What is the point of techno?
 

After about 3 seconds of listening, I can pretty much figure out what the entire song is going to sound like. Pretty boring if you ask me

To LISTEN to? No, it's not good.

But it does have some good uses:
Jogging
Dancing
Background music at work

I'm really not a very big fan of techno...but sometimes I enjoy industrial techno...not often though.

You could pretty much say the same thing about disco, bubblegum pop, some hip hop, and some new country.

First, you can't really use John Cage for background noise when you're doing something else. And second, some people want zero surprises in their music. That's why oldie stations are so popular.

I'm not saying that other musical styles don't have repetition. But it seems like most techno takes repetition to an extreme. Also, with other musical styles with repeitition, the vocals help out significantly sometimes. I haven't heard a lot of techno with vocals (excluding techno remixes, which also get very boring).

Probably more thoughts to come later...

The universal permanent truth is that 90% of everything is crap.

There is good and bad techno and I've heard both. However, that being said, yeah most of it is incredibly boring and unimaginative and I find the whole techno-trance-rave scene to be dull as watching paint dry.

I agree with the comment that 90% of everything is crap. I used to HATE country music until I heard Dwight Yoakam's first album.
I realized at the time I just hadn't heard the good stuff before.
Now I like just about every style of music around except for heavy metal. I think there is some excellent techno that is not mindless droning. Of course, what do you define as techno? To me, bands like Mouse on Mars, Moby and Air don't sound like rave music, but do fit into electronica. Good stuff.

I'm a pretty big fan of Techno. The Lords of Acid and 2 Unlimited, they put out good techno music. The point of it, pretty much what Guess said, jogging, working out, dancing, and it is something you can move to.

I've got an uncle who only listens to classical and jazz. He told me once that good music always builds tension in the listener and releases it. A couple of examples he gave where the 1812 Overture and Cannonball Adderly's "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy". A better known example of tension and release would be Led Zepplin's "Stairway to Heaven".

Most techno I've heard takes a different approach to this theory. A typical techno track will often start with just a beat- and that beat continues unchanged throughout the song. However, after that beat has been established, the artist will add in a new element, another beat or a melody or maybe just 1 or 2 new notes played at a certain interval. Then another element gets built on top of that and so on. So by the end of a 8 min track, what started as an simple beat, now has several other layers all working together on top of one another. The musical tension is created in how those layers work for or against each other.

Of course, it doesn't all follow this formula. If you want surprises in your techno, try Aphex Twin. If you want something that has an actual melody, try "The Box" by Orbital (on their 'In Sides' album). And if you want actual songs with your techno try Madonna's newer stuff.;)

I'm a big country fan and I don't really care for Dwight Yoakam. A couple of his songs are okay, but for some reason, I can't stand to listen to him sing most of the time. The music doesn't bother me, his voice does.

I have a fairly wide range of musical tastes (Country, Alternative Rock, Classic Rock, some Pop) and can listen to a lot of stuff without it bothering me (but that I normally wouldn't listen to), but I wouldn't go as far as saying 90% of everything is crap. I couldn't come up with a percentage if my life depended on it.

Huh? I have plenty of techno that isn't repetitious.

It's a typical cynic's statement. Basically it means for every "Strawberry Fields Forever" you can find at least 9 "Ice, Ice Baby" type songs. I tend to agree, but also agree "the remainer is worth dying for".

We now return you to our regularly scheduled thread...

I love all kinds of music, and it really depends on what I'm doing to decide what to listen to.

The techno I listen to is all about energy. Download "Sandstorm" by Darude, turn up the bass, and tell me it doesn't make you move. It's probably one of the most overplayed house songs ever, but it ALWAYS gets the crowd going.

Jason Northrup, it is painfully obvious that techno was invented to confuse the already confused music sale employee.

When in a store, I often hear the argument that "_________" is not techno, their house. No they are not house, they are Euro-dance. No, no, no you're both wrong. They are obviously Euro-trance trip hop.

Poor, poor music sale employee. :(

"I don't understand it, and since I've heard maybe .001% of what I think it is, I'm just gonna dismiss the entire term and anything remotely associated with it."

Most of my music is bacckground music. I don't want to be sitting there and 5 minutes later wondering why the music hasn't changed.

I probably haven't heard much of it. A friend of mine claims to be into techno, so I've heard whatever it is he listens to. He says that not all techno is repetative, but I have nothing to go on other than what he plays. Any recomendations for good, non-repetative techno tracks?

Check out a band called PLAID. Secondly, it's rather unfair to lump all dance music as techno, where there are many styles and groups that are trying to sound different.

