History Main / Techno

It was originally conceived in TheEighties by three black middle class UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}} audiophiles (called "The Belleville Three" due to their neighborhood): Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson. They started making music that combined their love of early European synthpop and contemporary funk. In fact that May had described the sound of early techno "like Music/GeorgeClinton and Music/{{Kraftwerk}} are stuck in an elevator [[XMeetsY with only a sequencer to keep them company]]". It basically ended up sounding like music for robots to breakdance to. Atkins was arguably the [[UrExample first]] person to produce techno music, while May [[TropeMakers developed]] many of its distinct features, and Saunders was the first to push techno [[TropeCodifier to the charts]] (with his group Inner City). [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I280cxs2jvA Here's]] an example of an early techno song by Juan Atkins' group Cybotron.

It was originally conceived in TheEighties by three black middle class UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}} audiophiles (called "The Belleville Three" due to their neighborhood): Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson. They started making music that combined their love of early European synthpop (particularly Music/{{Kraftwerk}}) and contemporary funk. It basically ended up sounding like music for robots to breakdance to. Atkins was arguably the [[UrExample first]] person to produce techno music, while May [[TropeMakers developed]] many of its distinct features, and Saunders was the first to push techno [[TropeCodifier to the charts]] (with his group Inner City). [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I280cxs2jvA Here's]] an example of an early techno song by Juan Atkins' group Cybotron.

See also: SpeedyTechnoRemake. TheOtherWiki has a more in-depth article on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techno techno]].

The term "techno" has often been misused as a catch-all term for electronic dance music. Techno tends to have a rather specific sound, and in fact a decent amount of what some people call "techno" is usually either {{trance}}, [[HouseMusic house music]], or [[{{Europop}} Eurodance]]. Some fans find it very frustrating when people misunderstand what techno is about. Calling [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSYxT9GM0fQ this]] techno is as accurate as calling AvrilLavigne hardcore punk[[note]]That song is {{trance}}, for those who are wondering[[/note]].

Most techno is in [[CommonTime 4/4]], with a bass drum on each downbeat, and either a clap or a snare on every 2nd and 4th beat. Most of the time it retains the open-hi-hat-on-every-upbeat feeling of house, but there's often a rhythmic accent that marks the upbeats.

Here are some examples of various types of techno music:

!! Examples of techno musicians

* Music/TheChemicalBrothers

* Music/{{Moby}}

* Music/TheProdigy

* Music/{{Moonrat}}

* Music/DaftPunk
** ''Music/{{Discovery}}'' (2001)

** 1999 - Music/{{Play}}

* Music/LFO

* Faithless
* Laurent Garnier
* A Guy Called Gerald

* Music/AceOfBase
* Army Of Lovers: Best known for "Crucified".

* Atari Teenage Riot

* Basshunter

* EMF
* Music/{{Enigma}}

* Music/{{Goldfrapp}}

* Music/PrimalScream
** ''Music/{{Screamadelica}}'' (1991)

** ''Music/TheFatOfTheLand'' (1997)
* Snap!: Best known for "The Power" and "Rhythm is A Dancer".
* Technohead: Best known for "I Wanna Be A Hippy".
* Technotronic: Best known for "Pump Up The Jam".
* 2 Unlimited: Well known for the hits "No Limit", "Get Ready For This" and "No Limit".

* U96: Best known for their remix of the theme of "Das Boot".
* White Town: Best known for "Your Woman".
* Yello: Best known for "The Race".

** ''Music/{{Screamedelica}}'' (1991)

* Music/LaurentGarnier

* Music/AGuyCalledGerald

* Snap!: Best known for "The Power" and "Rhythm is A Dancer".

* Music/{{Underworld}

* Acid techno, which uses the very recognisable and hypnotic Roland TB-303 bassline synthesizer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCkY1ndCaTw

The minimal techno movement has engineered some of the most incredibly fervent defenders of this genre. Here is the story: in the mid-1990s, after the passage of the acid house/techno movement, followed by the raves and free parties in Europe, as well as the rise to fame of trance and extreme hardcore, techno was going through a crisis. The music that was once dance-oriented, funky and soulful had become too ravey, fast, and hard to the taste of some of the older figures in techno. One of them, Richie Hawtin, reacted with sonic minimalism. Under the moniker Plastikman, he produced some of the most smooth, fluid, and funky techno ever, using almost the same tools than those who created the genre: Roland drum machines and bassline generators.

The term "techno" has often been misused as a catch-all term for electronic dance music. Techno tends to have a rather specific sound, and in fact a decent amount of what some people call "techno" is usually either Music/{{trance}}, [[HouseMusic house music]], or [[{{Europop}} Eurodance]]. Some fans find it very frustrating when people misunderstand what techno is about. Calling [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSYxT9GM0fQ this]] techno is as accurate as calling AvrilLavigne hardcore punk[[note]]That song is Music/{{trance}}, for those who are wondering[[/note]].

->'''Strong Bad:''' "I heard a techno song one time that went like... [[SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud 'Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom']] And then this other part came in, and it was like... [[SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud 'Doodle-um-doom doodle-um-doom doodle-um-doom doodle-um-doom'']] And then there's always some kinda high pitched noise, y'know? Or like a siren that's like... [[SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud 'DOO-DA-DOO-DA-DIDDLE DOO-DA-DOO-DA-DIDDLE DOO-DA-DOO-DA-DIDDLE DOO-DA-DOO-DA-DIDDLE']] And of course they have to put in the obligatory old movie quote from some sci-fi movie. It's like... "The system is down! The system is down! The system is down! The system is down!"

The term "techno" has often been misused as a catch-all term for electronic dance music. Techno tends to have a rather specific sound, and in fact a decent amount of what some people call "techno" is usually either {{trance}}, [[HouseMusic house music]], or [[{{Europop}} Eurodance]]. Some fans find it very frustrating when people misunderstand what techno is about. Calling [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSYxT9GM0fQ this]] techno is as accurate as calling AvrilLavigne hardcore punk[[note]]That song is {{trance}}, for those who are wondering[[/note]].