The word 'techno' was used in Europe and Japan for electronic music before it was associated with Detroit

The term ‘techno’ was used to refer to electronic music in Germany and Japan as early as the early 1980s — before the 1988 UK compilation fixed it as a Detroit genre label. Yellow Magic Orchestra used ‘techno’ in their work (song ‘Technopolis’ 1979, album ‘Technodelic’ 1981) and described their music as ‘technopop’ on their 1980 US tour. DJ Talla 2XLC used ‘techno’ at Frankfurt’s City Music store from 1982 to categorise Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, New Order, and Front 242. Juan Atkins himself acknowledged that when Cybotron started, many electronic musicians already referred to their music as techno.

Examples

‘Technopolis’ (YMO, 1979) prefigures the genre’s urban-electronic aesthetic. YMO’s synthesizer-backed idol pop shows how broad the pre-1988 usage of ‘techno’ was.

Assessment

Explain why the association of ‘techno’ specifically with Detroit is historically contingent rather than inevitable. What alternative trajectories for the label were possible?