The place of origin and the
Mecca of
techno, it is only fair that the city of Detroit has named techno in its most pure form.
The history of Detroit techno starts in 1982, when a college student named
Juan Atkins first started making music with the group
Cybotron. In 1986, he had moved to Detroit, started his label
Metroplex, and released one of the first techno classics: "No UFO:s".
Soon, two of his old college mates followed suit;
Kevin Saunderson started the label
KMS and scored two massive hits with "
Big Fun" and "
Good Life" under the name
Inner City. Juan's other friend,
Derrick May, started the label
Transmat and released 21
12-inch singles. Transmat is still one of the most influential techno labels, and those first releases is seen as a truly classic series. This music defines the "classic" detroit sound.
The "neo-classic" period of Detroit techno started in the early 1990:s. At this time, the scene was in a coma - the producers had superstar DJ status overseas, and the
rave scene had taken the American punters' attention.
Then,
Richie Hawtin (a.k.a.
Plastikman) founded
Plus 8 records, taking the Detroit sound into a new era. In 1991,
Carl Craig formed
Planet E, after breaking up with Transmat.
Another label started in the early 90:s is perhaps the essence of the Detroit techno scene:
Underground Resistance, or
UR. Lead by techno icons
Mad Mike,
Robert Hood and
Jeff Mills, UR portrays themselves as
underground militants - some UR t-shirts has the logo printed on the inside (!), the label of each released record depict a never-ending
guerilla battle versus commercial interests,
DJ:s playing UR music are "soldiers" and the UR records are "ammunition".
The sleeve of each record has a "WARNING" sticker that discourage the potential listener from buying the record from a major record dealer chain.
Ironically, UR is one of the
independent labels struck worst by the
arrogance and
malice of the big-time labels. The full story can be found
here.
The Detroit scene is very much active today, with labels like UR, Transmat, Plus 8 and Planet E still releasing new tracks and signing new young talent.