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Daft Punk are an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (born February 8, 1974) and Thomas Bangalter (born January 3, 1975). Daft Punk reached significant popularity in the late 1990s house movement in France and met with continued success in the years following, combining elements of house with synthpop. The duo is also credited with producing songs that are considered essential in the French house scene. They were managed from 1996 to 2008 by Pedro Winter (Busy P), the head of Ed Banger Records. Early in the group's career, the band members were strongly influenced by groups such as The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones. Bangalter and de Homem-Christo were originally in a band called Darlin', which disbanded after a short period of time, leaving the two to experiment musically on their own.
The duo became Daft Punk, and released their critically acclaimed debut album Homework in 1997. The 2001 release Discovery was even more successful, driven by the club singles "One More Time", "Digital Love" and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". In March 2005, the duo released the album Human After All to mixed reviews. However, the singles "Robot Rock" and "Technologic" achieved success in the United Kingdom. Daft Punk toured throughout 2006 and 2007 and released the live album Alive 2007, which won a Grammy award for Best Electronic/Dance Album. The duo composed the score of the film Tron: Legacy and in 2010 released the soundtrack album of the film. Daft Punk are noted for their elaborate live shows, in which visual elements and effects are incorporated with the music. The group is also known for its emphasis on visual and story components associated with their musical productions, as well as for wearing ornate robot costumes in public and while performing.
Early years (1987–1993)
Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo met in 1987 while attending the Lycée Carnot, a secondary school in Paris. The two became good friends and later recorded demo tracks with others from the school. This eventually led to the formation of the guitar-based group called Darlin' with Laurent Brancowitz in 1992. Bangalter and de Homem-Christo played bass and guitar, respectively, while Brancowitz performed on drums. The trio had branded themselves after The Beach Boys song of the same name, which they covered along with an original composition. Stereolab released both tracks on a multi-artist Duophonic Records EP and invited the band to open for stage shows in the United Kingdom. Bangalter felt that "The rock n' roll thing we did was pretty average, I think. It was so brief, maybe six months, four songs and two gigs and that was it." A negative review in Melody Maker subsequently dubbed the music "a bunch of daft punk." Instead of dismissing the review, they found it amusing. As de Homem-Christo stated, "We struggled so long to find Darlin', and this happened so quickly." Darlin' soon disbanded, leaving Brancowitz to pursue other efforts with Phoenix. Bangalter and de Homem-Christo formed Daft Punk and experimented with drum machines and synthesizers.
Homework era (1993–1999)
In 1993 Daft Punk attended a rave at EuroDisney, where they met Stuart Macmillan of Slam, co-founder of the label Soma Quality Recordings. The demo tape given to Macmillan at the rave formed the basis for Daft Punk's debut single, "The New Wave", a limited release in 1994. The single also contained the final mix of "The New Wave" called "Alive", which was to be featured on their first album.
Daft Punk returned to the studio in May 1995 to record "Da Funk". It became their first commercially successful single the same year. After the success of "Da Funk", Daft Punk looked to find a manager. They eventually settled on Pedro Winter, who regularly promoted them and other artists at his Hype night clubs. The band signed with Virgin Records in September 1996 and made a deal through which they licensed their tracks to the major label through their production company, Daft Trax.
"Da Funk" and "Alive" were later included on Daft Punk's 1997 debut album Homework. The album was regarded as an innovative synthesis of techno, house, acid house and electro styles, and is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential dance music albums of the nineties. "Da Funk" was also included on The Saint film soundtrack. It was during this period of change in dance music that Daft Punk became largely successful. They combined the aforementioned music styles with crowd pleasing elements of rave. The most successful single from Homework was "Around the World", which is known for the repeating chant of the song's title. Daft Punk also produced a series of music videos for Homework directed by Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Roman Coppola and Seb Janiak. The collection of videos was released in 1999 and titled D.A.F.T.: A Story About Dogs, Androids, Firemen and Tomatoes.
Discovery era (1999–2004)
By 1999 the duo were well into the recording sessions for their second album, which had begun a year earlier. The 2001 release Discovery took on a slicker and distinctly synthpop-oriented style, initially stunning fans of Daft Punk's previous material in Homework. The group states that the album was conceived as an attempt to reconnect with a playful, open-minded attitude associated with the discovery phase of childhood. This accounts for the heavy use of themes and samples from the late '70s to early '80s era on the album. It reached #2 in the United Kingdom, and its single "One More Time" was a major club and mainstream hit, which nearly topped the UK Singles Chart. The song is well known for being heavily auto-tuned and compressed. The song and album created a new generation of fans mainly familiar with the second Daft Punk release. The singles "Digital Love" and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" were also very successful in the UK and on the United States dance chart, and "Face to Face" hit #1 on the USA club play charts despite a limited single release. A 45-minute excerpt from a Daftendirektour performance recorded at Birmingham, UK in 1997 was also released in 2001, entitled Alive 1997. 2003 first saw the release of the feature-length animated film Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem. Daft Punk produced the film under the supervision of Leiji Matsumoto, whom they have said is their childhood hero. The album Daft Club was also released to promote the film. It features a collection of remixes previously made available through an online membership service of the same name.
