The history of electronic music

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1940–1960

The pioneers

In France, Pierre Schaeffer began experimenting with recorded sound in 1948. Working for French radio, he used sounds that already existed: trains, pans, voices, machines, footsteps, and musical instruments. Instead of asking musicians to perform, he recorded sounds onto tape and manipulated them in the studio. For example, he could: play a recording slower or faster; reverse a sound; repeat a short fragment in a loop; cut and splice pieces of tape; layer several recordings on top of each other. This approach became known as musique concrète. In this context, concrete means working with existing, recognisable sounds from the real world instead of only using notes written on paper. A train could become a rhythm. A voice could become a texture. A closing door could sound like percussion. This strongly resembles how producers use samples in electronic music today.

1960s–1970s

Synthesizers

The synthesizer was no longer only used to create strange sound effects. It could perform basslines, melodies, chords, percussion, and textures. It became an instrument in its own right. In the 1970s, German band Kraftwerk became especially influential. Their music used synthesizers, drum machines, vocoders, and sequencers not as background effects, but as the centre of the composition. Their sound was repetitive, precise, mechanical, and futuristic. Kraftwerk presented the machine as more than a tool. Machines could create rhythm, melody, atmosphere, and even a visual identity. Their themes often focused on technology, transport, radio, industry, and communication: subjects that matched their electronic sound.

1960s-1970s

During the 1960s and 1970s, electronic music moved from experimental studios into popular culture. Synthesizers became smaller and easier for musicians to use. The Moog synthesizer, and later the Minimoog, allowed artists to create basslines, melodies, percussion, and entirely new sounds with one instrument. Wendy Carlos helped introduce synthesizers to a wide audience with Switched-On Bach in 1968. In the 1970s, artists in rock, pop, disco, and film music began to use electronic sounds as more than special effects. Kraftwerk took this further by making machines the centre of their music. Using synthesizers, sequencers, drum machines, and vocoders, they created repetitive, futuristic tracks about technology, movement, and communication. Their work showed that electronic instruments could create a complete musical identity. This influenced later genres such as synth-pop, electro, house, techno, and ambient.

1980s

The 1980s: House and Techno

In the 1980s, electronic dance music developed in clubs through DJs, dancers, drum machines, and synthesizers. House music emerged in Chicago from disco, soul, and underground club culture. Black, Latino, and queer communities played a central role in keeping dance music alive after disco disappeared from the mainstream. DJs such as Frankie Knuckles mixed records into long, rhythmic sets, while producers used drum machines and samples to make tracks built around a steady four-to-the-floor beat. Techno emerged in Detroit with a more futuristic and mechanical sound. Artists such as Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson combined influences from funk, electro, Kraftwerk, and science fiction. Their music used repetition, synthetic sounds, and machine-like rhythms to imagine the future. House and techno were shaped by Black American artists and communities. Their influence became the foundation for much of today’s global electronic dance music.

1990-2000s

The 1990s and beyond: Rave culture spreads

During the 1990s, house and techno spread across Europe through rave culture. Large events in clubs, warehouses, fields, and abandoned buildings brought people together around long DJ sets, powerful sound systems, and collective dancing. As electronic music travelled between cities, new local scenes created their own styles: Trance used melodic synthesizers, long build-ups, and hypnotic repetition. Jungle and drum & bass developed in the UK through fast breakbeats, deep bass, and reggae, dub, and hip-hop influences. Gabber emerged in Rotterdam with fast tempos and distorted kick drums. Ambient focused on slower, atmospheric sound rather than the dancefloor. Dubstep developed in South London in the early 2000s from UK garage, dub, grime, and jungle. Affordable samplers, drum machines, computers, independent labels, and pirate radio helped this music travel quickly. Rave culture turned electronic music into a global movement, connecting technology, rhythm, and collective freedom.