The Golden Years — Detroit Techno's Warehouse Scene

"See you at the Packard" was what Detroit youth would say as they parted ways at the city's coffee shops, before regrouping after sunset. Opened in 1903, the Packard Plant was a grand statement of the booming American car industry. Yet the mid-century recession meant the 3,500,000-square-foot plant was left abandoned. In 1957, the plant closed its doors to the auto business, and in its replacement laid the foundation to a musical subculture that shaped electronic music today: techno. The Packard, alongside neighboring defunct warehouses such as Mack & Bellevue, Bridge Space (which was tucked underneath the Ambassador Bridge), and the Banco building, became the stomping grounds for experimental scenes and site-specific projects that responded to the tension and disorder caused by economic downturn. Only later would the term "rave" be popularized by the likes of High Times and Mixmag who pinned it with candy-gurning kids in fluorescent color and butterfly wings. Yet in the late '80s to mid '90s, the term had a whole different meaning. It catered to an undercurrent of music lovers who found solace dancing to a futuristic sound characterized by heavy use of synthesizer and '80s drum machines like the Roland TR-808. Audio by Elphick Wo Text & Photos by Arthur Bray See the whole story here. What is MAEKAN? MAEKAN is a membership-based publication and community focused on the sights and sounds of creative culture. We're about learning, participating, and connecting with a global community on a deeper level that social media just doesn't provide. We're defining the future of creative culture. We don't have all the answers, but our curiosity ensures we never stop looking. Sign-Up Today If you've enjoyed this story from the archives and want to see what else MAEKAN has to offer, sign-up for your membership at MAEKAN.com. You'll unlock exclusive stories, be given exclusive member-only-access to our Slack community, and have the opportunity to participate in our monthly digital panel discussions. maekan.com

You can listen to The Golden Years — Detroit Techno's Warehouse Scene online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Golden Years — Detroit Techno's Warehouse Scene is an episode from MAEKAN.

This episode is 01:06:29 long.

This episode was published on Jul 8, 2018.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from MAEKAN when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.