After "finishing" my Daft Punk Article / Interview Database at the end of 2020, I had every intention to go through each entry and make sure they were backed up on the Internet Archive / Wayback Machine but I kept pushing it off for future-me to deal with. Fast forward to the beginning of 2022 and I realized that I needed to update several things on my website that had become broken / obsolete (I'll sometimes go months without touching this website so every once in a while I need to check and make sure that the links and playlists still work). I had to update several of my spreadsheets because of broken links and it dawned on me that I had never made a proper spreadsheet for the Article / Interview Database like I had for all of my other "databases." So on February 10th, 2022 I got to work creating the spreadsheet and finally backing everything up.
My main goal was to make sure every entry was on the Internet Archive / Wayback Machine so that the links would be less likely to break. Another goal of mine was to back up and organize everything on an external hard drive with the intention to share this master folder so that even if the links on the spreadsheet died, you could still read, listen to, or watch these interviews if you had the folder saved on your computer or an external hard drive. But doing all of this turned out to be much more time intensive than I thought. My process looked like this: - Copy and past article / interview link into the wayback machine - Sort through a few of the years to find the best version that is archived - Archive the page if it is not already archived - Copy and paste the archived link onto the spreadsheet AND my website - Move the unarchived link to the "alt link" section beside the entry in case people want to view it that way - Download an image, PDF, mp3, or mp4 of the article / interview and put it in the master folder - Download a QR code and .mht file leading to the page in case people who have the master folder want to view the article / interview on their phone or in a browser. - Repeat several hundred times This took me several months and I was burnt out afterwards. But I wasn't even done yet because there were many entries that couldn't be saved on the Wayback Machine for one reason or another. These images, PDFs, mp3s, and mp4s would have to be manually uploaded to archive.org and then I could use those links on the spreadsheet and on my website. This seemed daunting to me because I didn't have much experience uploading to archive.org and I had heard somewhere that it was a slow process so once again I started pushing it off for future-me to deal with. A few more months passed and about 3 weeks ago I decided it was finally time to finish. It didn't take as long as I thought it would to upload the remaining entries to archive.org but it did take a concerted effort. Now every entry in the database is archived online AND in a master folder which people can download via Google Drive HERE. It is important that people download the spreadsheet in case my website were to ever be deleted. It is important that people download the master folder in case any of the links on the spreadsheet die or the content is taken down. Saving these documents will help prevent the articles and interviews from being lost for good. The more people that save a copy, the better so feel free to share.
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After working on it for a week straight, I have completed my Daft Punk Article / Interview Database. In this blog post I explain why and how I made it. When I became a fan in 2013/2014 I learned a lot about Daft Punk through old forums on The Daft Club and reading magazines and interviews on Daft Punk Anthology. Today both of these sites are somewhat broken and it is hard to extract information from them like one used to be able to. I found myself constantly having to use the Wayback Machine in order to find things that were once easy to find. Additionally, a lot of content from YouTube has also been getting taken down in recent years. Because of all of this, I feel it has become much harder to research and learn about Daft Punk. I thought to myself, "why don't I create a database of everything I can find, that way I don't have to go search for it every time I need that information. I could just go to the database and it'll be there." So with plenty of free time, I set out to work. First I had to determine what my criteria would be for things to include / exclude. I decided that I would include any interview they did, whether it be via text, audio, or video. I'd also include any article that included a statement (no matter how short) from Daft Punk but only if that statement was made specifically for that article and not taken from a previous interview or article. Basically, any time Daft Punk said something, I'd include it. I also decided to include statements by their close friends and collaborators where they talk about something Daft Punk said or did in detail. Halfway through, I decided to include a few more recent articles about important events (i.e. Daft Punk's pop-up shop and Daft Punk's 2019 Technologic exhibit) because Daft Punk never really made any statements to the press about those things. And finally I decided to include Daft Punk's official websites over the years (i.e. daftpunk.com, daft-musique.com, human-after-all.tv, etc...). I started out by Googling "Daft Punk Interview" and finding all of the surface level articles / interviews that anybody could find. Then I changed some of the search criteria and used some different key terms in order to find some of the more difficult-to-find stuff. Whenever I found an article on a website with a search function, I'd search for any additional articles where Daft Pun made statements. I found that many articles are basically just ripped straight from other outlets so occasionally I'd have to go down a rabbit hole of finding the original publication to publish a specific Daft Punk quote. If I was lucky, an article would just link to the original but sometimes it would be a dead link and I'd have to use the Wayback machine to retrieve it.
