Throwback: Model 500-No UFO’s
[youtube id=”KNz01ty-kTQ”] Model 500 is a pseudonym used by Detroit techno producer Juan Atkins. “No UFO’s” was one of the defining songs of the genre when it was released in 1985. The song was the first release on Atkins’s Metroplex label and it was immediately recognized on Detroit radio via The Electrifyin’ Mojo, The Scene television show and clubs like The Music Institute. “No UFO’s” also resonated with Chicago’s dance clubs and was played on the influential WBMX Hot Mix 5 radio show. The pulverizing tempo of the micro-chipped funk elements found in “NO UFO’s” plus the android-like vocals sounded like no other dance record. Atkins had already opened the way with “Clear” and “Cosmic Car” recorded under his name but “NO UFO’s” seemed to celebrate the computer process more with three times the energy to make bodies move on the dancefloor. Atkins has always cited Parliament’s “Flashlight,” Kraftwerk, Futurism, Detroit and Chicago house as some of his influences. The press has referred to him and his friends Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson as The Belleville Three for their creation of Detroit Techno. Atkins still tours the world as a DJ and makes records since the beginning of his career in the ’80’s.