I’ve been going to Basement in Queens, NYC a little bit too much recently. Decided it would be wise to research what I’m experiencing…..
Techno today may seem open to outsiders, but the root of it, and the people who created it continued to be hidden on purpose. Techno is rooted in queer, sexual liberation, anti-capitalist and communist roots from Chicago, The United Kingdom, Detroit and Berlin. The ‘true’ techno community are kept under the table and although some people disagree, the capitalization of modern day techno isn’t completely bad because it gives non-queer and cis ppl to play their part in techno however, they stay away from the ‘taboo’ parts of the culture, whether out of fear or not, they know their place. My goal of this essay is to dive deep into the inner workings behind techno, and bring light to the original concepts of what the goal of techno is meant to be.
‘Techno’ is a sub genre of electronic music that is identified by repetitive beats, futuristic timbre and fast paced rhythms. Techno lacks lyrics, vocals and natural instrumentation, making it a subhuman musical experience that puts listeners in a trance, forcing them to be one with the music. Techno emerged from the boom of electronic music synthesizers, and modernization of electronic music as a whole in the late 1980s, and the hatred of disco music in the late 1970s. It is important to note that techno was essentially created by the African-American teenage population in Detroit due to the fascination that these teens had with Chicago's house music scene. Many people believe that Techno originated in Berlin, Germany but they all seem to glaze over the actuality of it. “Detroit techno came to the world’s attention indirectly, as an adjunct to Chicago’s house scene in 1986 - 7, they discovered that many of the top-selling tracks were actually from Detroit… Chicago house music was born of a double exclusion, then: not just black, but gay and black. Its refusal, its cultural dissidence, took the form of embracing a music that the majority culture deemed dead and buried. House didn’t just resurrect disco, it mutated the form, intensifying the very aspects of the music that most offended white rockers and black funkateers: the mechanic repetition, the synthetic and electronic textures, the rootlessness and ‘depraved’ hypersexuality and the ‘decadent’, druggy hedonism” (Reynolds 2012, 41-50). Once again, another music genre is derived from disco, yet this one was a protest to disco, which really sets the stage for the evolution of techno. It’s important to note different sub-genres that are associated with techno. In this essay I reference house, acid-house, electronic funk and early dance music. Nearly all of these were born in Detroit, and with the help of Chicago. The next countries to discover Detroit's special sound was Britain and Belgium, where young people became obsessed with the new found ecstasy of Techno. CDs and audio recordings found their way to Europe, and there was a quick desire to incorporate techno into the mainstream. Fast-forwards a couple years, Berlin becomes infatuated with the concept with Detroit's music scene, and created a culture from it. “In awe of the African-American techno of Detroit, German DJs added their own spin to the genre – boosting the speed and abrasiveness of the sound, they conceived a novel sound: Tekkno” (Maniarasan 2024, 1). Shortly after the migration of the genre to Berlin, the community exploded with techno lovers, and that is where the culture came to fruition. It was an evolution of anarchy, anti-sexism, anti-racism, pro-sex, liberation of the LGBTQ expression and heavy music.
A common misconception that stems from internalized, global racism, homophobia and sexism is that Techno is political, outside of their anti-capitalist society due to the openness and celebration of diversity. Techno is not political. It is just inclusive. It’s a gateway to discover true identity and breaking free from the boundaries of society. “Further, within rave, producing the ‘self out of a relentless drive for the maximisation of pleasure is central. Being ‘ecstatic’ has in many ways replaced previous youth-cultural ‘styles of being’: being ‘political’, being ‘angry’ being ‘hard’ and even (certainly at the beginning of rave in London) being ‘fashionable’. Physical and mental enjoyment becomes a central point of involvement. In many ways, open displays of ‘happiness’, auto-erotic pleasure, ‘friendliness’ and enjoyment of dance are traditionally more closely associated with femininity and gay male culture…. In this sense, rave can be read a challenge to heterosexual masculinity’s traditional centrality, and for this reason alone is worthy of attention” (Pini 1997). Pini uses the words political, angry and hard to describe what youth culture uses in place of being liberated. In the year 2024, if a music genre was accompanied with being queer, exciting and pleasurable, most of society would not deem it as political. In the midst of the beginning stages of techno, society was bound by traditional values, meaning heterosexuality and music that isn’t ‘threatening' is non-political. Metal music during this time, was seen as ‘satanic’ and controversial due to theatrics and self expression that was accompanied with the music. Talk of politics brings me to my next topic, the war on drugs. Heavy gatherings where illegal drugs had been rumored to circle around these events, got on the radar of government officials, especially in Detroit. The distribution of illegal cocaine in Detroit had already been a spiraling problem, even outside of the techno scene. The word ‘Acid House’, became alarming to those outside of the Detroit music scene. “The negative connotations of “acid” became as troubling to Detroit’s techno artists as they were to the English establishment. Drugs were almost completely absent in Detroit’s techno scene, small as it was, and the artists were undoubtedly a bit shocked to find their music fused with any kind of drug-related