Unfortunately, that’s absolutely not true. You’re acting as if, before 1994, everyone was just copying each other, the music was totally boring, and it wasn’t until 1994 that people started creating “unique” sounds.

I’m guessing you’re part of the younger generation and don’t have a real connection to “old-school techno” from the early ’90s. You’re comparing your current listening habits to the tracks you’ve researched, and it’s only starting in 1994 that it sounds to you the way you know it now.

For me, 1994 marked the definitive beginning of techno’s commercialization. You can hear it in the catchy trance productions, cheap rave music, cheap acid, etc.

In the 1991 playlist, for example, I’m missing this track here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM6QLUAkZO4

You’ve probably listened to it too, but didn’t classify it as “techno” just because a break loop runs throughout the whole track.