The Belleville Three & Detroit Pistons Drop Capsule Collection Honoring ‘The Tracks That Built Techno’

In the late 1980s, the Detroit Pistons were widely referred to as the “bad boys,” given the basketball team’s physical style of defense, and a marketing campaign that spread around the world as the Pistons became one of the NBA’s dominant forces.

It was because of this phenomenon that producers Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins and Derrick May often heard people greeting them with “bad boyyyys” when they arrived in any given city to play a show.

“I used to get off the plane and into a promoter’s car, and the first thing they would say is ‘bad boys,’ even before they said anything about how wonderful it was to meet one of us,” recalls May.

This is because it was in the same era when “bad boys” Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman were playing games that ultimately led the team to back-to-back NBA championships in 1989 and 1990 that the three musicians were forging their own hometown-hero legacy while creating and spreading the musical genre they called techno.

Now, decades later, the Detroit Pistons and Saunderson, Atkins and May — historically referred to as “the Belleville Three” given that they worked together in the Detroit suburb of Belleville — are dropping an official clothing collection that celebrates techno, the Pistons and Detroit greatness.

Designed by artist, DJ and Detroit native Sheefy McFly in collaboration with the Belleville Three, the collection (t-shirts, a hat, a hoodie and more) features a whimsical cartoon take on the trio and folds in imagery related music, technology, futurism, basketball and the declaration that “techno is Black music.” See images of the collection exclusively below.

“There’s a certain demographic that really believe house music was born and raised in England, [and] there’s a certain demographic of the people that believe that techno was born and raised in Europe, and in particular in Berlin,” May says of this collection’s work in further solidifying techno as a product of Detroit and a product of Black creators. “So I think the “techno is Black music” message is really important. It’s like a sign to stop and pay attention.”

As part of the collaboration, the Belleville Three will play the halftime show of the Pistons game against the Brooklyn Nets at downtown Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena on Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month. “Tipping off our month of Black excellence during Black History Month, this capsule honors their legacy as true disruptors and trendsetters whose influence continues to shape culture worldwide,” says Marissa Garland, the Pistons’ senior director of brand and marketing strategy. The capsule collection also goes on sale here on Feb. 1.

Saunderson advises that music played during the set will be “a bit of all of us,” with the guys’ collective catalog including all-time classics like 1983’s “Clear,” which Atkins co-produced as Cybotron, May’s essential Rhythm Is Rhythm production “Strings Of Life” and Saunderson’s work with Inner City, a group that pumped out hits like “Good Life” and “Big Fun.”

As such, Atkins advises that the show will include nothing less than “the tracks that built techno.”

While the three guys each regularly play solo shows, a Belleville Three performance is relatively rare, with one of the trio’s last big sets being Coachella 2017. But playing for the Pistons’ 20,000-strong hometown crowd puts them in front of a much more multi-generational audience that typically shows up to the club. In this, along with the collection, they see opportunity not only for themselves but the trajectory of techno at large.

“At the point of our careers we’re still out there working, we’re still quite busy, we’re still quite creative and we’re still making an impact on the world,” says Saunderson. “It’s great because you’ve got new generations coming as Pistons fans now, and some of them will become our fans because of this.”

“Our goal is to celebrate the Belleville Three and their contributions to techno, while also inviting new audiences to learn about their story,” adds Garland. “This collection is about discovery, those moments when people realize they’ve been influenced by the Belleville Three without even knowing it. Ultimately, it honors three innovators and the intersections of what makes Detroit special: music, art and basketball.”

“It’s very important not just look at the [electronic music] underground and at what we’ve achieved,” adds Saunderson, “but how we can impact the future of our city.”