(SOUNDBITE OF CYBOTRON SONG, "ALLEYS OF YOUR MIND")
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Finally this hour, more news out of Michigan - not about the election for a change, but news that Detroit native Juan Atkins has died. He was known as the godfather or originator of techno music.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
This record comes from the electronic music duo Cybotron. It's called "Alleys Of Your Mind."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALLEYS OF YOUR MIND")
CYBOTRON: (Singing) Alleys of your mind, of your mind, of your mind. Paranoia right behind, right behind.
CHANG: Cybotron was Juan Atkins and his friend Richard Davis. This song came out in 1981, the year that Atkins turned 19 years old.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
JUAN ATKINS: Nobody knew that this was some Black kids from Detroit making this record, man. They thought it was, like, from Europe.
KELLY: That was Atkins speaking with NPR in 2011. Though the subgenre of electronic music now known as techno is often associated with Germany, its roots are in postindustrial Detroit back in the '80s.
CHANG: Factories were closing, unemployment was rising, and crime was up. In a documentary called "Never Stop," Atkins said his music would not have developed the same way in any other city.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "NEVER STOP")
ATKINS: The height of the Industrial Revolution and the height of industrial age, I mean, Detroit was a big place, man, because the car industry was booming, and jobs and unions and auto unions and things were formed. And then when industry came to a close, of course, the city kind of went down. And I think a lot of good music and a lot of great art and creativity comes from depressed and stressful situations.
KELLY: Juan Atkins was born in Detroit in 1962. He grew up in nearby Belleville, Michigan. In high school, he met Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. They bonded over their eclectic music tastes, and as they moved into deejaying and creating music, they led the underground electronic music scene in Detroit proper.
CHANG: Collectively, they later became known as The Belleville Three. Juan Atkins and Cybotron were among the first to break out of that Detroit scene with songs like "Alleys Of Your Mind" and this one called "Clear."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CLEAR")
CYBOTRON: Ready? One, two, three, four.
KELLY: While you can hear the influence of the German electronic band Kraftwerk, Atkins and his friends were also partial to Parliament-Funkadelic and to Prince and to Chicago house music. They often learned about these records through a local radio DJ known as The Electrifying Mojo. In turn, Mojo was the first to play Juan Atkins' records, the ones where he synthesized all this into techno.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ATKINS: It was just a natural progression for me to make futuristic music.
CHANG: Juan Atkins died in Mexico City on Saturday. He was 64 years old. One of The Belleville Three, Kevin Saunderson, wrote on social media, quote, "Juan was the originator of techno, a true visionary who opened the door for so many of us, myself included."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CLEAR")
CYBOTRON: (Singing) Clear. Clear all this place. Clear all this place. Clear today. Clear today. Clear your mind. Clear your mind. Clear. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
