Daft Punk : The legacy

In a 7min video, the French group announced the end of Daft Punk. We see that one of them can't follow anymore so he prefers to end his life when the other continue this journey with If love is the answer, you're home in the background from Random Access Memories.

Who were they?

Daft Punk was an electronic music duo from France. There are two people, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter who started their band in 1993. Both members went to the same school in Paris and became friends. They recorded a demo track with other students from the school. They formed a band called Darlin' which featured an additional member named Laurent Brancowitz. The Darlin' experience did not last very long and after a show, they performed in the United Kingdom, a newspaper qualified the music of Thomas and Guy-Manuel as "daft punk" (silly punk music). The two friends took their revenge by officially adopted it, and that's how they became the well-known Daft Punk.

The success

The duo toured numerous raves and made the London premiere of the Chemical Brothers. In 1996, Daft Punk signed to Virgin so they could own their masters. Mind you that Thomas's fathers work in the music industry so he helps them with their choice and the following year they released Homework, their first album. it's was a success: two million copies were sold in thirty-five different countries in the space of two months. The general and specialized press praised the album, that's was the French Touch essence. Then Discovery was released and it was both acclaimed and criticized, it causes controversy among both early fans and journalists. Oriented pop or disco, the album contains many samples and is inspired by some cultural references of the 1980s. But the commercial success was on the agenda and the band even gets two Grammy Award nominations. Human After All received a mixed reception and once again unleashed the critics of some of the fans who regretted Homework. "Our album speaks for itself" will be the only statement of the boys about their album.

The controversy

It is really a controversy? Daft Punk comes from the rave scene and the public likes to stay "underground". So the sound of Human After All was too commercial for the rave scene. It may be hard for any artist to lose their early fan because they don't recognize your art. And in "Daft Punk Unchained" we learn from Pedro, their former manager that it was really a fuzzy situation. Then came Coachella.

The legend

When the duo started to catch attention, they decide to put helmets on their head in order to keep their privacy. So they have thrown a video to explain that one of Thomas's synth explode during a studio session and they became robots. (Actually, the helmets were designed for a video project). By doing that, they created a strong image that catches attention. Losing some of their first public was a huge deal for the duo as we learn in the documentary Daft Punk Unchained but they win an international public so it didn't stop them to create a movie Interstella 5555 witch by the way is a great anime that tells a lot about the duo's artistic mind. They created one of the greatest memorable moments at Coachella in 2006 by performing in a huge pyramid. Nobody really knew what would happen that day. Selected to make the soundtrack of Tron: The legacy and its end out to be « Best Soundtrack » at the 54 ceremony of the Grammy Awards. Random Access Memories is the last album of the duo with five Grammy Awards. The duo's works with people they admire like Georgio Moroder and Milles Rogers.

The secret

Daft Punk was unique because they did what they wanted to do. When they started getting success they didn't get into the industry but at the same time, they were not against it. For example, they refuse to show their true faces but they do orchestrate with precision each of their appearances in robots. When they drop a project, it always starts with rumors and then a surprise and that catches the media's attention. At the end of the day, they are artists that express themselves through their music. Daft Punk took position about independence and freedom for artists and ask about the glorification of artists in the media.