Techno as "Post-Disco"

One theory of the emergence of Techno in Detroit is that it was facilitated by the sudden (and deliberate) decline of disco. It is difficult to overestimate how culturally important disco music was by the end of the 1970s. It was the club music of much of the decade, and worked its way into every corner of the music world.

Exhibit A:


By the end of the decade, disco became reviled by many, primarily white fans of rock 'n' roll. Its destruction was literal, vehement, and violent, with racist and homophobic overtones, as disco music was especially popular among African American, Hispanic, and gay communities. The Detroit radio station WRIF issued D.R.E.A.D. cards (Detroit Rockers Engaged in the Abolition of Disco) to its listeners:

A Chicago radio station incited the infamous Disco Demolition Night riot of 1979:




Although there aren't always strong musical connections between disco and techno, this helps explain how disco's sudden absence left a hole for techno to thrive.