Underground Resistance: techno as resistance

Detroit, the second wave

The first wave of Detroit techno, the Belleville Three, proved that drum machines could make the music of the future. Around 1990 a second wave arrived, harder and more political. At its heart was the collective Underground Resistance, UR for short.

Who was behind UR

It was founded by "Mad" Mike Banks and Jeff Mills, and Robert Hood joined soon after. They performed anonymously, in bandanas and balaclavas. This was not a fashion choice. They wanted the music and the message to matter, not faces and stardom.

Fighting the "programmers"

UR described the world in the language of war. The enemy was the "programmers": corporate media and the music industry, which, in their view, programmed people into mindless consumption. The answer was music released independently, outside the major labels, with a message of solidarity and the strength of Detroit's Black community. Banks built the Submerge distribution company around this idea, and it still supports local artists.

Two sides of the sound

Some UR records are hard, distorted blows, like "Sonic Destroyer", released as X-101. It appeared on the very first release of the Berlin label Tresor, the subject of the next lesson. The other side is the melodic, jazzy futurism of Mike Banks's Galaxy 2 Galaxy project, for example "Hi-Tech Jazz", where synthesizers sound like a live orchestra.

What came next

Jeff Mills soon went his own way. He founded the Axis label and became one of the world's most famous DJs, known for lightning-fast mixing across three turntables and for playing a 909. His "The Bells" is one of the most recognisable techno tracks ever made. Robert Hood developed a style that became known as minimal techno, which gets its own lesson too.

Legacy

UR showed that techno can have convictions. Anonymity, independence and distrust of the industry are values that still return in underground collectives all over the world.