A Euro-Dance Sampling

Here are six seminal albums that can help introduce you to the world of European dance music.

Kraftwerk, “Trans-Europe Express” (Capitol). In 1974, Germany’s Kraftwerk made the first all-electronic pop hit, “Autobahn,” but it was this full-length 1977 album--sampled endlessly by rappers--that established the dawn of electronic beat culture.

Art of Noise, “(Who’s Afraid of?) The Art of Noise” (Island). Tearing off pieces of Teutonic techno and bombastic hip-hop, the U.K.’s Art of Noise leaped into the future with this funky, beat-heavy electronic 1984 masterwork. Nothing said it better than the video for “Close (to the Edit),” which depicted a little girl chain-sawing her way through classical instruments.

Massive Attack, “Blue Lines” (Virgin). From the British group that helped launch the careers of Soul II Soul’s Nellee Hooper and trip-hopper Tricky came this 1991 album that mixed soul, hip-hop and techno and made clear that dance music could go anywhere it wanted.

Model 500, “Classics” (R&S; Belgium). An import-only 1993 collection of the Detroit post-rap, sci-fi school of “electro” made by Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, a.k.a. Model 500, in the ‘80s. These artists are revered in the U.K. as the “fathers of techno.”

808 State, “Gorgeous” (Tommy Boy). This British act named for a popular drum machine linked the worlds of Detroit techno and Chicago house to European new wave (via guest singers such as New Order’s Bernard Sumner) while helping to launch the careers of Bjork and drum-and-bass artist A Guy Called Gerald.

Goldie, “Timeless” (ffrr). This 1995 collection took London’s fast, tough “jungle” techno scene above ground by mixing electronic symphonies and angelic vocals over bullet-train break-beats--making way for the drum-and-bass express.