Juan Atkins, pioneer of Detroit techno sound, dies aged 64 — SkimNews
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- Juan Atkins died aged 64 after being found unresponsive in a Mexico City hotel before a performance and being taken to hospital; Greensmith Artists confirmed the death to Resident Advisor.
- Atkins was the first person to use the term “techno” in tandem with the hard electronic style he created, pre-empting a genre that now stands as one of dance culture’s pillars.
- Atkins met Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, two junior-high classmates in Belleville, and formed the Belleville Three, a trio of like-minded musicians at the vanguard of electronic music.
- Atkins formed Cybotron with Richard Davis while still in high school, using Roland TR-808 and Korg MS-10 hardware to create the propulsive, psychedelic sound heard in “Cosmic Cars” and “Clear”; the duo split in 1985.
- Atkins released “No UFO’s” and “The Chase” as Model 500 and founded the Metroplex label in 1985, which later put out material by Anthony Shakir and DJ Bone.
- Atkins said in 2024 that his lyrics were social statements meant to make listeners think beyond dancing and falling in love, while his work also conveyed troubling, politicised visions alongside techno-utopian ones.
- Cybotron reunited in 2023 to release new music and perform live, by which point dozens of artists had sampled “Clear” and Missy Elliott had made it the backbone of “Lose Control,” which reached No. 3 on the US Billboard chart in 2005.
Why it matters: Atkins’ death leaves dance music without one of its foundational creators at 64. His influence is already measurable: dozens of artists sampled “Clear,” it powered Missy Elliott’s No. 3 Billboard hit, and his 2023 Cybotron comeback shows his work remained active rather than merely archival.
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