Kevin Saunderson on Pioneering Detroit Techno and Its Legacy | Living for the City FULL Interview
Living for the CityShow Notes
Kevin Saunderson is one of the Belleville Three, the teenagers from suburban Michigan who invented Detroit techno, the architect behind Inner City, and one of the most influential catalogs in electronic music history. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
In this interview, Kevin traces his path from New York to Inkster to Belleville, where he met Derrick May and eventually Juan Atkins, and where there was nothing to do but make music. He talks about the early days at the Music Institute, driving records to Chicago to get them played alongside house music, and the night at Heaven in London when he first heard Big Fun played for a crowd that rushed the dance floor. He breaks down the origin of the word techno, why his sound went toward melody and vocals when the others went abstract, and how the Reese Bass ended up shaping not just techno but hip hop without most people knowing it.
Kevin also reflects on the racism he encountered in Belleville, the segregation that made it harder to break in America than in Europe, and what it meant to watch the city of Detroit finally embrace what he helped build decades after he built it.
This one is about invention, patience, and what it means to go full circle.
CHAPTERS
00:19 - From New York to Belleville: How Kevin Found the Music 02:50 - Meeting Derrick May and Juan Atkins 04:16 - The Light Switch: Giving Up Football for Music 07:31 - The Belleville Three and the Mythology Growing Around Them 09:44 - Driving to Chicago and Finding the First Audiences 10:57 - Big Fun in London: The First Time He Heard His Music Move a Crowd 14:32 - The Music Institute in Its Prime 17:35 - Why America Was Different: Segregation, Radio, and the Industry 20:31 - The Reese Bass, Collaboration, and Techno Boulevard 36:39 - Staying in Detroit and What Keeps Him Here 40:07 - The Future of Techno and What Full Circle Looks Like
LINKS
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TAGS / KEYWORDS
Kevin Saunderson, Kevin Saunderson interview, Belleville Three, Detroit techno history, Inner City Detroit, Reese Bass, Detroit techno origin, Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Music Institute Detroit, techno history, Big Fun Inner City, Detroit electronic music, Movement Festival Detroit, DJ Minx, Carl Craig, Techno Boulevard Detroit, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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