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“Sharivari” was the brainchild of Detroit friends Sterling Jones, Roderick Simpson and Paul Lesley. Detroit’s music scene in the early ’80’s was alive with the next phase of American dance music after disco. The Electrifying Mojo’s local radio show was an essential proving ground for the R&B, New Wave and techno that was also emerging at various parties around the city. The friends paid the DJ a visit and he made the decision to rotate “Sharivari” instead of “Skitso” on the show and chose their moniker, A Number Of Names. The exposure from Mojo as well as the song being on the playlist of locally televised The Scene made “Sharivari” a ubiquitous part of Detroit’s dance music landscape.There is an ongoing debate as to whether the Kraftwerk-influenced song about a lifestyle rife with expensive European things is the first techno record. But the term techno came later in the ’80’s after Juan Atkins released the song, “Techno Music.” “Sharivari” travelled to another generation of Detroit musicians when The Dirtbombs and electronic duo Adult covered it in the 2000’s.
