A Number of Names

A Number of Names was the short-lived group responsible for one of the first techno releases that came from Detroit. Thanks to their lone release, the Italo disco inspired "Sharevari" b/w "Skitso," it could be said that A Number of Names, along with Juan Atkins' and Rick Davis' Cybotron, the outfit that released "Alleys of Your Mind" around the same time as "Sharevari" in 1981, were proto-techno as much as the Stooges and MC5 were proto-punk. Both techno and punk took roughly the same amount of time to become fully realized styles after the appearance of their forebears. Coincidentally, each of these forebears came from Detroit and the area surrounding it. In 1981, high schoolers Paul Lesley and Sterling Jones decided to finalize their long-brewing plans to form a music group. Inspired by Capriccio, the posh and clique-ish party club that they belonged to (one of many at that time in Detroit), the duo recorded "Sharevari" during the summer of the group's year of formation with the help of several others. While Lesley contributed the lead vocals and bass synth and Jones wrote the lyrics, the song was arranged by Judson Powell and Robert Taylor. Taylor also provided the vocals on the chorus, which were mutated by synth effects. Roderick Simpson, who also received a songwriting credit, played the main melody. Sheila Wheaton and Ira Cash provided the backup vocals that followed the chorus in a quasi-call-and-response manner. "Sharevari," as a song title, was a play on the name of another Detroit party club, Charivari. Additionally, the club Charivari took its name from a chain of upscale clothing shops, so Lesley and Jones opted to alter the spelling of their song in order to sidestep any possible legal issues. They took an unfinished version of the song into one of the...