I believe D. May also lived in Chicago for a while -
He broke Strings of Life with Ron Hardy at the Music Box (or was it the
Warehouse?) and if you listen to a Hardy DJ mix and a May DJ mix
back-to-back you realize how influential Ron was on Derrick. I've always
associated May's music with Chicago house and Juan's with Detroit techno -
there is clearly a difference. Maybe that's why Derrick didn't like the
word 'techno' - because he thought of his sound as house music and a
continuum of the Chicago sound. Juan probably didn't feel that so he needed
a new way to define what he was doing.
Probably also why lots of people who think of themselves as 'techno' fans
are disappointed when they hear Derrick play - it's 50/50 mix between
'house' and 'techno' and they don't expect that. Same is true with Jeff
Mills if he slips 'house' tracks into his sets.
Most of the time though, I think journalists put names to the genres
because you need a word or phrase to communicate to your audience. Short
catchy names work best.
Most artists shrug it off or try to shake the label off of them because
they don't need the word - they have the music and they let the music speak
for itself. Often you find an artist who actively moves away from a sound
that is associated with a genre label because they don't like being pinned
down.
So, yeah, I think it's mostly the writers - it's their job and it's not
really a bad thing initially because it allows people to communicate. It's
when those who are cashing in on a 'movement' that really do the music and
the word harm.
MEK
"Dr. Nutcracker"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED] To: <[email protected]>
ty-072.com> cc:
Subject: Re: Re: (313)
'Techno' Music
10/24/03 08:53 AM
Please respond to
"Dr. Nutcracker"
> >I always thought that Juan coined the term by taking the phrase from
> Toffler's book when he made 'Techno City' . It was Rushton who jumped on
it
> and pushed it as a genre name to try and differentiate thier music from
> Chicago House.
And that's exactly what these heads were doing in the beginning on their
labels...
simular equipment as in Chicago House and with influeces from a dozen
european bands.
So can we conclude then...
that in early stages a lot of so called 'Detroit Techno' classics are at
least very simular to Chicago House?
I also remember a story wherein these heads were driving up to Chicago
every
weekend to check out those 'Disco' parties with DJ's like Ron Hardy.
Of course we cannot neglect the fact that Detroit city was in resessions
those days...
Dr. Nutcracker
