Daft Punk formed after Bangalter and de Homem-Christo's former indie rock band, Darlin', disbanded. Their debut studio album, Homework, was released by Virgin Records in 1997 to positive reviews, backed by the singles "Around the World" and "Da Funk". From 1999, Daft Punk assumed robot personas for public appearances, with helmets, outfits and gloves to disguise their identities; they made few media appearances. They were managed from 1996 to 2008 by Pedro Winter, the head of Ed Banger Records.
Daft Punk's second album,
Best Electronic/Dance Album; the tour is credited for broadening the appeal of dance music in North America. Daft Punk composed the score for the 2010 film Tron: Legacy
.
In 2013, Daft Punk left Virgin for Columbia Records and released their fourth and final album, Random Access Memories, to acclaim; the lead single, "Get Lucky", reached the top 10 in the charts of 27 countries. Random Access Memories won five Grammy Awards in 2014, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for "Get Lucky". In 2016, Daft Punk gained their only number one on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Starboy", a collaboration with the Weeknd. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked them the 12th greatest musical duo of all time; the same publication has included two of their albums on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. They announced their split in 2021.
History
1987–1992: Early career and Darlin'
Darlin'", which they covered along with an original composition.[7] Both tracks were released on a multi-artist EP under Duophonic Records, a label owned by the London-based band Stereolab, who invited Darlin' to open for shows in the United Kingdom.[7]
Darlin' disbanded after around six months, having played two gigs and produced four songs. Bangalter described the project as "pretty average".[8] Brancowitz formed another band, Phoenix.[8] Bangalter and Homem-Christo formed Daft Punk and experimented with drum machines and synthesizers.[citation needed] The name was taken from a negative review of Darlin' in Melody Maker by Dave Jennings,[9] who dubbed their music "a daft punky thrash".[10] The band found the review amusing.[4] Homem-Christo said, "We struggled so long to find [the name] Darlin', and [this name] happened so quickly."[11]
1993–1996: First performances and singles
In September 1993, Daft Punk attended a
Slam, the co-founder of the Scottish label Soma Quality Recordings.[4][12] They gave him a demo tape, which formed the basis for Daft Punk's debut single, "The New Wave", a limited release in 1994.[8] The single also contained the final mix of "The New Wave" called "Alive", which appeared on Daft Punk's first album.[13]
Daft Punk returned to the studio in May 1995 to record "Da Funk". After it became their first commercially successful single, they hired a manager, Pedro Winter, who regularly promoted them and other artists at his Hype nightclubs.[6] They signed with Virgin Records in September 1996 and made a deal to license tracks through their production company, Daft Trax.[3][6] Bangalter said that while they received numerous offers from record labels, they wanted to wait and ensure that they did not lose creative control. He considered the deal with Virgin more akin to a partnership.[14]
In the mid-to-late nineties, Daft Punk performed live at various events, without the costumes they later became known for. In 1996, they made their first performance in the United States, at an Even Furthur event in Wisconsin.[15] In addition to live original performances, they performed in clubs using vinyl records from their collection. They were known for incorporating numerous styles of music into their DJ sets.[16]
1997–1999: Homework
Daft Punk released their debut album, Homework, in 1997.[12] That February, the UK dance magazine Muzik published a Daft Punk cover feature and described Homework as "one of the most hyped debut albums in a long long time".[17] According to The Village Voice, the album revived house music and departed from the Eurodance formula.[18] The critic Alex Rayner wrote that it combined established club styles and the "burgeoning eclecticism" of big beat.[19] In 1997, Daft Punk embarked on an international concert tour, Daftendirektour, using their home equipment for the live stage.[8] On 25 May, they headlined the Tribal Gathering festival at Luton Hoo, England, with Orbital and Kraftwerk.[20]
Bangalter and Homem-Christo created their own record labels, Roulé and Crydamoure, after the release of Homework, and released solo projects by themselves and their friends. Homem-Christo released music as a member of Le Knight Club with Eric Chedeville, and Bangalter released music as a member of Together with DJ Falcon and founded the group Stardust with Alan Braxe and Benjamin Diamond. In 1998, Stardust released their only song, the chart hit "Music Sounds Better With You".[21]
1999–2003: Discovery
Daft Punk's second album, Discovery, was released in 2001. The duo said it was an attempt to reconnect with the playful, open-minded attitude associated with the discovery phase of childhood.[7] The album reached No. 2 in the UK, and its lead single, "One More Time", was a hit. The song is heavily autotuned and compressed.[7] The singles "Digital Love" and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" were also successful in the UK and on the US Dance Chart, and "Face to Face" hit number one on the US club play charts.
