You could go further back to the origins of theremin music, synthesized music, or early
computer made music, but here a few songs that show what techno really evolved from.
The first is an early "industrial dance" track from Liasons Dangereuses.
This video gives an impression of the sort of thunderous warehouse sound that seems
to have remained strong in German techno scenes.
Next is one of my favorite "Italo Disco" tracks. Charlie's "Spacer Woman" demonstrates
themes of future, robots, and space featured heavily in the Italo Disco scene.
These Sci-fi themes remained strong and became synonymous with Techno.
I could have put any Kraftwerk song here. Their influence on Techno is undeniable.
"Tour de France" is simply my favorite song by them, and I think it shows a continuum of the
disco/techno relation.
Lastly, "Sharevari". Some claim it as the first Detroit Techno record.
This video is from a local broadcast of a show called "The Scene".
I feel like it gives a good sense of the vibe of the time.
There were obviously a whole lot of other factors and influences, culturally and musically.
American Funk music was a big influence, as was some European synth-pop.
Culturally, urban poverty and inequity were certainly factors.
Anyways, this is some of the stuff Techno was made of.
