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a manufacturing to a post-industrial, post-Fordist economy, then
Techno reflected the achievement of that transition, though not
uncritically. The name 'Techno' itself was taken from Alvin Toffler's
techno-libertarian topic
The Third Wave
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in which he talked about
the importance of the 'Techno Rebels' to the coming eponymous
wave of technologically determined change. Toffler, along with
Kraftwerk and the Black Futurism manifested by groups such as
Parliament, all influenced Juan Atkins and Richard Davies (a.k.a.
3070
), the original Techno progenitors, to produce a music that
celebrated the romance of new technology while at the same time
reflecting the damage that the shift away from traditional industrial
manufacturing had wrought on cities such as Detroit. Atkins and
Davies called themselves 'Cybotron', under which name they devel-
oped an entire dictionary of techno-speak and an over-arching
video game-like concept they called 'the Grid'.
Techno and other similar genres of dance music were the start
of a series of extraordinary developments, which extended beyond
dance music, and embraced many other aspects of culture.
Coinciding with the availability of the drug MDMA otherwise
known as Ecstasy or E, which promoted both well-being and
copious energy, a vibrant and creative dance culture emerged in the
States, the
and on the Continent. Unlike most previous pop
and rock music culture, in which the performer was separated from
the audience and presented as an icon, this culture was far less
concerned with such idolatry and much more with a close relation
between producer and consumer. Music was produced by DJs,
often through sampling, or by visually anonymous but technically
competent enthusiasts, and consumed through dance rather than
passive attention to somebody else's performance, with the DJ and
the audience operating almost in a kind of cybernetic feedback
relation. In his or her capacity to manipulate technology, and in the
paradoxically solitary nature of his or her work and rejection of
the traditional theatricality of rock and pop performance, the DJ
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