By my own memory as a teenager growing up in the rave scene, electronic music was weird and unapproachable to pretty much everyone. Big Beat like The Crystal Method and Prodigy had made some waves, and of course there was Moby, but outside of my raver friends and a brief attempt to get eurodance (like Alice Deejay) on Top 40 radio by the local media conglomerates, "techno" was pretty niche.
I mean, in the early 2000s I saw Paul Oakenfold -- twice -- at small clubs, and it was easy to get into the front. I would write requests in big letters on my phone and see if I could get the DJ to play them. (Tiesto wasn't as approachable but that asshole would crank the speakers up well past their distortion point)