In the mid 80s Detroit was suffering from huge economic decline. During this time it was nicknamed the “murder capital of America”, crime and poverty were rife, much of the middle class population had abandoned the city and parts of the urban sprawl was literally crumbling away. From this stark environment came techno music, a soundtrack to the future – perhaps a brighter future – envisaged by Juan Atkins and his friends.

The music evolved from early electro influences, with some of Atkins’ early recordings as Cybotron focused on a distinct aesthetic with Afrika rooted in pioneering tracks such as 'Planet Rock'. With the iconic radio host The Electrifying Mojo providing a myriad of alternative music on his show, influences from acts like Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode also merged with Atkins’ ideas and techno began to come to fruition.

The sound as we know it today may feel several times removed from those early productions, but the notion of soundtracking the future remains intrinsic to many techno producers' output. Techno has seen a few ups and downs since it first came into being in the late eighties – today it is one of most popular forms of electronic music. In light of this we present an A-Z history of the music that spawned superstars like Sven Väth, Nina Kraviz, Nicole Moudaber, Ben Klock, Richie Hawtin, Carl Craig and Marcel Dettmann among many others.