Megatron Man

from the LP Megatron Man, Megatone Records, 1981



Although he wasn’t the first producer to assemble dance music made almost entirely from mechanized sources (Cerrone, Moroder & the whole French space-disco fad came a little ahead), I believe that the strikingly cherubic-faced Patrick Cowley holds the most influential and prescient discography of those in his time. To my ears, this sounds far more similar to the early techno and house music of the ‘80s and ‘90s than it does to the disco from which it actually evolved. That driving incessant beat from the drum machine, the synth washes and effects, the vocodered signing---he recreated the sights and feel of San Francisco’s underground gay clubs from that time period, in tune. Regrettably, he was not long for this world, as Patrick became one of the earlier known entertainers to succumb to the onslaught of AIDS in 1982, dying a genius in his prime.