's Yellow Magic Orchestra [whose] most interesting contribution may be the song [ ♫ ] 'Technopolis' [...] a tribute to Tokyo as an electronic mecca [...]"

Emergence of Detroit Artists

p.48: "In Detroit [...] the electronic sound that was so integral to Eurodisco found a perfect complement in the updated funk and R&B of Shannon ([ ♫ ] 'Let the Music Play') [...]"

p.49: "[ ♫ ] 'Fade to Grey' was [Detroit group] Visage's greatest hit, but it was the flip side that captured the Motor City's attention.  Simply titled [ ♫ ] 'Frequency 7,' it was a surprisingly aggressive and swaggering instrumental [...]"

p.51: It didn't take long for Detroit to externalize all of the sensory input it was receiving from Europe, and in 1981, two recordings by Detroit artists introduced the earliest beginnings of techno as its own style and genre: [ ♫ ] 'Sharevari' by A Number of Names, and [ ♫ ] 'Alleys of Your Mind' by Cybotron."

p.52: "Darryl Shannon played Kraftwerk's [ ♫ ] 'The Robots' right behind [Sharevari] and then he dropped Quartz's [ ♫ ] 'Beyond the Clouds' -- by then they were dancing up on the windowsills!"

"Detroit DJ's would work two copies of Kano's [ ♫ ] 'Holly Dolly,' repeating the sparse intro over and over again and doubling up on the chorus [...] the connection between Italo-disco, techno, and Detroit's high-school sophisticates can all be heard in this one single."

p.53: "[Donald Fagenson and David Weiss]'s first single, [ ♫ ] 'Wheel Me Out' (released in 1981 on Ze Records) was a rich blend of rock, funk and jazz that connected with local and foreign audiences alike."

"Weiss and Fagenson did their part to continue the disco bloodline with the standout cuts [ ♫ ] 'Come Out the Freaks' and [ ♫ ] 'Tell Me That I'm Dreaming' [...]"

p.54: "It would be another five years before Was (Not Was) [a.k.a Weiss and Fagenson] would become a nationally recognized name -- around the time it released the single [ ♫ ] 'Walk the Dinosaur' in 1988."

"Fagenson crafted some of the biggest local dance hits of the era.  [ ♫ ] 'The Beat Goes On' was released under the pseudonym Orbit, and was essentially Fagenson's answer to Kraftwerk's [ ♫ ] 'Tour de France.'"

"Detroiters will also remember the early vocal/rap duo Felix and Jarvis who [...] recorded everything from the rapid-fire new-wave [ ♫ ] 'Make It Rise' to the bouncy funk of [ ♫ ] 'Jam the House' and [ ♫ ] 'Flamethrower Rap.'"

p.56 (quoting Alan Oldham, aka DJ-T1000): "Ken [Collier] was the first person to champion Detroit techno. He and his brother Greg spun the first techno records ([ ♫ ] 'Strings of Life,' [ ♫ ] 'No UFO's,' etc) at the club Todd's, a dance music mecca that exposed the masses to new music."

p.58: "[ ♫ ] 'Kaos' was also the name of one of May's first recordings as Rhythim Is Rhythim, a name he recorded under in the late 1980's."

p.63: "Optimism and empathy run would run deep in techno music, even as early as Cybotron's 1984 classic [ ♫ ] 'Techno City.'"

And now for something completely different:
The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit, a work cited in Techno Rebels, Chapter 2, 'The Beauty of Decay' p.59.

Follow-me on Facebook!

Tweet