Cybotron was an American

electro music Electro (or electro- funk)Rap meets ...

group formed in 1980 by

Juan Atkins Juan Atkins (born September 12, 1962), also known as Model 500 and Infiniti, is an American record producer and DJ from Detroit, Michigan. '' Mixmag'' has described him as "the original pioneer of Detroit techno." He has been a member of The Be ...

and Richard "3070" Davis in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. Guitarist John "Jon 5" Housely 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 Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

, especially the music of George Clinton, along with

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

pioneers,

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize t ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

technopop pioneers,

Yellow Magic Orchestra Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO for short) is a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). The group is cons ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a r ...

Italo disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the early 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, p ...

and

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abo ...

literary influences such as

Alvin Toffler Alvin Eugene Toffler (October 4, 1928 – June 27, 2016) was an American writer, futurist, and businessman known for his works discussing modern technologies, including the digital revolution and the communication revolution, with emphasis on t ...

's books ''

Future Shock ''Future Shock'' is a 1970 book by American futurist Alvin Toffler, written together with his spouse Adelaide Farrell, in which the authors define the term "future shock" as a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies. Th ...

'' and '' The Third Wave''. The name "Cybotron," is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordscyborg A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.

and

cyclotron A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest O. Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Jan ...

Relation to techno

Although generally considered electro, Cybotron was also part of the early evolution of

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

music. Cybotron was the first musical outlet of techno co-originator

, and the group's unique combination of musical influences, boldly experimental aesthetic and Afro-futurist philosophy became the underpinnings of

Detroit Techno Detroit techno is a type of techno music that generally includes the first techno productions by Detroit-based artists during the 1980s and early 1990s. Prominent Detroit techno artists include Juan Atkins, Eddie Fowlkes, Derrick May, Jeff Mil ...

. Cybotron used a

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

-dominated sound, paired with a drum machine, whose rhythms were similar to those emerging from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

at the same time. This was reflected in their first single, “Alleys of Your Mind,” which was released on their own Deep Space label and was playlisted by The Electrifyin’ Mojo in 1981. It became a local hit in Detroit, where it sold about 15,000 copies. Their next two singles, “Cosmic Cars” and “Clear” had even more success, which led to them being signed by Fantasy, a label located in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

. Cybotron’s music worked to mirror the atmosphere of economic desperation and alienation in Detroit in the 1980s. Songs like “Alleys of Your Mind” and “Techno City” were specifically aimed to mirror the city, using technology to capture this spirit. Cybotron used subliminal funk pulsing amidst their crisp-and-dry programmed beats to truly reflect the dying auto industry in Detroit.

Success and breakup

Formed in 1980, Cybotron released their first singles, "Alleys of Your Mind" and "Cosmic Cars," as 7-inch records on Atkins's own label, ''Deep Space Records''. In total, these records sold 15,000 copies. In 1983, the group was signed to the

-based

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

label and released its debut album, ''Enter''. In 1985, Atkins left the group due to artistic differences with Davis. Davis wanted the group to pursue a musical direction closer to rock, while Atkins wanted to continue in the electro-style vein of " Clear." 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.

Discography

Albums

*''

Enter Enter or ENTER may refer to: * Enter key, on computer keyboards * Enter, Netherlands, a village * ''Enter'' (magazine), an American technology magazine for children 1983–1985 * ''Enter'' (Finnish magazine), a Finnish computer magazine * Enter ...

'' (1983) (re-released as '' Clear'' in 1990) *''Empathy'' (1993) *''Cyber Ghetto'' (1995)

Singles

*"Alleys of Your Mind" b/w "Cosmic Raindance" (Deep Space, 1981) *"Cosmic Cars" b/w "The Line" (Deep Space/Fantasy, 1982) *" Clear" b/w "Industrial Lies" (Fantasy, 1983) *"Techno City" (Fantasy, 1984) *"R-9" (Fantasy, 1985) *"Eden" (Fantasy, 1986)

References

External links

Cybotron's website
maintained by Rick Davis, which features a lot of his

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

interests.
Cybotron
discography at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

. {{Authority control Electronic music groups from Michigan American electro musicians Fantasy Records artists Musical groups established in 1980