Musical origin stories are by their very nature incredibly thorny. Culture – art – does not suddenly appear out of nowhere; it’s not created in a vacuum. Juan Atkins, who has sadly died aged 64, understood this better than most.

Despite being routinely referred to as the originator of techno, that futuristic strand of electronic music that sprang out of Atkins’ native Detroit in the 80s and which went on to conquer the world, Atkins recognised that his releases as Cybotron and then Model 500 were part of a lineage that formed the bedrock of a new musical genre. He would regularly cite the influence of Kraftwerk and other electronic pop pioneers such as Giorgio Moroder, Yellow Magic Orchestra and Gary Numan, alongside George Clinton’s cosmic P-Funk collective and whatever the influential Detroit DJ The Electrifying Mojo was spinning on his Midnight Funk Association show, as building blocks on the sound of techno.

When Disco Pogo writer Ben Cardew interviewed Atkins in 2019, Atkins was modest to a fault, claiming he didn’t know what “the first techno record was. I coined the term ‘techno’, but electronic music is the precursor to techno”.

That, you might say, is the detached, considered view anyway. And while true, that doesn’t mean we should discount the opinions of those techno practitioners who followed in Atkins wake. For the likes of Kevin Saunderson, Laurent Garnier, Moodymann and many, many more, Juan Atkins was and always will be the godfather of techno. In their eyes, Atkins wasn’t only the person to give this sleek, minimalistic, man machine music a name, he did so having given the music a sonic blueprint too.

Reacting to the news of his death in Mexico City over the weekend (31 October), Saunderson, who alongside Atkins and their fellow junior high school friend, Derrick May, was part of The Belleville Three, techno’s OG titanic triumvirate, said: “Juan was the originator of Techno, a true visionary who opened the door for so many of us, myself included.” Dave Clarke referred to him as “the Teacher”, Garnier pegged him as “one of the founding fathers of our music” and Richie Hawtin said: “Juan imagined Techno before any of us.” Ken Ishii noted: ““Without him, techno simply wouldn’t exist.” Unearthing a prior homage to Atkins, Moodymann reiterated his belief that Atkins had nothing to do with the big [Belleville] three. He was, rather, the big one.

Atkins pioneering tendencies began early. He mastered the guitar and drums at a young age and bought his first synthesiser when he was 15. At college he met Vietnam veteran Richard Davis and the pair formed Cybotron. The duo’s technologically-charged music was equally informed by the post-industrial decline of Detroit as it was Afrofuturism and the writings of philosophers and sociologists such as Alvin Toffler. Indeed, Toffler’s seminal 1970 book, ‘Future Shock’ and its use of the phrase ‘techno rebels’ would eventually give Atkins’ music its name.

Inititlally, Cybotron tracks such as ‘Alleys of Your Mind’, ‘Cosmic Cars’ and ‘Clear’ could be broadly described as electro. However, after splitting from Davis in 1985, he refined his sound and re-emerged as Model 500. Tracks such as ‘No UFO’s’ and ‘Night Drive (Thru Babylon)’, released on his Metroplex label, were tougher and more propulsive - it was he sound of man and machine coming together in perfect harmony. Atkins was, as has been duly noted in many tribute posts, soundtracking the future in the present. Today, over 40 years since those first Model 500 tracks were released, plus later records such as ‘The Chase’, ‘Infoworld’ and ‘Off to Battle’, and for dance music enthusiasts of a certain dotage, they still sound like harbingers of a future utopia.

Magic Juan’s preternatural production skills proved invaluable for Saunderson and May as they took their first musical steps, and when European journalists caught on to these exciting new sounds coming from Detroit and Chicago, Atkins was able to theorise why Detroit created the music it did, telling The Face writer Stuart Cosgrove: “Berry Gordy built the Motown sound on the same principles as the conveyor belt at Ford’s. Today they use robots and computers to make their cars and I’m more interested in Ford’s cars than Gordy’s music.”

Following the acid house explosion in the UK and the adoption of house and techno across the globe, Atkins’ standing was something close to a deity in the 90s. His DJ sets were akin to holy communions – Bugged Out! resident James Holroyd tells a colourful tale of picking up Atkins in his battered Fiat Uno from Manchester Airport before he belatedly made his first appearance at the club his records helped shape. Another one of his aliases, Infiniti, delivered many of the tracks (‘Game One’ in particular) that would soundtrack mid-90s nights at the club’s first home, Sankeys Soap.

That decade he forged a fruitful partnership with Berlin producers Moritz von Oswald and Thomas Fehlmann as 3MB, releasing on the city’s influential Tresor label. In 2005, Missy Elliott lifted the spine of ‘Clear’ for her smash hit ‘Lose Control’, thus honouring a musician whose collectivist and liberating views on technology guiding our future were worlds apart from the malevolent tech bros of today who seek to divide us with machines.

His enquiring mind and optimistic worldview was captured in an exchange with writer Kris Needs for the NME in 1992. “I’ve always been fascinated with science fiction...just that feel. When 'Star Wars' came out and Kraftwerk came out that just did it. I just wanted more. There’s more imagination and possibilities to me with things to come. There’s always hope because tomorrow is another day. I’m always thinking ahead. I’ve always got something up my sleeve.”

The techno originator will be sorely missed. Rest in power, Juan.

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Photos taken in Detroit and Windsor (Canada) in 1994. Used here with kind permission from Mark McNulty.