List needs to be done. Here's a rough top 20:

1. Juan Atkins (a.k.a Model 500, Infiniti)
2. Underworld
3. Robert Hood (a.k.a. Monobox, The Vision, Innersanctum, Floorplan, Mathematic Assassins)
4. Orbital
5. Underground Resistance
6. Carl Craig (a.k.a BFC, Psyche, Paperclip People, 69, Designer Music, Innerzone Orchestra, No Boundaries)
7. Derrick May (a.k.a Rhythim is Rhythim, Mayday, Long Ago)
8. Moritz von Oswald & Mark Ernestus (Basic Channel, Maurizio, Rythin & Sound, Round One, Round Two, Round Three, Round Four, Round Five)
9. Richie Hawtin (a.k.a Plastikman, F.U.S.E., Concept 1, Forcept 1, Circuit Breaker, Robotman, Chrome, Spark, Xenon, R.H.X., Jack Master, Richard Michaels, UP!)
10. Kevin Saunderson (Tronk House, Reese Project, Essaray, E-Dancer)
11. The Future Sound of London
12. Joey Beltram
13. Jeff Mills
14. Moby
15. Aphex Twin
16. Anthony Shakir (a.k.a Shake, Da Sampla, Schematics)
17. Autechre
18. Gas
19. LFO
20. X-101/X-102

I'm interested to see your take on this, but what's your criteria? Influence and impact (within the techno scene) would certainly have to be weighted most heavily for Juan Atkins to be #1, as he suffers in popularity and acclaim. And if influence and musical impact are indeed the primary two criteria considered, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May would inarguably take the next two spots.

I definitely don't think Atkins suffers in musical acclaim at all.

You have to remember techno is a very underground scene and is also more live orientated than record orientated, I there is very little in the way of popularity/widespread acclaim for any techno artist really, but I still think Atkins has quite a bit among techno fans.

Critical acclaim is what I was getting at -- and of that, he has little. I'm under the impression that what you're calling musical acclaim is essentially what I call musical impact; it's the level of respect and reverence an artist has by his peers. As the "godfather of techno" -- and with many of the most respected records in the field -- Atkins is definitely top tier in musical impact / musical acclaim.

Anyway, what's your criteria? Are they being weighted equally?

Yeah, sorry, it was Popularity, Influence and Musical Impact among the techno crowd. I suppose it's a difficult thing to do though as techno is such an underground genre, that was just a rough starting point though. There's no reason Atkins has to be #1 or anything.

Okay, cool. Well, since techno isn't a particularly popular style, what would you say about weighting popularity less than musical impact and influence? For the 100 Greatest Electronic/Dance Artists list, I weight the criteria like this: musical impact (40%), influence (40%), and popularity (20%).

Yeah, that seems a fair weighting. Though as you say, that means Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson should probably be higher on this list.

Now, that I've thought about this it's probably too difficult to do a top 100, but maybe we could do top 25 for different electronic subgenres. Like we could do a top 25 house and trance artists too.

You up for that, zach? Would love to see it get done.

Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I'll get back to you on this list when I find some free time.

By the way, are you not including some "big beat" artists? There is a strong techno component to the sounds of the Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers, and the Crystal Method. I'd definitely consider those three, at least.

Also, here are a few other important names in techno that should be considered:

808 State [important in house, too]
The Black Dog / Plaid
Sven Väth [important in trance, too]
Altern-8 [important in hardcore, too]
Slam
Luke Slater
Hardfloor [important in trance, too]
Drexciya
Laurent Garnier
Ricardo Villalobos
Jam & Spoon [important in trance, too]
Mouse on Mars
Fluke
Cristian Vogel
DJ Paul Elstak [important in hardcore, too]
B12
Speedy J
Kenny Larkin
DJ Hixxy & DJ Sharkey [important in hardcore, too]
Dave Clarke
Eddie "Flashin'" Fowlkes
As One
CJ Bolland
Ken Ishii
Pan Sonic
Stacey Pullen
WestBam
Frankie Bones
Pole
DJ Hell
Daniel Bell (DBX)


So, yeah, a Top 25, as you said, could be done easily, but I think a Top 50 is also feasible.

It depends whether you are counting big beat as a subgenre of techno or not I suppose, personally I wouldn't. I think it comes more from the club culture in the UK and I'm not sure the UK really has anything to do with techno music, Joey Beltram aside. Techno has always been much more of an American and German thing. They don't seem to come from the same field and also from an aesthetic point of view, I don't think big beat really sounds the same as techno. That's difficult to define of course, but big beat to me just is more frantic and agressive than techno, which is generally much colder, more minimilist, simple and repitiitive (and I mean all those things in a good way). I also think big beat is much more above rave culture and dancing, whereas although considered a form of dance music, I don't think techno really is, most techno isn't good music to dance to and it much more about building atmosphere in the way ambient music is. I'd actually say big beat has more in common with house myself from a musical standpoint at least, though obviously not from an aesthetic standpoint.

Looking at allmusic, that considers big beat a subgenre of electronica, rather than techno as well, though it does consider Electro-jazz a subgenre of techno, which I'm surprised about.

It might be good, then, to include your definition of techno with this list -- that is to say, which techno-derivative styles are included and which ones aren't. Big beat (Prodigy, Chems), ambient techno (Autechre, B12), hardcore (Paul Elstak, Hixxy), and even eurodance (Snap!, 2 Unlimited) are often listed under the techno umbrella, even if they're sometimes a dramatic stylistic departure from the original source (i.e. American and German producers).

Personally, I'd make this list very inclusive, as to get a more complete perspective of how techno has evolved over the last three decades. Granted, there are some direct offshoots of techno (e.g. jungle/drum & bass, trance) that wouldn't quite fit, but I think a lot of the innovative techno-based sub-styles that have sprung up (from the UK and elsewhere) have been crucial in keeping techno alive.

This is true, I suppose. I wasn't sure whether to include Ambient techno artists in the original list either. I'll work on writing a definition as it definitely would be beneficial. There does seem to be a tendency to lump a lot of electronic music into techno which clearly isn't though. Especially from people who aren't really into electronic music, in fact I've heard techno used as an umbrella term for absolutely all electronic music on more than one occasion.

P.S. DJ Hell rules!

You're right. That's the everything-techno-syndrome that a lot of people suffer from.

To make a clearer distinction of what is and isn't techno, AllMusicGuide is a pretty good source (although they're not perfect). In addition to AMG, I sometimes check out artists on last.fm and see what 'tags' their listeners give them; I've found the tags to usually being pretty accurate. If techno is one of the more predominant tags for a particular artist, I'd probably consider them for the list.

Third.

A Top 100 could be done. Techno is wide enough and important enough to have such a list.

Also, Cybotron is a big omission.