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194:, a town some 30 miles from Detroit, in the more rural area near its suburbs. In school he befriended Derrick May and Juan Atkins, both of whom had been born in Detroit but later moved to Belleville. The three were among the few black students in their high school, and Saunderson later commented, "we three kind of gelled right away." The setting affected how they experienced music. "We perceived the music differently than you would if you encountered it in dance clubs. We'd sit back with the lights off and listen to records by
202:. We never took it as just entertainment, we took it as a serious philosophy," recalled May. Belleville was located near several automobile factories, which provided well-paying jobs to a racially integrated workforce. "Everybody was equal," Atkins explained in an interview. "So what happened is that you’ve got this environment with kids that come up somewhat snobby, ‘cos hey, their parents are making money working at
269:. The trio began to formulate the synthesis of this dance music with the mechanical sounds of groups like Kraftwerk, in a way that reflected post-industrialist Detroit. An obsession with the future and its machines is reflected in much of their music, because, according to Atkins, Detroit is the most advanced in the transition away from industrialism.
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In 2017, Atkins, Saunderson and May began working on the
Belleville Three as an official collaborative effort. Despite being labelled as the Belleville Three since the late 1980s, due in no small part to the British press, they had resisted official collaboration in the hope of distancing themselves
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since his
Cybotron days ("Techno City" was an early single). However, the trio from Belleville had some reservations about the culture that surrounded the drug-filled techno subculture abroad. Derrick May in particular continues to advocate that drugs are not necessary to participate in good music.
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In 1988, dance music entrepreneur Neil
Rushton approached the Belleville Three to license their work for release in the UK. To define the Detroit sound as being distinct from Chicago house, Rushton and the Belleville Three chose the word "techno" for their tracks, a term that Atkins had been using
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Inspired by
Chicago's house clubs, May, Atkins and Saunderson started a club of their own in downtown Detroit, named the Music Institute. The club helped unite a previously scattered scene into an underground "family," where Saunderson, Atkins and May, DJed with fellow pioneers like Fowlkes and
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Under the name Deep Space
Soundworks, Atkins and May began to DJ on Detroit's party circuit. By 1981, Johnson was playing the record mixes recorded by the Belleville Three, who were also branching out to work with other musicians. The trio traveled to
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was held, and in 2004 May assumed control of the festival, renamed
Movement. He invested his own funds into the festival, and "got severely wounded financially." Saunderson helmed the festival, renamed FUSE IN, the following year. Saunderson, May and
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from that moniker. However, three decades later it was clear that the mantle of The
Belleville Three had stayed intact, and there was a clear demand to see them operate as a group. They launched this project at
315:—were a close-knit group who shared equipment and studio space, and who helped each other with projects, friction developed. Each member of the Belleville Three branched off on his own record label. May's
233:. The electronic and funk sounds that influenced the Belleville Three came primarily from a 5-hour late-night radio show called The Midnight Funk Association, broadcast in Detroit by DJ Charles "
346:. It allowed for collaboration, and helped inspire what would become the second wave of Detroit-area techno, which included artists whom the Belleville Three had influenced and mentored.
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All of the
Belleville Three have worked under many different names and titles. Derrick May saw great success under the name Rhythim is Rhythim, his moniker when he released his landmark "
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with him. Their first single "Alleys of Your Mind"—recorded on their Deep Space label in 1981—sold 15,000 copies, and the success of two follow-up singles, "Cosmic Cars" and "
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After
Cybotron split due to creative differences, Atkins began recording as Model 500 on his own label, Metroplex, in 1985. His landmark single, "No UFOs," soon arrived.
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338:. Juan Atkins has been lauded as the "Godfather of Techno," while May is thought of as the "Innovator" and Saunderson is often referred to as the "Elevator."
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began as a sublabel imprint of
Metroplex. Saunderson founded KMS based on his own initials. They set up shop in close proximity to one another, in Detroit's
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all performed but did not produce the festival in 2006, when it was again called Movement. Saunderson returned to perform at the 2007 Movement as well.
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The Belleville Three continue to tour internationally. Derrick May says that his mission continues to be "to save the world from bad music."
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Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture
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261:scene there, particularly Chicago DJs
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241:. Juan Atkins was inspired to buy a
843:American electronic dance music DJs
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182:. At the age of nine he moved to
773:McCollum, Brian (May 28, 2017).
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146:are three American musicians,
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686:"Derrick May: High Tech Soul"
174:Kevin Saunderson was born in
41:in 2017. From left to right:
273:First wave of Detroit techno
16:Three musicians from Detroit
279:Washtenaw Community College
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512:Jeeon (December 5, 2007).
363:In 2000, the first annual
833:American techno musicians
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306:Eddie "Flashin" Fowlkes
586:www.globaldarkness.com
200:Yellow Magic Orchestra
188:Belleville High School
58:Background information
39:Detroit Masonic Temple
740:on September 13, 2008
610:"Derrick May website"
235:The Electrifying Mojo
828:African-American DJs
714:on September 8, 2008
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164:Belleville, Michigan
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67:Belleville, Michigan
25:The Belleville Three
257:to investigate the
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458:, Routledge, 1999.
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426:"Negroartist.com"
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491:the original
486:
483:"The Mobeus"
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285:and formed
259:house music
243:synthesizer
152:Derrick May
148:Juan Atkins
109:Derrick May
103:Juan Atkins
51:Derrick May
43:Juan Atkins
822:Categories
708:"Movement"
409:References
370:Carl Craig
336:Paris Grey
332:Inner City
323:district.
283:Rick Davis
223:Parliament
192:Belleville
744:August 7,
383:Coachella
263:Ron Hardy
216:Kraftwerk
162:genre in
754:cite web
518:Archived
392:See also
317:Transmat
287:Cybotron
212:Chrysler
184:Michigan
180:New York
176:Brooklyn
790:May 29,
785:Detroit
295:Fantasy
255:Chicago
170:Origins
128:Website
97:Members
403:Techno
385:2017.
229:, the
227:Prince
196:Bootsy
154:, and
83:Labels
73:Genres
63:Origin
49:, and
300:Enter
291:Clear
231:B-52s
792:2017
760:link
746:2008
720:2017
694:2017
672:2017
648:2017
622:2017
593:2017
568:2017
547:2017
526:2017
499:2017
437:2017
265:and
239:WGPR
204:Ford
198:and
135:.com
210:or
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190:in
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