I'm sure there are more article / interviews / websites that I am missing but I will be adding those as I remember them or come across them. In the coming weeks I will also work to make sure every link in my database is archived so that if a page dies, it can still be accessed. Overall there are upwards of 400 items in the database right now and I am happy with that.
To a modern Daft Punk fan, just the thought of a Daft Punk tour can evoke several strong emotions ranging from happy memories, bitter regret, or melancholy aspirations of one day seeing them live. This is the case because Daft Punk’s latest tour ended in December of 2007, long before many of us (including myself) even became fans and long enough ago that many youngsters who did see them live are now full blown adults, not to mention the people who've been fans since the 90's. I have been conducting a survey over the past few months that has reached nearly 200 entries and so far it has found that the average age of an active Daft Punk fan is about 20-21 years old. Many of us were too young to see them live or hadn’t become fans yet. Some of those surveyed were as young as 13 years old which means they would have been babies at the time of Daft Punk’s latest tour. If you did get to see Daft Punk live, am I making you feel old yet? Are you feeling nostalgic of the good old days and of getting to see arguably the most exciting live electronic act of all time? Either way, Daft Punk fans clamor over the thought of Daft Punk touring...past and present. So today I am going to dive deep into Daft Punk’s tour history starting in 1995 and eventually I will discuss my thoughts on what the future may hold.
As you can see from the videos, these 1995 shows were nothing like modern EDM festivals, rather, they were proper raves where people barely paid attention to the DJ and instead focused on having a good time. Probably only a small percentage of people that attended these early Daft Punk shows went because they saw or heard Daft Punk were going to be there. Undoubtedly a majority of the people at these shows were there for the party and it’s likely many of them didn’t even flinch when Daft Punk were announced to spin next in a long list of DJs. The most notable thing Daft Punk had produced up to this point was “Da Funk'' which would increasingly gain popularity throughout 95 with the help of their live shows and fellow DJs, such as The Chemical Brothers, also spinning the track. It is not clear if Daft Punk were even aware that they were touring at the time or if they were just playing a lot of gigs and afterwards decided to say it was a tour. Either way, we’ll count it as a tour because that’s what they called it in their 1997 press release. Overall this tour helped Daft Punk gain exposure throughout Europe and by the start of 1996 they had become a well known and hyped presence in the electronic world that many record labels were trying to sign.
"Daftendirektour" (October 2 - December 4, 1997)
Below are the 9 angles used in making the above video. These angles were made available on D.A.F.T.: A Story About Dogs, Androids, Firemen and Tomatoes (1999). There is also a short video from the lighting company explaining the light system Daft Punk used on their tour. It is not clear which show/shows the clips come from but it can be assumed this is how most of the "Daftendirektour" shows looked. Daft Punk say in a November 1997 interview that their full show is 1 hour and 45 minutes long but it seems not every show was allotted the same amount of time so some shows received shorter sets than others. The only known audio recording of one of Daft Punk’s “Daftendirektour” sets comes from Daft Punk’s show in Birmingham, England at the Que Club on November 8th, 1997. In 2001 a 45 minute long excerpt of the show was released online via Daft Punk’s experimental website “daftclub.com.” Later that year the recording was released with the title “Alive 1997” on CD, vinyl, and cassette. It is supposedly Daft Punk’s favorite set of theirs from the tour which is why they chose to release that audio instead of a different one. It is thought that Daft Punk could not release the full set because of copyright issues with some of the tracks they mixed later on. Regardless, the 45 minutes from Que Club is the only audio from the “Daftendirektour” available to the public. Listen to “Alive 1997” below. "Alive Summer 2006" (April 29 - November 11, 2006)
Daft Punk debuted the robots in 2001 upon the release of their second album, Discovery. In 2001 they played one spontaneous live show in London, England for a benefit to aid Afghanistan. Then in 2002 they played one live show at the Winter Music Conference in Miami, Florida. For both of these shows they appeared unmasked. It would not be until April 29th, 2006 when they would finally play a live show as the robots at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. This performance has gone down in history as being a defining moment for the live electronic music scene. Daft Punk performed atop an LED pyramid flanked by massive triangular light structures and a large LED backdrop. They mixed tracks from all three of their studio albums and put on a light show like no other. Their show was hailed as being an audio, visual, and technologic marvel. Even today, 14 years later, people still consider it the best performance the festival has ever seen. An upcoming Coachella documentary will touch upon this iconic performance at the end of this month (READ MORE HERE). After spending considerable amounts of time and money making this show come together, it only made sense that they do a world tour with it. So began the “Alive Summer 2006” tour.
