Music
Rick Davis
· electronic musician
Co-founder, with Juan Atkins, of Cybotron, the early-1980s Detroit electro group whose “Clear” and “Techno City” laid the groundwork for techno.
- Birth name
- Richard Davis
- Also known as
- 3070 · Richard Davis
- Detroit years
- 1980s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Richard “3070” Davis met the young Juan Atkins at Washtenaw Community College, and in 1980 the two founded Cybotron in Detroit. Davis, older than Atkins and steeped in science fiction and futurist ideas, shared his fascination with synthesizers and Kraftwerk; together they fused George Clinton-style funk with machine rhythms and dystopian themes drawn from the declining industrial city around them. Their first records, “Alleys of Your Mind” and “Cosmic Cars”, came out on Atkins's Deep Space label and reached a wide audience through The Electrifying Mojo's radio show. The 1983 album Enter included “Clear”, one of electro's most influential tracks, and “Techno City” gave the coming genre a name and an image. Atkins left in 1985 over creative differences and went on to found Metroplex and record as Model 500, while Davis kept releasing music under the Cybotron name. Historians of techno treat Cybotron as the point where the Detroit sound begins.
Highlights
- Co-founded Cybotron with Juan Atkins in 1980.
- Cybotron's album Enter (1983) includes the electro classic “Clear”.
- “Techno City” anticipated the name of the genre.
- Continued Cybotron after Atkins's departure in 1985.