Discovery created a new generation of Daft Punk fans. It also saw Daft Punk debut their distinctive robot costumes; they had previously worn Halloween masks or bags for promotional appearances.[22]Discovery was later named one of the best albums of the decade by publications including Pitchfork[23] and Resident Advisor.[24] In 2020, Rolling Stone included it at number 236 in its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[25] In 2021, Pitchfork cited Discovery as the centrepiece of Daft Punk's career, "an album that transcended the robots' club roots and rippled through the decades that followed".[26]
Daft Punk partnered with the Japanese manga artist Leiji Matsumoto to create Interstella 5555, a feature-length animation set to Discovery. The first four episodes were shown on Toonami in 2001, and the finished film was released on DVD in 2003.[27] That December, Daft Punk released Daft Club, a compilation of Discovery remixes.[28] In 2001, Daft Punk released a 45-minute excerpt from a Daftendirektour performance as Alive 1997.[29]
2004–2007: Human After All and Alive 2007
In March 2005, Daft Punk released their third album,
On 21 May 2006, Daft Punk premiered a film, Daft Punk's Electroma, at the Cannes Film Festival sidebar Director's Fortnight.[33] The film does not include Daft Punk's music. Midnight screenings of the film were held in Paris theaters starting from March 2007.[34]
For 48 dates across 2006 and 2007, Daft Punk performed the Alive 2006/2007 world tour, performing a "megamix" of their music from a large LED-fronted pyramid. The tour was acclaimed[35] and is credited for bringing dance music to a wider audience, especially in North America.[36][37]The Guardian journalist Gabriel Szatan likened it to how the Beatles' 1964 performance on The Ed Sullivan Show had brought British rock and roll to the American mainstream.[36]
Daft Punk's performance in Paris was released as their second live album,
Grammy Awards for Alive 2007 and its single "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger".[41]
2008–2011: Tron: Legacy
Daft Punk made a surprise appearance at the
50th Grammy Awards on 10 February 2008, and appeared with rapper Kanye West to perform a reworked version of "Stronger" on stage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.[42] It was the first televised Daft Punk live performance.[42]
In 2008, Daft Punk returned to Paris to work on new material. Winter also stepped down as their manager to focus attention on his Ed Banger Records label and his work as Busy P.[43] He stated in a later interview that Daft Punk were working with an unspecified management company in Los Angeles. The duo held its Daft Arts production office at the Jim Henson Studios complex in Hollywood.[44] In 2008, Daft Punk placed 38th in a worldwide official poll of DJ Mag after debuting at position 71 in the year before.[45] Daft Punk provided new mixes for the video game DJ Hero, and appeared in the game as playable characters.[46]
At the 2009
San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Daft Punk had composed 24 tracks for the film Tron: Legacy.[47] Daft Punk's score was arranged and orchestrated by Joseph Trapanese.[48] The band collaborated with him for two years on the score, from pre-production to completion. The score features an 85-piece orchestra, recorded at AIR Lyndhurst Studios in London.[49]Joseph Kosinski, director of the film, referred to the score as a mixture of orchestral and electronic elements.[50] Daft Punk also make a cameo as disc jockey programs wearing their trademark robot helmets within the film's virtual world.[51] The soundtrack album was released on 6 December 2010.[52] A music video for "Derezzed" premiered on the MTV Networks on the same day the album was released.[53] The video, which features Olivia Wilde as the character Quorra in specially shot footage, along with images of Daft Punk in Flynn's Arcade, was later made available for purchase from the iTunes Store and included in the DVD and Blu-ray releases of the film. Walt Disney Records released a remix album, Tron: Legacy Reconfigured, on 5 April 2011.[54]
In 2010, Daft Punk were admitted into the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, an order of merit of France. Bangalter and Homem-Christo were individually awarded the rank of Chevalier (knight).[55] On October of that year, Daft Punk made a surprise guest appearance during the encore of Phoenix's show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. They played a medley of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" and "Around the World" before the song segued into Phoenix's song "1901". The duo also included elements of their tracks "Rock'n Roll", "Human After All", and "Together", one of Bangalter's releases as a member of Together.[56] They produced N.E.R.D.'s 2010 song "Hypnotize U".[57]
2011–2015: Random Access Memories
With the release of Human After All, Daft Punk wore simplified helmets and black leather jackets and trousers designed by Hedi Slimane.[118] Bangalter said Daft Punk did not want to repeat themselves and were interested in "developing a persona that merges fiction and reality".[7] On the set of Electroma, Daft Punk were interviewed with their backs turned, and in 2006 they wore cloth bags over their heads during a televised interview.[138] They said the use of cloth bags had been a spontaneous decision, reflecting their willingness to experiment with their image.[139] Daft Punk wore the robot costumes in their performances at the 2008, 2014, and 2017 Grammy Awards. During the 2014 ceremony, they accepted their awards on stage in the outfits, with Pharrell and Paul Williams speaking on their behalf.[140][90]
Daft Punk used the robot outfits to merge the characteristics of humans and machines.[141] Bangalter said that the personas were initially the result of shyness, but that they became exciting for the audience, "the idea of being an average guy with some kind of superpower".[118] He described it as an advanced version of glam, "where it's definitely not you".[118] After Daft Punk's split, Bangalter likened the robot personas to a "like a Marina Abramović performance art installation that lasted for 20 years".[110] He denied that the robots represented "an unquestioning embrace of digital culture", and said: "We tried to use these machines to express something extremely moving that a machine cannot feel, but a human can. We were always on the side of humanity and not on the side of technology."[110]
Daft Punk's popularity has been partially attributed to their appearances in mainstream media.
