Techno was born in the early '80s in Detroit and Chicago at the hands of Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, and Derrick May. Many of today's generation of techno music, though, was heavily influenced from the German group Kraftwerk. Experimenting with modern music synthesizers made by Robert Moog and others, as well as digital drum machines such as the Roland 303 and 808, Kraftwerk buzzed and whirred on the electronic edges of the 1970s Krautrock scene and wound up influencing a new generation of German bands. While techno grew in the U.S., U.K. artists such as Carl Cox, Sven Vath, and Dave Angel began to create grooves that were much more aggressive and darker than those in the U.S. European labels such as R&S, Tresor, and Peacefrog promoted the rise of techno during the Summer of Love in the U.K. Meanwhile, in late-'90s Sweden, pioneering artists such as Cari Lekebusch (H Productions), and Adam Beyer (Primate/Drumcode) released hard, four-to-the-floor techno with heavy drum programming. Back in the U.S., the techno scene spawned artists such as Jeff Mills, Richie Hawtin (Plastikman), Carl Craig, and Kenny Larkin, who developed a minimal techno sound that attracted U.K. labels including Background Records and Force Inc. .

Notable Artists: Carl Cox, Sven Vath, Cari Lekebusch, Plastikman