Detroit made techno. It was born in Black brilliance, forged in sweat, steel, and speaker stacks. The early days were gritty, raw, and unapologetically underground.

Raves in asbestos-riddled warehouses. DJ booths balanced on plywood. Sweaty bodies packed into buildings with no heat, no permits, just purpose. The Packard Plant, Mack and Bellevue, and the Eastown Theatre were places the city gave up on. But the music briefly revived them. Bass shook the dust loose. Rhythm fought its way through the speakers. It was joy, communion and resistance, but on a subterranean level.

Then came a turning point: the first Detroit Electronic Music Festival in 2000, led by Carl Craig, which is known today as Movement. For once, an underground scene had risen to the surface. Slowly, the world took note. Detroit — the birthplace of techno — was getting its due.

But not completely. Even now, it is hard to make a living in Detroit as an electronic music artist and many leave for cities like Los Angeles and Berlin. So what will it take to change that?

DJ and producer John Collins of Underground Resistance — a group built from the city’s renegade spirit and refusal to be erased — joined The Metro to discuss Detroit’s techno legacy and the artists preserving and growing it.

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