Sony Ericsson's Premini mobile phone. In 2010, Daft Punk appeared in Adidas advertisements promoting a Star Wars-themed clothing line.[citation needed] Daft Punk made a cameo in Tron: Legacy as nightclub DJs.[51]
Sjónvarpið
In 2011,
Lotus F1 Team, who supported the duo by racing in specially-branded cars emblazoned with the band's logo.[145][146]
Footage of Daft Punk's 2006 performance at the
Coachella Festival was featured in the documentary film Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert, released on YouTube in April 2020.[147] Daft Punk were scheduled to appear on the August 6, 2013 episode of The Colbert Report to promote Random Access Memories. They were unable to do so because of contractual obligations regarding their later appearance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. According to Stephen Colbert, Daft Punk were unaware of any exclusivity agreement and were halted by MTV executives the morning prior to the taping.[148] In 2015, Daft Punk appeared alongside several other musicians to announce their co-ownership of the music service Tidal at its relaunch.[149]
Eden, a 2014 French drama film, has as its protagonist a techno fan-turned-DJ-turned recovering addict. It features Daft Punk (portrayed by actors) during different stages of their careers.[150] Daft Punk's helmets can be worn by the player in the 2022 video games Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.[151]
Legacy
Daft Punk are regarded as one of the most influential dance acts in history.
EDM, though Bangalter was noncommittal about this, saying only that other acts were using "gimmicks that at the time [Daft Punk used them] were not really gimmicks".[2] The New York Times credited Daft Punk with helping make dance music "fully mainstream".[103]
In "
Best Dance Recording at the 2006 Grammy Awards.[156] The Soulwax remix of the song also contains samples of many Daft Punk tracks as well as tracks by Thomas Bangalter.[157]
Daft Punk tracks have been sampled or covered by other artists. "Technologic" was sampled by Swizz Beatz for the Busta Rhymes song "Touch It". In a later remix of "Touch It" the line "touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it, turn it, leave it, start, format it" from "Technologic" was sung by R&B and rap artist Missy Elliott. Kanye West's 2007 song "Stronger" from the album Graduation borrows the melody and features a vocal sample of Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". Daft Punk's robotic costumes make an appearance in the music video for "Stronger".[39] The track "Daftendirekt" from Daft Punk's album Homework was sampled for the Janet Jackson song "So Much Betta" from her 2008 album Discipline.[158]
DJ Magazine after placing in the 44th position the year before.[169][170] On 19 January 2012, Daft Punk ranked No. 2 on Mixmag's Greatest Dance Acts of All Time, with The Prodigy at No. 1 by just a few points.[171]
Bibliography
Tony Gaenic, Daft Punk de A à Z, l'Étudiant, les guides MusicBook, 2002, p. 115,
^Drewett, Meg (27 May 2013). "Daft Punk join up with Lotus F1 Team at Monaco Grand Prix". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 18 July 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013. Lotus – who announced a partnership deal with Daft Punk's record label Columbia in March – raced in specially-branded cars emblazoned with the band's logo.
^"Daft Punk's 10 best songs". NME | Music, Film, TV, Gaming & Pop Culture News. 22 February 2021. Archived from the original on 22 February 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.