The Origin and History of Techno | Voltage Labs
Video Overview & Insights
How did a local sound from Detroit and the ruins of the Berlin Wall fuse into a global culture, evolving from an underground rebellion into a high-art sanctuary?
I get the suspicion the machines helped you write this (overuse of rule of threes, itâs not this - itâs that, etc)
But I canât decide if that would actually be considered techno or not in this case.
A local sound emerged in Detroit, shaped by a city once defined by the auto industry and now scarred by economic decline. It wasnât built around mainstream polish, but on the airwaves of The Electrifying Mojo, who broadcast a mind-bending blend of Kraftwerk, Prince, and space funk. Inspired by this robotic minimalism, three teenagers from Belleville: Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson began experimenting with drum machines and sequencers. Their invention was Afro-futurist and mechanical, yet deeply human, a way to find beauty amid industrial stripping.
This energy eventually crossed the Atlantic, finding a second home in European âpressure chambersâ like Omen and Tresor. As the Wall fell, a divided city suddenly discovered empty power plants and vaults waiting to be reactivated. Under the motto âFriede, Freude, Eierkuchenâ (Peace, Joy, Pancakes), hundreds of ravers turned these gritty industrial shells into spaces of total immersion and joy.
By the mid-2000s, this evolution reached a pinnacle with the rise of Berghain, a concrete âcathedralâ where residents like Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock established a new sanctuary for hypnotic techno. The culture became so significant that German courts eventually recognized these venues as cultural institutions rather than mere amusement sites.
Techno further transitioned into the digital era through platforms like Boiler Room, broadcasting sets from Tbilisi to BogotĂĄ and turning local nightlife into a global language of political resistance. Though now a professionalized industry, the core pulse remains. From the raw warehouses of Detroit to the TikTok-driven âsecond waveâ of high-BPM nostalgia, techno continues to prove that electronic music can be an enduring, evolving language of human connection.
The Finch app Good Vibrations challenge brought me here. đŠ
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LOL what myopic version of the facts. Worthless.
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What's often left out is that the gay clubs in Detroit were some of the first clubs to embrace techno.
More User Perspectives
Seem like they forgot to mention Dutch DJ Arespi's 1988 Techno gem 'Rave the Planet'". Released on tape and legitimately one of the blueprints of modern techno.
@night_soulKraftwerk is the origin.
@HarleyQuinn-ef4lk7 minutes is really too short to give a history of anything. You're going to oversimplify and forget things. The whole 'Belleville Three' thing is controversial too, if I'm not mistaken. Eddie Fowlkes was there too, for example. And talking of Detroit where's 'the second generation': Carl Craig, Stacey Pullen, etc.? They had a huge influence on the UK scene too, which you also didn't talk about.
I like the video's on this channel, but these 'histories of' are not your best format if I'm being honest. They don't really add antyhing to the known narratives, the scripts aren't good and you're going to exclude too many artists and scenes. Also, talking about house 'brewing in Chicago' after you've just talked about a 1993 Plastikman record is just plain weird.
As someone who grew up in the midwest in the 90s seeing the legends of house and techno every weekend I honestly can't really relate to it in its latest commercial form. Yet, in almost every city in America you can still find a small dirty clubs, basements, and in some cases the occasional abandoned warehouse and see local DJs and producers. You will experience a bit of what we experienced. Back then.. There were no really big names as there are now. Our superstars were superstars of a very small subculture. DJ's that would be paid thousands of dollars to play in Berlin and London would usually only get paid a couple hundred to play in Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee. Everyone was a bedroom DJ. That's the cool thing about Techno and House. The best time was when it wasn't big, and that's easy to recreate for yourselves no matter where you are. Throw a party in a crappy club. Have your friend do a live PA or DJ. That was basically what we did, but our friends ended up being Richie Hawtin, Green Velvet, and Steve Silk Hurley.
Funny story.. I went to a rave once in Chicago to specifically see Lenny D from NYC play gabber. That was a big deal for us to see an NYC DJ. It was only years later did I realize that Richie Hawtin had played a techno set at some point of that night. I couldn't remember it if I tried. That's just how it was. We were so spoiled.
Detroit forevea!!! America made techno !! But the rest of the wrld helped evolve itđŻ
@9arciaaWhere does techno stand now? I think it needs a reset again. If things continue as they are, it will destroy itself.
@nourdinh.1450"Techno isn't nostalgia, it's a Promise."
PROMISE KEPT ALIVE.
After talking about techno you said "But in Chicago, something else was brewing"? I think you will find its the other way around, house existed before techno
@harryhill8543schöne Zusammenfassung. Kann ich so unterschreiben. DANKE
@mocreativThatâs one great decision, thanks for sharing! âš
@sverrawtfWow. Missed a few things there guys..........