People complaining about a certain piece of music being too repetitive is kind of a bugbear with me. A lot of it rests on what you personally determine to be repetitive. Many people who like the Ramones or your everyday punk band can't stand dance music for its repetition, when the Ramones or whoever use a great deal of repetition themselves. (Listen to the Ramones' rhythms -- they weren't ELP.) And given your average pop song, you can have lots of repetition there -- a chorus gets used three times, the verses often pattern themselves similarly, etc. Variation in a lot of rock songs can often be pinned merely on the existence of a solo, which is something most dance music avoids like the plague. So how much variation in a song do you need to prevent you from nodding off?

Techno has become a very nebulous term. It's been applied to innovators like Kraftwerk and Derrick May just as often as it's been applied to your Lords of Acids and your Crystal Methods. If/when I have more time, I'll try to go further into detail. Surely there are several people lurking around who can provide more info as well???

I guess my biggest gripe with the thread is the somewhat uninformed dismissal of an entire genre. I've heard maybe .0001% of the country music that has been released in the last 20 years -- and I haven't liked any of it -- but I would never think of slagging off the entire field, taking what little I've heard as a fair representation.

In my dreams I could spend all the time and money in the world to listen to everything. In reality, which is where I live, I have VERY limited time and even MORE limited funds in which to explore music. If I waste my time and money on techno cd after techno cd, it's only going to hurt my collection of items I have heard to be good.

I think there is a big difference between slagging off the entire field and living within your personal means.

That said there is some techno that I do like: Joy Electric, Looper, Massive Attack, and a few others that just aren't popping into my head. Mainly bands that use old synths.

I don't think techno is about sitting and listening to unless its ambient, its about being part of. You've got to dance, move or generally express yourself with your body. I work out to it, its a great way of getting a steady beat 140- 170 bpm which infusses you with energy. I find it very uplifting.

Re: What is the point of techno?
 

"Techno" is as nebulous a term as "Rock And Roll". There are dozens of subgenres and styles within that are categorized as "Techno" but sound nothing like their siblings. For example, "EBM" (Electronic Body Music) sounds nothing like "Freestyle", which in turn sounds far removed from "Rave".

As for calling "techno" repetitious, I think Pikul summarized things admirably with his Ramones analogy. I won't bother trying to repeat his point, but I will say that there are several music genres that I find bland, repetitive and uninteresting: jazz, blues, country, R&B, hip hop, rave, house, jungle, and ambient. Now that list contains a lot of musical styles that have scores of hardcore fanatics - and while I find the music boring (and in most cases, annoying) I certainly will respect their opinions and just go with the idea that they appreciate that music on a level I just don't understand.

There's certainly a lot of my friends who can't stand the EBM, synthpop and retro 80s music that I spin ad nauseum. ;)

Cheers!

-matt

I can't speak for you, but there are scores of Trance and Freestyle tracks I listen to regularily.

I think it's just a question of personal taste. To me, something like Jazz seems to be only good for "background noise", or as filler material... but there are those who listen to it religiously. Go figure! ;)

-matt

What is the point ot techno?
 

What is the point of techno? What is the point of your post? Obviously, no matter what I, or anyone else says your ingnorance will debunk it. So, if you don't like it fine. But, what do you expect to get out of bashing a sytle of music? I myself can not stand to listen to country. But do you see me here whinning about how twangy and pointless it is? No, because I have a thing called respect. Even though I may not listen to it or like it for that matter, I still respect every country artist for what they do. Techno is not for the masses. To many people such as yourself seem to have a major lack in the attention span area. You have to hear techno, not listen to it. If you listen to it all you hear is boom, boom. But if you hear it, you will be suprised what lurks behind the repetition. You said it yourself "i listened to it for about 3 seconds". Well hell if I listened to about 3 seconds of your average pop, rock, jazz song I would be asking what is the point as well. I will also say that yes, 90% of COMMERCIAL techno is crap. That is the main problem. People hear one techno track and think that "well this is what it sounds like". If you really what to be open minded and listen to it for more then 3 seconds I will give you some good artists to listen to. But, somehow I think the majority of you lack the sense of exploring that avenue. I'm not trying to be a di*k in this message. I'm just simply stating the fact that ingnorance will get you absoluetly no where in the music world. Especially if you just disregard a WHOLE genere of music based on 3 seconds.
Even though matt (post above me) doesn't seem to like techno and blues (listen to some srv!) I very much agree with what he says "and while I find the music boring (and in most cases, annoying) I certainly will respect their opinions and just go with the idea that they appreciate that music on a level I just don't understand." To bad more don't think the same.

The point is to have so much bass that it makes you lose control of your bowels.