Rating: 
Summary: Techno Rebels' aims
Review: What I set out to do with Techno Rebels was establish adiscussion of the American roots of techno music. Most articles andbooks thus far have been from the European perspective, and tend to offer up the American components in condensed form (to be fair, at points in Techno Rebels I'm guilty of the same thing in reverse).I had the U.S. audience in mind when I wrote the book, and tried to keep the narrative at an introductory level. Reading about the evolution of any kind of music can obviously be overwhelming for a beginning listener--but at the same time, I also tried to delve into subjects that even diehards would know little about. The best example of this is Chapter Two, in which the "pre-history" of techno is examined in Detroit (that's before Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atkins got into the game). As much as the explosive growth of techno, acid house, ecstasy and raves in Europe has been dissected, I wanted Techno Rebels to connect U.S. audiences to the humble and strange beginnings of techno in Detroit: the high school parties, the heavy emphasis on post-disco and new wave and exactly why this midwestern city is crucial to understanding the music. Techno Rebels also explores some of the awkward scenarios and false starts techno has met with when trying to find a U.S. audience in the late '80s and early '90s. I think that gradual development is just as fascinating as the European catalysts.
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