@hofmann_25I'd give a shout-out to the scene in Sheffield and Leeds based around WARP in the late 80s/early 90s. Bleep was a huge part of the story.
@Shoomer88I always dated at the beginning of techno and house at around nineteen eighty six ,
It was a decentralized underground art movement that was more than just an art movement .
Once it gets commercialized , what it really was begins to die .
For sure , two thousand twelve marks the end in my book
That's when they get a generation of kids , that would never have anything to do with anything on a label to go to their big events
After they started attacking in criminalizing in america and shutting down the Real under parties .
I wasn't early synthesit , But technical was to loot , based in minimalistic , for my interests
I was looking for things that were deeply conceptual , highly experimental with sophisticated orchestration ,
Usually. nBut not always with lyrics , Tell stories that really talk about things now meaningful questions .
Nice video but itâs missing all the Italian techno scene, in Tuscany and Naples the techno scene was so powerfulâŠ
@silentsoulsscarletcarsonblackthumbnail shold have the packard plant instead of berghain fwiw
@DateTreeSoundWhat load of German bias shite. Whereâs LFO/Warp/Sheffield, Lost/Fat Cat/Sabersonic, Glasgow/Slam/Soma, Edinburgh/Pure (hands down the most influential techno club of the 90's) Paris/Rex, Rotterdam/The Hague/Clone/Bunker/Djax, not to mention the outstanding music that came out of places like Japan and Australia (DJ HMC and Juice Records). WAY more life changing techno came out of other parts of the planet compared to Germany FFS.
@DSB.1.2.3I wonder why Tbilisi is even mention here. Yes, techno was important for the local political movement, but in reverse this didn't have any effect on the genre or the global movement.
@sundayc4437These documentaries are great!
@naturligfunktionâ€â€
@knutweltz4855This video is ironicâŠ
@t_kauEverything is kinda cool until it isn't and that generally happens when a genre hits the commercial mainstream. By then the cool kids are already looking for or creating the next thing. It's like what my dad said to me once about investing in the share market, if you're getting your tips from the bell boy in the hotel lobby it's probably too late by then. These videos are brilliant retrospectives, keep 'em coming.
@AngiMusic50006.54 mins on History of Techno???? could have made it at least 8 mins I think...
@GG-sd8ttI'm curios about how people's feelings are with Berghain.
In this video Berghain is called âthe cathedral of techno" and I totally get why. But honestly, lately I struggle with that image. With their lack of positioning around Gaza's genocide and also the cancellation of Arabian Panther, something doesnât sit right with me.
If this is the biggest symbol of techno culture (resistance, freedom, breaking norms) worldwide, then I wonder who is actually keeping the culture we always talk about? Is techno still social? Is Berghain really a progressive space? Or are we just repeating a myth at this point?
Not trying to attack anyone. Iâm genuinely curious how others see this. Letâs keep it respectful.
I feel like this topic would have deserved a way longer format...
@BoyXx76These lore videos lately have been awesome, thanks
@DextersLab93Awesome history recap, now I have a lot of new-old stuff to listen to... So far that Robert Hood guy is fire!
@ThisNameCantBeUsedForYourY-r3bze germanz explainz
@elektrochava" Techno Techno Techno Techno!!!" Ray Slingaard/2 Unlimited No Limits
...and then came Dub Techno. Part 2? đ
Nice. I know itâs just a short video but the UK should get a mention, Dave Clarke, Slam, Surgeon, Luke Slater et al
@theelectronic4051One of the best history of Techno music in a nutshell erver! TOP
@electronicmusicartcollectivethe last decade?
@bassboomboingTrack ID @5:17 pls!
@beisingtechno is dead lets be real here
@yun_manI can't understand the lack of tracklist
@yeonunyeThere are some mistakes⊠in the Mid 80s there was Electro (LA, Miami, New York). Detroit Aitkins realises he made nothing new. So he changes the broken beat kick to Disco 4/4 which he knows from Chicago house which started 1982. this was the birth of Techno. You can hear it on the early metroplex releases. And then: before Berghain there was Ostgut for years which also shaped a whole generation; remember Galluzzi? I can go on. This video is unacurrat for nearly everything
@ktvrecNice video. Obviously the story goes way beyond your concise description but a great overview nonetheless. An honourable mention should go to Charanjit Singh who was exploiting Rolands at the time new hardware in 1982 into all sorts of wild experimental soundscapes without any clue what people would be doing with these tools at the end of the decade. Also people like Giorgio Moroder and Patrick Cowley are fundamental to the story in my opinion. You should do a series year by year outlining iconic events and tracks, I'd binge that for sure.
@nearlysomethingLots of these tracks are still in heavy rotation here. Awesome stuff!
You guys are killing it with these videos recently â€
Kraftwerk invented techno and hip-hop. Not much evolution since then.
@juno6