While the content is plentiful, it should be noted that these videos and audio do not come close to accurately portraying the energy and magnitude of these shows. Many fans who saw them live make this very clear when telling other fans about their experiences. The screaming fans, the rumble of the bass, the chest thumping beats, and the intricacies of the light show just cannot be duplicated on a 480p YouTube video.
"Alive 2007" (June 10 - December 22, 2007)
Much of what was said about the “Alive Summer 2006” tour can be said about “Alive 2007” since the shows were almost identical. There are some notable differences though. One of the main changes between the two tours was the substitution of the track “Burnin’” instead of “Technologic” after “Harder Better Faster Stronger.” In 2007 Daft Punk also added an encore to the show featuring state of the art red EL Wire which outlined a black version of their suits and helmets. They integrated the EL Wire lined suits into the light show of the encore by cleverly timing their illumination with the climax and drop of the musical build-up which was paralleled by the stage with it’s own build-up in the form of a red line racing back and forth until it eventually crawls up the pyramid into the robots. They also modified a relatively tame portion of the set where “Touch it” is chanted for a few bars and spiced it up by changing the chant to “F*ck it.” Additionally the light show was modified in portions throughout the show but this is partially due to the fact that the lighting was able to be modified manually by Daft Punk or the light engineers mid show just like the music. In a sense, the light show was also a live performance that varied slightly show to show. As Daft Punk put it, “we compare it to a Broadway musical. There’s a lot of people involved, and every night is a different performance, even though it’s the same music and the same show."
Below: Most of the merchandise from the "Alive 2007" tour.
Daft Punk decided to release a live album featuring the audio from this tour and they chose the audio from their performance at the Palais Omnisports Bercy in Paris, France. The live album was released on November 19th, 2007 before the tour had even ended. This meant that some people got to listen to the set before they saw it live! Some copies of the album in Japan and Australia even had hype stickers advertising the fact that you could still see them live in December, 2007. They also released a single featuring a mashup of two segments of the live show which featured "Around the World" and "Harder Better Faster Stronger." This live album and single would result in 2 Grammy Award wins. One for Best Electronic/Dance Album and another for Best Dance Recording for the single “Harder Better Faster Stronger (Alive 2007).” Daft Punk also famously joined Kanye West on stage at the 2008 Grammy awards (just months after the “Alive 2007” tour ended) where they brought out a bite sized version of the pyramid from their tour along with the red EL Wire suits which were later displayed at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles for a few years.
Over the years, Daft Punk’s “Alive Summer 2006” and “Alive 2007” tours have been largely grouped together and thought of as a single tour. This is aided by the fact that Daft Punk themselves refer to the two tours as “Alive 2006/2007” in the liner notes of the live album. It is a matter of semantics but I think it is important to distinguish the two tours because they are different no matter how similar they were. Below are some schematics from both 2006 and 2007.