Starting on September 13 and ending November 9, 2004, Daft Punk devoted six weeks to creating new material. The duo released the album Human After All in March 2005. Reviews were mixed, mostly citing its overly repetitive nature and seemingly rushed recording. The singles taken from this album were "Robot Rock", "Technologic", "Human After All", "The Prime Time of Your Life" and "The Brainwasher". The earliest official statement from Daft Punk concerning the album was "we believe that Human After All speaks for itself."
A Daft Punk anthology CD/DVD entitled Musique Vol. 1 1993–2005 was released on April 4, 2006. It contains new music videos for "The Prime Time of Your Life" and "Robot Rock (Maximum Overdrive)". Daft Punk also released a remix album of Human After All called Human After All: Remixes. A limited edition included two kubricks of Daft Punk as robots.
On May 21, 2006, Daft Punk premiered their first directed film, Daft Punk's Electroma at the Cannes Film Festival sidebar Director's Fortnight. The film does not include their own music, which is a first for the duo considering their previous DVD and film releases (D.A.F.T. for Homework and Interstella 5555 for Discovery). Midnight screenings of the film were shown in Paris theaters starting from the end of March 2007. Initial public comments have since been positive.
Daft Punk released their second live album titled Alive 2007 on November 19, 2007. It contains the duo's performance in Paris from their Alive 2007 tour. The live version of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" from Alive 2007 was released as a single. A music video for the single directed by Olivier Gondry features footage shot by 250 audience members at Daft Punk's Brooklyn appearance at KeySpan Park, Coney Island.
Tron: Legacy and recent projects (2008–present)
Following the Alive 2007 tour, Daft Punk focused on other projects. A 2008 interview with Pedro Winter revealed that the duo returned to their Paris studio to work on new material. Winter also stepped down from managing Daft Punk to focus attention on his Ed Banger Records label and his work as Busy P. He stated in a later interview that the duo are working with an unspecified management company in Los Angeles. In 2008, Daft Punk placed 38th in a worldwide official poll of DJ Magazine after debuting at position 71 in the year before. On February 8, 2009, Daft Punk won Grammy Awards for Alive 2007 and its single "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger".
Daft Punk provided eleven new mixes featuring their music for the video game DJ Hero. They also appear in the game as playable characters, along with their own venue. The duo appear wearing their Discovery-era helmets and Human After All-era leather attire. Daft Punk's playable likenesses are absent from the sequel DJ Hero 2, which includes a remixed version of their song "Human After All".
At the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that the duo composed 24 tracks for the film Tron: Legacy. Daft Punk's score was arranged and orchestrated by Joseph Trapanese. 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. Joseph Kosinski, director of Tron: Legacy, referred to the score as being a mixture of orchestral and electronic elements. Daft Punk also make a cameo appearance as disc jockey programs wearing their trademark robot masks within the film's virtual world. Tron: Legacy co-star Olivia Wilde stated that the duo may be involved with future promotional events related to the film. A teaser trailer features Daft Punk and their track "Derezzed" from Tron: Legacy. The soundtrack album of the film was released on December 6, 2010. A deluxe 2-disc edition of the album was also released that includes a poster of the duo from the film. Additional bonus tracks are also available through various online vendors. An official music video for "Derezzed" also premiered on the MTV Networks on the same day the album was released. The video was later made available for purchase from the iTunes Store. Walt Disney Records released a remix album of the score titled Tron: Legacy Reconfigured on April 5, 2011.
In 2010 Daft Punk were admitted into the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, an order of merit of France. Bangalter and de Homem-Christo were individually awarded the rank of Chevalier (knight).
Soma Records released a previously unpublished Daft Punk track called "Drive" that was made during the same time the duo was still with Soma Records and recording "Rollin' and Scratchin'" and "Da Funk". The track was included in a 20th anniversary multi-artist compilation of the Soma label. In October 2011, Daft Punk placed 28th in a worldwide official poll of DJ Magazine after appearing at position 44 in the year before.
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