isn't it also true that the Big Three copped the term "techno" from Alvin Toffler's book The Third Wave?...(in reference to "techno rebels")...that's kinda heady...(in fact, I'm hard-pressed to think off-the-cuff of other links between electronic music and literature)...Atkins in particular comes off in interviews as a pretty deep thinker, always seeming to place the birth of techno in the context of the alienation of post-"white flight" Detroit and the alienating/liberating effects of mass production (i.e. the assembly lines of the other
(From Hoffman's article linked upthread):
Juan Atkins: It has always been techno music. I always called the music I was making techno music.
Kevin Saunderson: We called it "techno" because of Juan. He was the main influence because he called his music "techno". [sings] "Uuuh, Techno City..."
Eddie Fowlkes: For me my first record was more of a house record even though it was hard. But back then you didn't think too much about how to call it. When Neil Rushton put this compilation together (Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit) Derrick wanted to call it "The Best of Detroit House". But then Juan said: "You can all call your music house but what I do is techno music.
Juan Atkins: See, that was because Derrick was going to Chicago and they tried to call our music the house sound of Detroit. In Chicago, you had the Jesse Saunders stuff and the Jamie Principle stuff and titles like "acid house" or something like that. But that was Techno! They just didn't call it that because it would give Detroit too much influence.
Mike Grant: Detroit had this more funky edge while Chicago was more disco. In Detroit you had Mojo [legendary Detroit radio DJ Electrifiyin' Mojo] on the radio who played Jimi Hendrix, the Gap Band, Parliament/Funkaldelic, and a lot of the European things, whereas folks in Chicago were more focused on disco. To me that stuff out of Detroit was very different from the Chicago sound. It's right more synthesizer-based whereas house music was more drum machine-based. You can hear that difference even right back to Cybotron.
Juan Atkins: When you listen to Chicago recods, a lot of them sounded like Philly International records. They were always like the Philly International disco sound. Going "ks-ks-ks-ks..." you know! That's the whole difference. In Detroit we don't have any real reference point. All the Detroit stuff was pure futuristic. The only thing that we really had in common was the form.
Eddie Fowlkes: The main difference between the two cities was that Chicago was more disco while Detroit was more funk. You know Amp Fiddler? The way he dresses, the way his hair is that's the Detroit funk style.
Kevin Saunderson: I started making music simply because I needed more tracks to DJ. Juan had a stronger vision: He wanted to create this new technological, electronic music, this "techno". I always loved club music. I loved the Paradise Garage in New York and I loved deep music. I like disco and I like vocals. Juan and Derrick were more inspired by European music. But I came from New York, I was inspired more from disco. The European music was important because it introduced this new technology to us. That you can make your own records with these machines...
Juan Atkins: There was definetely competition between the Chicago and the Detroit DJs. We all wanted to be famous. But we were also friends, Tyree Cooper and all of these guys. Farley was a good friend. We went to Farley in Chicago just to hang out and they came to Detroit.
. . .
In 1987, the whole thing developed into a new direction. Derrick had success with his records like "Nude Photo". That made more people interested in Detroit. Now you got "Nude Photo", you got "Goodbye Kiss", you got "Triangle of Love", and you got "Groovin' Without Doubt". All these records were coming out of Detroit. So we sold these to the distributors to export them overseas. Suddenly they became an interest in London. People there were already interested in Chicago because of all these "Jack" tracks. Then Derrick met the British record label owner Neil Rushton who had already put together some Chicago compilations and then did the Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit in 1988. So Derrick was the bridge to Europe.