experience…“I’ve never seen such a group of teetotalers— no one drank and no one took drugs,” notes Sarah Gregory. Some, like May, were immediately and vocally at odds with techno’s association with drug culture, and especially with those within the dance music community who helped perpetuate it. Following the surge in Detroit’s crack cocaine sales through the early and mid-1980s, and the lives lost as a result, drugs had become a much more serious matter to techno’s producers. For them, drugs carried deadly connotations.” (Sicko 2010, 79). It’s no wonder society hated this new wave of electronic music so much. Talk of drugs, sex, being gay and anti-capitalist was a catalyst for society and the government to take techno down at all costs. Detroit’s scene in the 1980s was not commonly filled with drugs, yet they seemed to be the targeted community. The peak of drug use at techno events came to be around mid 1990s-2010s. Some techno community members claim it’s absolutely vital for drugs like cocaine, MDMA, ketamine and acid to be flowing through their veins to get the ‘full experience’. “Ketamine holds a central place in the techno scene for two primary reasons. Firstly, it was within this context that the substance was first extensively explored and distributed for hedonistic and psychedelic purposes, finding a highly receptive environment. Secondly, it encapsulates the entire essence of the paradox associated with the use of substances with profound psychedelic potential for recreational purposes—the duality of altered states of consciousness” (Gaia 2023). In 2024, in my personal experience with attending events associated with techno is that psychedelic, upper drugs and downer drugs are still passed around casually. People save their weekends, and budget accordingly to be able to take these drugs to have ‘the full experience’. It combines the rapid beats of beats, flashing lights, combinations of bodies surrounding you all dancing in unison, and people truly feel infinite. With the information provided by independent researcher Gaia, these drugs do have a lasting effect, leading to addictions and may be tied to the addiction of attending techno events. There seems to be a cult following of techno and edm events, where people travel the world to get a full experience of all corners of techno. Statistically, Berlin and Amsterdam are the #1 techno capitals for drug usage at techno events globally. “Since the emergence of the new electronic music, techno parties have been closely associated with the drug ecstasy, especially in the mass media. Since the first published research work on drug use in the techno scene, it has been clear that visitors of techno parties have a considerably greater experience with ecstasy use than the general population of a corresponding age. Ecstasy and its derivatives are usually referred to in the context of ‘new synthetic drugs’…In Amsterdam, Berlin, Madrid, Prague, Rome, Vienna and Zurich, the participation in techno parties and dancing to techno music appears to be closely linked with the use of cannabis in particular, and with ecstasy, amphetamines and cocaine” (Tossmann, Peter, Boldt, Tensil 2001, 1-21). The drug use of techno continues to give these events a bad reputation, and it does not surprise me that society rejects the entirety of techno because of it.
In my personal experience of experiencing techno events of many different orientations, meaning fetish events, daytime events, nighttime events and ‘illegal events’ (meaning events occuring in public places without permission from New York City to hold these events). I understand the ecstasy of techno. Now after becoming well acquainted with the history, the goals and the people of this community, it’s changed my experience and outlook on these events when attended. I find that the original culture of techno remains sacred today, meaning that full and transparent expression of self, queerness, pleasure and diversity remains. It wasn’t a surprise that techno is derived from disco, just as most modern day music genres are also derived from disco. I’ve come to the conclusion that the taboo of techno isn’t really that taboo at all. It’s preservation of self identity, true community and embracing human desire which historically, society hates due to norms that have been in place since human existence began. I plan on moving through techno with a fresh set of eyes, open to new experience, change and openness to learning and embracing the true origins of techno, and honoring them with grace.
Thank you….
Gaia, Giorgia. 2023. “Kaos, Kilowatt and Ketamine: A Cultural History of the Free Tekno Movement.” Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture 15 (1).
Gilbert, Jeremy, and Ewan Pearson. Discographies : “Dance, Music, Culture and the Politics of Sound”, Taylor & Francis Group, 1999. ProQuest Ebook Central.
Haslam, David. 2015. Life After Dark: “A History of British Nightclubs & Music Venues”. London: Simon and Schuster.
Hurley, Andrew Wright. "Establishing Minimal Techno as Soundtrack to the Creative City: Hannes Stöhr’s Berlin Calling." Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies 51, no. 4 (2015): 315-332.
Luce Irigaray, “This Sex Which is Not One”, in This Sex Which is Not One, trans. Catherine Porter (Ithaca, Cornell, 1985).
Pini, “Women and the Early British Rave Scene”, in Angle McRobbie (ed.), Back to Reality (Manchester, MUP, 1997).
Reynolds, Simon. Energy Flash : “A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture”. New York: Catapult, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central.
Sicko, Dan. Techno Rebels : “The Renegades of Electronic Funk”, Wayne State University Press, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central.
St John, Graham. 2009. “Technomad: Global Raving Countercultures”. London: Equinox Publishing.
Tossmann, Peter, Susan Boldt, and Marc-Dennan Tensil. “The Use of Drugs within the Techno Party Scene in European Metropolitan Cities.” European Addiction Research 7, no. 1 (2001): 2–23.