Techno is a form of electronic dance music that was developed in Detroit, Michigan, during the mid to late 1980s. Many styles of techno now exist, but Detroit techno, a genre in its own right, is seen as the foundation upon which many other subgenres have been built.^[1]

The initial take on techno arose from the melding of various African American styles such as Chicago house, funk, electro, and electric jazz with Eurocentric synthesizer-based music. Added to this was an interest in futuristic and fictional themes that were relevant to life in American late capitalist society: most particularly the novel Future Shock by Alvin Toffler. Techno music pioneer Juan Atkinscites Toffler's phrase "techno rebels" as inspiring him to use the word "techno" to describe the musical style he helped to create. This unique blend of influences aligns techno with the aesthetic referred to as AfroDiasporic Futurism.^[2] To producers such as Derrick May, the transference of spirit from the machine to the body is often a central preoccupation; essentially an expression of technological spirituality. In this manner "techno dance music defeats what Adorno saw as the alienating effect of mechanisation on the modern consciousness."^[3]

Music journalists and fans of techno are generally selective in their use of the term; so a clear distinction can be made between sometimes related but often qualitatively different styles, such as tech house and trance. "Techno" is also sometimes confused with generalized descriptors, such as electronic music and dance music.^[4][5]