Future
In case you weren’t keeping count, that’s a total of 4 tours Daft Punk have been on. The first starting in 1995 and the last ending in 2007. In a little under 13 years, Daft Punk played around 250+ shows but in the 13 years since their last tour ended, they’ve played a grand total of 4… 3 of which were Grammy performances. So here’s the question on everybody’s mind: will they ever tour again? The answer is both simple and complicated. Simply put, Daft Punk will tour again if they feel they have an innovative idea that will challenge them artistically. That is the core ideology Daft Punk follows throughout their career. The complicated part is whether or not they are even thinking of ideas for a tour at all. There’s no telling what Daft Punk might do next and that’s partially what gives them so much allure.
What if I told you that Thomas and Guy-Man once released music using a name other than Daft Punk? Some of you may be thinking I’m talking about their first musical group “Darlin’” or one of their side projects “Together” or “Stardust” or “Le Knight Club” but I am not. I’m talking about “Indo Silver Club.” Yup that’s right...Indo Silver Club. If that sounds familiar then you must know about the track “Indo Silver Club” off of Daft Punk’s debut album Homework. Now what is this business about them releasing music under this name? Well it’s kind of complicated and not too much is known about it but I will tell you as much as I know along with some additional context to help fill in the gaps. The story starts with Daft Punk’s breakout success of their first EP “The New Wave” (1994) and their follow-up single “Da Funk” (1995). These two releases along with their DJ sets throughout 1995 got a lot of people talking about Daft Punk. Their label Soma Records was reportedly so swamped with calls about them that they just started answering their phone saying “Hello, Daft Punk.” By the end of 1995 Daft Punk were riding a wave of success and hype that they felt uncomfortable with. Below is an excerpt from a 1997 translated article that better explains their thoughts on their rapidly growing success and wanting to stay in control. By the end of 1995, Daft Punk wanted to calm things down. The object of all this attention, all these offers, the duo only accepted the concert at Transmusicales (December 2, 1995), just to end the year on a high note. “At some point, we had to say stop,” recalls Thomas. “We had to stop everything, we had to get a little bit of music, a little bit of material. We had been hyped up in the media for two years over two songs— that’s not ideal for working in complete tranquility. It’s also why today, we’re trying to protect ourselves. I think that there’s enough of our personality in our records for us not to show ourselves, for the public to take things into consideration. It was necessary to stop taking ourselves seriously, to stop believing that we were stars… That’s why we don’t want to appear in photos normally. I know that our position is ambiguous: we want our music to be widely distributed, to have the greatest success, but we want to stay as anonymous as possible.” Loquacious about the subject, he continues: “Lots of people pressured us by asking when our album would be coming out. But until now, we haven’t had time. We were touring for six months. Between July ‘95 and January ‘96, we hadn’t written a song and people were asking for an album!” So in January (1996), Thomas and Guy-Manuel decided to lock themselves in their studio until the album was recorded. “We already had offers from all directions but we preferred to record first and look over the offers afterwards. We were calling the shots, which allowed us to take our time.” However, at the beginning of the year, the duo released the maxi Indo Silver Club, still on Soma, but they asked their label not to put their name on the sleeve. No one was fooled. It was impossible not to recognize the touch of the two Frenchmen behind the two titles. excerpt via: https://one-additional-time.tumblr.com/post/95294323260/daft-punk-disco-inferno-translated
Soma Records released a compilation album in late 1996 including one of the two untitled tracks from the 12" single. It credits Daft Punk as the artist and the track title is “Indo Silver Club (Part 1).” This seems to be the first time it was revealed that Daft Punk were the artists behind the mysterious disk. I bought this compilation CD a few years ago thinking that I had finally found a digital master of the track which did not make it onto Daft Punk’s album which I thought was titled “Indo Silver Club (Part One).” I was disappointed to find that the audio was actually just the version that appears on the album which I thought was titled “Indo Silver Club (Part Two).” I thought they had mistitled the track because I was under the impression that Part Two was the track which made it to the album and Part One was only ever released on that 12” disk from 1996. In hindsight it seems Soma Records simply couldn’t find a better way to put the track onto the compilation album because it technically had no title and the artist was unclear to average consumers who didn’t have a press sheet when the single released. It is unknown whether or not Daft Punk gave Soma Records permission to credit them or if Soma simply jumped the gun on revealing the artist but either way it seems Daft Punk gave up on the Indo Silver Club alias. It should be noted that Daft Punk left Soma Records in September 1996 (2 months before the Soma compilation was released) so perhaps that had something to do with the death of the Indo Silver Club alias. Anyways, that’s the time Daft Punk released music under a different name and how hardly anybody noticed.
