Cybotron was an early electro group formed in 1980 by
Juan AtkinsJuan Atkins is an American musician. He is widely credited as the originator of techno music, specifically Detroit techno along with Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson...
and
Richard "3070" DavisRichard Davis is a composer and producer of techno music from Detroit. He and Juan Atkins formed the group known as Cybotron in the early 1980s. He also released music of his own under the alias 3070. As Cybotron and 3070, Davis had a heavy hand in the foundation of Detroit's primeval techno...
in
Detroit, MichiganDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
. Guitarist John "Jon 5" Housley joined soon afterward. Cybotron had a number of singles now considered classics of the electro genre, particularly "Clear" and the group's debut "Alleys Of Your Mind", as well as "Cosmic Cars" and "R-9".
The group was inspired by midwestern funk, especially the music of
George ClintonGeorge Clinton is an American singer, songwriter and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and began his work as a solo artist in 1981. He has been called one of the most prominent...
, along with European synthesizer pioneers
KraftwerkKraftwerk is an influential electronic band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The signature Kraftwerk sound combines driving, repetitive rhythms with catchy melodies, mainly following a Western classical style of harmony, with a minimalistic and strictly electronic instrumentation.The group's simplified...
, English
electropopElectropop is a form of electronic music that is made with synthesizers, and which first flourished from 1978 to 1983. Electropop laid the groundwork for a mass market in chart-oriented pop and dance music...
, Italo-Disco, and futurist literary influences such as
Alvin TofflerAlvin Toffler is an American writer and futurist, known for his works discussing the digital revolution, communication revolution, corporate revolution and technological singularity. A former associate editor of Fortune magazine, his early work focused on technology and its impact...
's books
Future ShockFuture Shock is a book written by the sociologist and futurologist Alvin Toffler in 1970. It grew out of an article "The Future as a Way of Life" in Horizon magazine, Summer 1965 issue...
and
The Third WaveThe Third Wave is a book published in 1980 by Alvin Toffler. It is the sequel to Future Shock, published in 1970, and the second in what was originally just a trilogy that was continued with Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century in 1990...
.
Cybotron was an early electro group formed in 1980 by
Juan AtkinsJuan Atkins is an American musician. He is widely credited as the originator of techno music, specifically Detroit techno along with Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson...
and
Richard "3070" DavisRichard Davis is a composer and producer of techno music from Detroit. He and Juan Atkins formed the group known as Cybotron in the early 1980s. He also released music of his own under the alias 3070. As Cybotron and 3070, Davis had a heavy hand in the foundation of Detroit's primeval techno...
in
Detroit, MichiganDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
. Guitarist John "Jon 5" Housley joined soon afterward. Cybotron had a number of singles now considered classics of the electro genre, particularly "Clear" and the group's debut "Alleys Of Your Mind", as well as "Cosmic Cars" and "R-9".
Influences
The group was inspired by midwestern funk, especially the music of
George ClintonGeorge Clinton is an American singer, songwriter and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and began his work as a solo artist in 1981. He has been called one of the most prominent...
, along with European synthesizer pioneers
KraftwerkKraftwerk is an influential electronic band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The signature Kraftwerk sound combines driving, repetitive rhythms with catchy melodies, mainly following a Western classical style of harmony, with a minimalistic and strictly electronic instrumentation.The group's simplified...
, English
electropopElectropop is a form of electronic music that is made with synthesizers, and which first flourished from 1978 to 1983. Electropop laid the groundwork for a mass market in chart-oriented pop and dance music...
, Italo-Disco, and futurist literary influences such as
Alvin TofflerAlvin Toffler is an American writer and futurist, known for his works discussing the digital revolution, communication revolution, corporate revolution and technological singularity. A former associate editor of Fortune magazine, his early work focused on technology and its impact...
's books
Future ShockFuture Shock is a book written by the sociologist and futurologist Alvin Toffler in 1970. It grew out of an article "The Future as a Way of Life" in Horizon magazine, Summer 1965 issue...
and
The Third WaveThe Third Wave is a book published in 1980 by Alvin Toffler. It is the sequel to Future Shock, published in 1970, and the second in what was originally just a trilogy that was continued with Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century in 1990...
. The name "Cybotron", coined by Atkins, is a portmanteau of
cyborgA cyborg is a cybernetic organism . The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
and
cyclotronA cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator. Cyclotrons accelerate charged particles using a high-frequency, alternating voltage...
. Atkins was fond of creating such "futuristic-sounding" words — the
record labelIn the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
names "
MetroplexMetroplex is a techno record label in Detroit, founded in 1985 by techno pioneer Juan Atkins. Juan Atkins did most of his work for the label under the pseudonyms Model 500 and Infiniti.-Discography:* M-001 Model 500 - No UFOs/Future...
" and "Transmat" being other examples.
Relation to techno
Although generally considered electro, Cybotron was also part of the early evolution of techno music. Cybotron was the first musical outlet of techno co-"originator" Juan Atkins, and the group's unique combination of musical influences, boldly experimental aesthetic, and afro-futurist philosophy became the underpinnings of
Detroit TechnoDetroit techno is an early style of electronic music beginning in 1980s. Detroit has been cited as the birthplace of techno music. Prominent Detroit Techno artists include Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson...
.
Success and breakup
After the successful release of "Alleys of Your Mind" and "Cosmic Cars" as 7-inch singles on Atkins' own label Deep Space Records, the group was signed to the
Berkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
-based
FantasyFantasy Records is a United States based record label, which was founded by Max and Sol Weiss in 1949 in San Francisco, California. They had previously operated a record pressing plant called Circle Record Company before forming the Fantasy label...
label and released its debut album,
Enter, in 1983.
In 1985, Atkins left the group due to artistic differences with Davis. Davis wanted the group to pursue a musical direction closer to
rockRock music is a genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the 1960s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country music and also drew on folk music, jazz and classical music....
, while Atkins wanted to continue in the electro-style vein of "
Clear"Clear" is a 1983 Electro song by performed by the American group Cybotron, and composed by Cybotron members Juan Atkins and Richard Davis.The song's instantly recognizable loop has been sampled by many Rap and Hip hop artists, including Splack Pack , Missy Elliott , Poison Clan , D'Suave , and DJ...
." After the breakup, Davis carried on and released several records as Cybotron, the last in 1995. Atkins still has an active musical career. He founded Metroplex Records and continued releasing records under several names, including Model 500, Model 600, and Infiniti. Atkins also continued DJing under his own name.
Album discography
- Enter (1983)
- Clear (Enter with a slightly changed track listing, 1990)
- Empathy (1993)
- Cyber Ghetto (1995)
- Motor City Machine Music (A 'greatest hits' album, 2005)
External links
- Cybotron's website maintained by Rik Davis, which features a lot of his occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
and science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
interests.
- Cybotron discography at Discogs
Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about music recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
.