technostuff

[Benjamin Zimmer]

* techno-punk

1978 _L.A. Times_ 27 Feb. IV9/1 Tearing around the stage as though he had
just burst from a straitjacket, lead singer Tomata du Planty fashions a
style of techno-punk completely his own.

1978 _L.A. Times_ 15 Apr. II6/1 Philip Miller, manager of the
"techno-punk" Screamers, concurs.

1978 _Globe & Mail_ (Toronto) 1 Nov. F13 (Factiva) Meanwhile, it's still
possible to see acts like last night's headliners - the two Toronto
groups, Cardboard Brains and Drastic Measures - and The Screamers, one of
the leading American techno-punk groups.

* techno-chic

1980 _Washington Post_ 12 July B2/1 "Universe" may ironically be one of
the few shows in television that needs _more_ glitz and techno-chic.

* techno-peasant

1980 C. DOWLING (book title) The Techno/Peasant Survival Manual.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553012649/

1980 _Washington Post_ 30 Nov. (Book World) 12/3 A techno-peasant is,
according to this book, "anyone who's technologically illiterate; a person
whose future is in the hands of the technocrats." That would be just about
everyone.

1981 _Globe & Mail_ (Toronto) 31 Mar. B2 (Factiva) Social, education and
employment traditions combine to make "techno-peasants" of women.

* techno-buff

1981 _Globe & Mail_ (Toronto) 31 Jan. E14 (Factiva) Crichton, whose
fiction is always fat with scientific material, the kind techno-buffs
thrive on, has thrown together some unlikely Great White hunters for his
foray into the Dark Continent.

* techno-cowboy

1981 _N.Y. Times_ 27 Sep. F6/1 Sometimes referred to as "job shoppers" or
"techno-cowboys," contract engineers are technicians who move from
assignment to short-term assignment and are paid better than permanently
employed engineers.

* techno-reggae

1981 _Washington Post_ 2 Feb. B3/4 The march of language was interspersed
and occasionally tightened with a fluid techno-reggae pulse that never
seemed remote.

* techno-beat

1982 _Washington Post_ 28 Feb. H13 The techno-beat is constant, the
propulsive rhythms imminently danceable, the lyrics a bit banal, but
Depeche Mode has managed to marshall these disparate elements into an
addictive whole.

1983 _Globe & Mail_ (Toronto) 7 Mar. P16 (Factiva) So there it all was - a
charismatic, eye-catching singer, a creative guitarist, and soulful
harmonies all iced over a resounding, pervasive techno-beat, being
presented before a sweaty wall-to-wall crowd that hung on every note.

* techno-country

1982 _L.A. Times_ 9 Dec. VI7/1 The Rhode Island group plays
"techno-country," combining modern synthesized pop with a Western-swing
that's pure country corn.

1984 _N.Y. Times_ 10 June H23/1 Critics have been bandying about generic
descriptions like cowpunk, techno-country, and prairie modern, but no
single term really describes the music of all these bands.

* techno-funk (OED 1990)

1982 _L.A. Times_ 27 June (Calendar) 103/2 The only way to truly dispel
the "El Lay" image some people fear is to stop relying on these
techno-funk, disco, political imports and pay some attention to our
homegrown bands.

1983 _Washington Post_ 5 May B17/6 "Yum-Yum" is a successful imitation of
The Time's hit mixture of dirty jokes and techno-funk.

* techno, a. 'technological' (OED 1989)

1979 _Washington Post_ 23 Dec. H10/2 ELO's records are the quintessence of
techno minds infatuated with tape loops.

1985 _Seattle Times_ 20 Jan. 1985 L1 (Factiva) Prince drew on nearly
everything in his musical repertoire to create a crazy quilt of sounds --
the rave-up rock of "Let's Go Crazy," the dreamy mood of "Purple Rain,"
the techno effects of "Computer Blue," the bump-and-grind of "Darling
Nikki," the striking pulsations of "When Doves Cry" (1984's best-selling
single).


--Ben Zimmer