As the title suggests, we may be getting some unseen footage from Daft Punk's legendary 2006 Coachella performance in the form of a documentary coming March 31st. The trailer dropped January 6th on Coachella's YouTube channel and has immediately caught the attention of several Daft Punk fans, myself included. The trailer features glimpses of Daft Punk's stage reveal as well as an audible "Daft Punk" chant coming from the crowd. The description also seems to confirm that the documentary will include some unseen Daft Punk content.
"A documentary feature two decades in the making, 'Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert' opens up the vault for the very first time to present the performances and behind-the-scenes stories that shaped the music festival. The film gives a rare look at Coachella’s colorful beginning, presents exclusive, never-before-seen footage, interviews, and features key performances from some of the biggest names in music, including Billie Eilish, Kanye West, Daft Punk, Travis Scott, BLACKPINK, LCD Soundsystem, Rage Against The Machine, Pixies, Swedish House Mafia, Jane’s Addiction, Björk, The White Stripes, Madonna, Moby, Beck, Radiohead and more."
Watch the trailer below.
Watch the trailer with subtitles below.
From Deadline.com: "Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert is produced and directed by Chris Perkel. Raymond Leon Roker and Paul Tollett serve as executive producers. The documentary is a Goldenvoice and Hamsterdam production, in association with AEG Studios."
There is no telling how much Daft Punk content there will be but the trailer and my Twitter interactions with the director, Chris Perkel, certainly have me excited for more. Daft Punk's 2006 Coachella performance is considered one of the best in the festival's history by many, including the festival's founder Paul Tollett who is also an executive producer of the documentary. Below is some professional footage of Daft Punk's 2006 Coachella performance. Below is a playlist containing over 200 crowd videos from Daft Punk's 2006 Coachella performance.
Daft Punk have been pretty quiet lately but here is everything they did in 2019.
It is now the end of 2019, which means the decade is coming to an end. It’s been a while since we got any new content or activity from Daft Punk but I thought it might be nice to reminisce a bit and put together a list of my top 10 favorite Daft Punk moments of the 2010’s. Without further ado let’s get right into the list!
#10
To start off our list at number 10 we have the 2017 Daft Punk Pop-Up Shop. The Daft Punk Pop-Up Shop was a unique experience for fans who got to attend it. On top of being a Pop-Up Shop, it also acted as a Daft Punk exhibit or museum of sorts, displaying their old helmets and wardrobe as well as many other significant objects and pictures from throughout their career. All of this was a first for Daft Punk. They had never done a Pop-Up Shop before nor had many of these objects or pictures been able to be viewed by the public. It was a treat to be able to view original cells from Daft Punk photoshoots and stand alongside all of the previous Daft Punk helmet iterations. To hype the Pop-Up Shop and their performance at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards with The Weeknd, the Daft Punk team created snapchat filters that enabled anyone to don a Daft Punk helmet. Furthermore, if you were near Maxfield which was hosting the event, you gained access to even more filters specific to the Pop-Up Shop. While yes everything was very expensive due to their name brand collaborations and signature Daft Punk scarcity and demand, the Pop-Up Shop was a treat for anyone that attended. The Pop-Up Shop was located on the famous Melrose Avenue which is littered with high end shops and stores, yet it was the main attraction during it’s weeklong stay which just goes to show how successful it was.
