Atari Teenage Riot

Atari Teenage Riot is a German hardcore techno group formed in Berlin in 1992. Highly political, they fused left-wing anarchist anti-fascist or Anti Nazis views with punk vocals and the newly emerging techno sound that was called digital h

Atari Teenage Riot is a German hardcore techno group formed in Berlin in 1992. Highly political, they fused left-wing anarchist anti-fascist or Anti Nazis views with punk vocals and the newly emerging techno sound that was called digital hardcore, which is a term Alec Empire later used in the name of his record company. According to Empire, "Digital Hardcore initially meant the final questioning of everything, of the whole. The next step was a shorter one. The absolute negation, even to answer one's own existence with a "No". If "No" is true, then suicide can be as much as an event as pressing the buttons on your remote control." (MEAN Magazine, July 1999)

The group was founded as an attack on the increasingly neo-Nazi influenced German techno scene and consisted of three Berliners - Alec Empire (from Berlin), Hanin Elias and MC Carl Crack. ATR's early releases (which included songs like "Hetzjagd Auf Nazis!" / "Hunt Down the Nazis!") were surrounded by controversy in Germany due to the prevailing "no politics on the dance floor" attitude.