Yeah, Techno!

The lights are flashing, the amps are pumping and everyone is dancing. Your heart seems to be luring the beat of the music as you hear the thump echo on the dance floor. Closing your eyes and taking a deep breath you get your groove on! Welcome to the sexy, spontaneous and wild world of techno music. The genre has been taking the young generation by storm, appearing in clubs, movies, and more recently, on mainstream radio. Often referred to as house, trance, electronica or dance, techno is creating a new music revolution.

Techno had its early beginning in Western Europe in the 1970’s. The trance-like beats and fast paced music attracted young and hip Europeans and spread like wild-fire on the club scene. The word “techno” was actually derived from the word “technology” because of the synthetic and robotic sounds that the music is usually composed of. Musical journalists often argue that the genre is a subsidiary of the genre “electronica” or “house” and should not be confused with those categories. Listeners, however, are more concerned with the feeling of euphoria and adrenaline that the fast tempo seems to give. In fact, in order to uphold these feelings, people attending techno clubs (or “raves”) will often take part in using drugs like ecstasy and heroine in order to “pump them up” to the beat of the music.

Techno music became popular in the United States with the uprise of artists such as “The Belleville Three”. In a time when funk was king, techno had a hard time staying on the charts. The music was often played on the underground scene and was not very popular to the average music listener. In the 1990’s, techno became more widely spread with the appearance of artists such as “Moby”, “Aqua” and “Ace of Base”. “Barbie Girl” by the controversial music group “Aqua” topped the charts in the early 1990’s but was removed because of its questionable lyrics. The techno club scene also began to pick up in America when the drug ecstasy became popular and “raving” was in.

In this time, techno is more widespread with new underground music radio stations and the internet. With new artists such as “Timbaland” beginning to pick up on the style, more radio stations are airing the music and it is beginning to be accepted by the younger general population.

With new technology in musical engineering, the genre is sounding even better and has even been incorporated into Rap and Hip-Hop. Rap artist “Kanye West” used a techno sample in his hit “Stronger” and billboard hits are being rearranged with techno style beats in order to be played in clubs. Techno has definitely come a long way and is an ever growing trend.