Daft Punk released their fourth studio album, Random Access Memories last month. Within the second week of the release, a new Spotify record had been broken. The French house duo has come a long way, froma small-name progressive house act to a groundbreaking pioneer of the new era of electronic dance music (EDM).
Best characterized by their signature ‘70s- styled droid suits, Daft Punk are easily one of the most recognizable and interesting acts in modern music. While it’s a simple to acknowledge and list their many accomplishments, just how much do we actually know about the faces behind the robotic façade and their early foray into the lucrative world of commercial music?
The Beginning
1995 was a time of globalization and interesting change — the collapse of communist regimes giving way to new nations, the birth of the Internet, and the death of Kurt Cobain the year before all marked the beginning of a new era. This was also when Daft Punk began to achieve new heights in their musical careers.
After the release of their first single on Scottish independent record label Soma Records, the duo became the focus of media frenzy, receiving attention from publications all over the world.
“We have received faxes from Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Japan, [and] New York … people are interested in this music everywhere,” a young, overly ecstatic Thomas Bangalter, one half of Daft Punk, told an interviewer on a French television program. In this early interview, he appears as a scruffy -haired teenager garbed in a casual démodé pale lime green button-down shirt — the silver chrome helmet is nowhere to be seen.
Then in the following year, Bangalter, and the other half of Daft Punk, Guy-Manuel de Honem-Christo, signed on to Virgin Records — a move that would bring them unparalleled success.
Homework (1997)
Daft Punk’s first record Homework, became a global sensation. Punk and different house styles innovatively meshed and deftly compressed into seventy-minutes worth of sonic experience was unheard of.
Music pundits gave the album five-star reviews. Record sales soared. Not only was it a career-changing achievement by the duo, it gave birth to an unprecedented generation of electronic artists in the next decade, from Joel Zimmerman’s Deadmau5 project to the likes of Baauer.
For the first time in their lives, Bangalter and De Honem-Christo were on the front lines of pop culture. But increasing fame and fortune shocked them.
Afraid of being consumed by this overwhelming wave of popularity, they sought to reinvent themselves. In 1999, the two remerged on the scene, in mecha-suits.
They donned the shiny robotic armour so as to maintain anonymity and counter hyped mass-commercialization. However, their plan ironically backfired.
The costumes had made them less human. They became immortalized. From game-changing pioneers, they were transformed into living icons featured on every magazine cover.
Almost everyone was oblivious to the faces behind the suits. Daft Punk had done the impossible — accruing fame and fortune without the cost of having their identities compromised. The world knew of Daft Punk, but remained largely ignorant of the names “Thomas Bangalter” and “Guy-Manuel de Honem-Christo.” The pair had achieved the ideal aesthetic dream.
Whether the masks were an earnest attempt to retain artistic integrity or an ingenious mercantile tactic to improve record sales, it was obvious that Daft Punk had been ushered into the world of mainstream music.
Discovery (1999)
Daft Punk’s second record, Discovery, was a departure from their influential Chicago house sound. They left behind their original style in favour of high fidelity.
The duo’s sophomore effort was characterized by complex production techniques that emulated heavily auto-tuned vocals and high-pitch computerized guitar solos. It also frequently sampled classic hits from the late ‘70s. Discovery was a far cry from Homework.
Daft Punk’s sophomore album was, once again, was a success. Critics of all types greeted it with admiration, with only a few disdaining the radical shift in the group’s style. While Discovery did not upset a large portion of the EDM community, Daft Punk had undoubtedly alienated an overlooked fan base from their Homework days. Still, in their place would be a new generation of Daft Punk fans.
Suddenly, the duo’s apparent desire to be humble musicians who maintained their artistic license was put into question. Did the group sell out? Or were they keen on exploring new areas of music?
Whatever the answer, Bangalter and De Honem-Christo never took off their helmets. Daft Punk and their private lives would become mutually exclusive.
The Present: Random Access Memories (2013)
Now, flash forward to the present day, and the two tell Rolling Stone that on the metro no one pays them any mind. No autographs are signed. No fan photos are taken. Unsurprisingly, they’ve become invisible celebrities.
So while widespread achievement and renown meant producing more commercial works, Daft Punk can lead its own separate life while Bangalter and De Honem-Christo another.
