Editing Detroit techno (section)

==Futurism==
{{quote box|align=left|width=33%|quote = What distinguishes Detroit Techno from its European variants is the way it more directly works the interface of funk and futurism ... but the desire to play up the genre's futuristic side often means the second half of the equation gets dropped.|source= —Mike Shallcross<ref>{{Cite news|periodical=[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]]|issue=161|date=July 1997|title=From Detroit To Deep Space|page=21}}</ref>}}One of Techno’s innovators, [[Juan Atkins]], references how [[Parliament-Funkadelic|P-funk]], also known as Parliament-Funkadelic, was one of the first musical groups to influence his techno/futuristic sound and aesthetic<ref name=":0" /> (for example the group's ''[[Mothership Connection]]'' stage-prop and album along with their unique cover art on other [[Parliament-Funkadelic discography|albums)]]. The founding of Techno, being partially rooted in the intergalactic visions of funk, speaks to arguments from Schaub’s work that “‘Techno also represented an idealistic vision of music and a future culture that could exist free from the limitations, prejudice, and preconceptions that the Detroit urban environment manifested.”<ref name=":1" /> In this context, Techno strives not to fixate on gatekeeping the genre for Black people. Instead, its objective was to illuminate the role of music, vibrations, industrial sounds, and club culture to unify ''all'' people under the possession of techno music.<ref name=":1" />

These early Detroit techno artists employed science fiction imagery to articulate their visions of a transformed society.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|last=Schaub|first=Christoph|title=Beyond the Hood? Detroit Techno, Underground Resistance, and African American Metropolitan Identity Politics|url=http://www.interamerica.de/volume-2-2/schaub/|website=Interamerica.de|date=October 2009 }}</ref> A notable exception to this trend was a single by [[Derrick May (musician)|Derrick May]] under his pseudonym {{sic|hide=y|Rhyth|im}} Is {{sic|hide=y|Rhyth|im}}, called "Strings of Life" (1987). This vibrant dancefloor anthem was filled with rich synthetic string arrangements and took the underground music scene by storm in May 1987. It "hit Britain in an especially big way during the country's 1987–1988 [[house music|house]] explosion."<ref>{{cite web|last=Bush|first=John|title=Derrick May|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/derrick-may-mn0000205313|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=25 July 2012}}</ref> It became May's best known track, which, according to Frankie Knuckles, "just exploded. It was like something you can't imagine, the kind of power and energy people got off that record when it was first heard. "<ref name="techno.de">{{cite web|title=Interview: Derrick May – The Secret of Techno|url=http://www.techno.de/mixmag/interviews/DerrickMay1.html|work=[[Mixmag]]|access-date=25 July 2012|year=1997|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040214105200/http://www.techno.de/mixmag/interviews/DerrickMay1.html|archive-date=14 February 2004}}</ref>

The club scene created by techno in Detroit was a way for suburban blacks in Detroit to distance themselves from "jits", slang for lower class African Americans living in the inner city. "Prep parties" were obsessed with flaunting wealth and incorporated many aspects of European culture including club names like Plush, Charivari, and GQ Productions, reflecting European fashion and luxury, because Europe signified high class. In addition prep parties were run as private clubs and restricted who could enter based on dress and appearance. Party flyers were also an attempt to restrict and distance lower class individuals from the middle class club scene.<ref>Brewster, Bill and Frank Broughton (1999). ''Last Night the DJ Saved My Life: Story of the Disc Jockey''. Headline Book Publishing. p 254-255</ref>

===Afrofuturism===
The three artists all contribute to the discourse of [[Afrofuturism]] through their re-purposing of technology to create a new form of music that appealed to a marginalized underground population.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}} Especially within the context of Detroit, where the rise of robotics led to a massive loss of jobs around the time these three were growing up, technology is very relevant.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}} The process "took technology, and made it a black secret."

The sound is both futuristic and extraterrestrial, touching on the "otherness" central to Afrofuturist content. According to one critic, it was a "deprived sound trying to get out." [[Tukufu Zuberi]] explains that electronic music can be multiracial and that critics should pay attention to "not just sound aesthetics but the production process and institutions created by black musicians."