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April 2007
WHY DO THEY CALL IT TECHNO?
By DJ Mark Bisson
This time of the year is all about parties, with Dinah Shore Weekend last month, White Party Weekend this month and Pride next month. And with all these parties come my favorite part, lots of great music. During White Party Weekend, which takes place in Palm Springs over the weekend of Easter, you can hear music nearly twenty-four hours a day from Friday morning until the following Monday morning. The type of music being played at these parties is typically electronic dance music (AKA house music). In the past few years, there seems to be some confusion in the labeling of this music.
One of my biggest frustrations is when someone comes to me in the DJ booth asking me if I only play “techno” music. My answer is “I don’t play techno music, I play house music.” I feel that a little education is necessary since many people are falsely labeling all electronic dance music incorrectly as techno. Techno is defined in Wikipedia as “a form of electronic dance music that became prominent in Detroit, Michigan during the mid Eighties.” Techno has a very specific, high-energy, industrial sound. Some examples of techno songs would be James Brown Is Dead by LA Style, or Get Ready For This by 2 Unlimited. It has been produced only in a very limited capacity since the early Nineties. The confusion of terminology was very evident a few years back during a verbal battle between music artists Moby and Eminem. Eminem directed the statement “Nobody listens to techno!” towards Moby and other house music artists. Moby’s reply that he “hadn’t played techno since 1992” pretty much summed it up. Terming all electronic music as techno is the equivalent to calling all hip-hop music rap, or all country music bluegrass. Techno is only a very small sub-genre of electronic dance music along with many other sub-genres like tribal, trance, and drum n’ bass.
The fact that we all have different tastes in music is what makes us unique and special. Never before in history has there been such a wide spectrum of music to choose from, and it continues to expand all the time. Let’s try and respect each individual’s music preferences and use proper terminology when referring to various forms of music.
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