Golden eras of techno...

[Jay Pace]

For as long as I've been into techno (99) there have always been people complaining that it was so much better "back in the day". Had the same problem with hardcore as well. Arsecandles to the lot of them. Got to see the rise and fall of jungle at least...

The sense of having always "just missed out" on the golden age pissed me off, until I realised it didn't really exist in the way I thought it did. Utterly brilliant that people are now referring to 99 as a golden age...

Events and things that stood out for me - jeff mills at the lighthouse around 2000 was incredible. Had never heard anything like it. Every jeff mills set I've heard since has been pretty much the same, but meh, when he nails it he nails it.

First Sonar in 2003 was amazing - seeing techno as the lynchpin of a massive electronic media and music festival just reinforced my view that techno was the lifeblood of the electronic scene.

I love it all just as much now though. Still can get blown away by Mills hammering a 909 if the setting is right, and still get goosebumps from some of the detroit stuff coming out.

But personally I'm having more fun with music now than ever. Scene seems smaller, friendlier and more informal than a decade ago, and I enjoy it on different level. Might be due to age, or maybe just the way the scene has evolved but I'm dead happy with the way things are now.

[Paul Zykotik]

The sense of having always "just missed out" on the golden age pissed me off, until I realised it didn't really exist in the way I thought it did. Utterly brilliant that people are now referring to 99 as a golden age...

Personal thing though isn't it. For me, that was a golden age. Pretty much anyone's golden age will be when they started getting heavily into the music and going out shitloads (and often getting trollied into the bargain).

I do believe though that the original 88/89 vibe would have stood out a mile from the golden ages that the rest of us have experienced, simply because it was something so completely new and out of the blue.