Quote Originally Posted by Francisco Scaramanga View Post
I dont really see that it matters much, but after watching that VERY classy video clip - what a corker - I was intrigued enough to put sharevari into google, and according to the top hit http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=2691 Sharevari was the first, although the article was for the Detroit Metrotimes, so possibly not the best source. The liner notes to my "Motor City Machine Music: An Exploration Of Cybotron" CD reckon that Alleys Of Your Mind was released just before, so who knows.

I dont really care, but in the process of being inconclusive, I've just learned a hell of a lot! And just to confuse things, it seems that the first tune Juan and Rick Davis did together, possibly even before they called themselves Cybotron (notes arent clear on this), was Cosmic Raindance, so while it wasnt the first record, it was maybe the first "techno" tune!

But as other people have pointed out, I think its pretty hard to pick one tune and say this one is responsible for all the others that followed. When it comes to techno, you'd probably have to go back to some guy beating two rocks together whilst looking at the stars or something...
exactly, i know alot of people who are adamant that modern electronic music as a whole starts with Kraftwerk, being sampled for Planet Rock etc without knowing that Kraftwerk actually started as a VERY ambient/experimental group called Organisation, and they were, to be blunt, pretty terrible. My mate has some very rare early 12"s off them as Organisation and if they'd carried on in this vein before transforming into the Kraftwerk we know and love, then they wouldnt of recorded all the classic Kraftwerk material, the influence of their work wouldnt of been apparent, Planet Rock definately wouldnt of happened, the subsequent records that were influenced by Planet Rock wouldnt of happened.... etc etc etc, you see where im going?

something as big and important as techno, and electronic music as a whole, is too special to pinpoint down, and the more anal people get about things like this, in my opinion, the less special these things become. Thats certainly how i see it anyway. There's something undeniably amazing about having a certain blind naivety when it comes to music, especially music as timeless as Cybotron and the likes. I genuinely couldnt care when, where or how it came about. Im just eternally grateful that it has