In the dark Detroit of the eighties (which is now even darker), at the intersection of Riopelle Street and Gratiot Avenue, Derrick May’s Transmat and Atkins’ Metroplex were located in a small two-storey house, number 1492, made of red brick and in the shape of an old iron. A little further, just one building over, there was Kevin Saunderson’s label KMS. Already back then, this part of the six-lane avenue was called Techno Boulevard.

Carl Craig, a local veteran of the second wave of techno recalls: “Techno Boulevard is where Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atkins all had their studios. It was Derrick’s idea to call the street Techno Boulevard because everybody was doing something to do with techno at that time, and this is where they were all living during that period, Derrick really felt it should be called Techno Boulevard so all the basketball and baseball companies would use Detroit music when they won games. But they didn’t. When The Pistons, Detroit’s basketball team, were winning the championship they were playing I’ve got the power whenever they won, the could have been using Inner City’s Good life.”