#9
At number 9 we have Daft Punk’s surprise guest appearance alongside Phoenix at Madison Square Garden in 2010. Phoenix’s Grammy-winning album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix brought mainstream attention to the band in 2009 and 2010. Perhaps their biggest performance ever would come on October 20th, 2010 at Madison Square Garden, one of the most prestigious venues in the world. To anchor their performance, they got fellow Frenchmen Daft Punk to make a surprise guest appearance for the encore. This was significant because it was the first live show they had done since their 2008 Grammy performance with Kanye West. It was also a reunion of Darlin’, the failed Indie rock band which Daft Punk and Phoenix Guitarist, Laurent Brancowitz formed in 1992. After Darlin’ failed, Daft Punk and later Phoenix were born. The two bands remained friends and this on-stage reunion surely must have felt like a huge accomplishment in comparison to their first musical trials in 1992. When Daft Punk appeared after an extended darkened silence, the crowd was ecstatic and nothing showed this better than the numerous crowd videos that emerged from that moment. They two bands mixed together a flurry of songs including; “If I Ever Feel Better”, “Harder Better Faster Stronger”, “Around the World”, “1901”, “Together”, “Rock’n Roll”, and “Human After All.” Daft Punk only spent about 16 minutes on stage but it was quite an extraordinary appearance and that is why it gets number 9 on my list.
#8
At number 8 we have Daft Punk winning Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards for “Get Lucky” ft. Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers. This was Daft Punk’s first ever televised Grammy win, making for some funny antics when they, Pharrell, and Nile Rodgers got on stage only for Daft Punk to stand their silently letting Pharrell do the talking. The always lovable Pharrell got some laughs out of the crowd and even the robots. One thing that a lot of people don’t realize though is that Thomas actually says “thank you” in American Sign Language right after Pharrell repeats the phrase a few times. Overall this was just a really wholesome moment and that’s why it’s the number 8 spot on my list.
#7
At the number 7 spot, we have the release of the Tron: Legacy original soundtrack in 2010. In case you didn’t already know, Tron: Legacy is the sequel to the 1982 cult classic film, Tron. Daft Punk were originally contacted about doing the score for the film in 2007 but they were too busy with their tour to commit to the project. Eventually after the tour ended, they were contacted again and they agreed to do the score. It took Daft Punk a reported 19 straight months of work to finish the score. Tron: Legacy was released on December 17th, 2010 with Daft Punk’s soundtrack album of the same name being released two weeks earlier. The finished product ended up being a 22+ track masterpiece totaling around one hour. Various bonus tracks were available on different platforms but the vanilla soundtrack album was 22 tracks long. A collaboration between Daft Punk and Jay-Z was recorded and was intended to be the track played over the end credits but it was ultimately scrapped because it didn’t quite fit the tone of the film. While the original score and soundtrack album Daft Punk produced was praised for its unique blend of electronic and orchestral elements, the film was not as well received, largely due to its lackluster script. Overall Daft Punk’s involvement with the film was an overwhelming positive one and it gave them more experience working with live instruments and collaborating with others which they would use to their advantage when working on Random Access Memories. Plus they make a cameo in the film and even attended the premiere, both of which made for some awesome photos.
#6
At number 6 we have Daft Punk’s live performance alongside The Weeknd at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. 2017 marked 3 years since Daft Punk’s last live performance so fans were ecstatic to hear that they would be performing once again. I think most people assumed they would be performing “Starboy” but to my surprise they actually did a rendition of “I Feel It Coming.” There was also some vague story elements thrown into the beginning of the performance to tie it to the “Starboy” and “I Feel It Coming” music videos. Warren Fu who painted the Daft Punk portrait in the “Starboy” music video, directed the “I Feel It Coming” music video, and helped with the set design for this performance has said that everything is tied together like a möbius strip in the sense that it has no beginning and no end but it is all connected somehow. After the mysterious intro, The Weeknd broke out into song while Daft Punk got into position behind some decks where they would later throw in some acid-esque screeches that sound like they came straight from a TB-303. It was a delight to see Daft Punk don the black cloaks that had previously only been seen in the painting from the “Starboy” music video. I personally love this performance and that is why it is number 6 on my list.
#5
At number 5 we have Daft Punk winning Record of the Year at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards for Get Lucky. Although they had already won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance that night, this award was arguably more prestigious and cemented Get Lucky as the record of the year. And I mean quite literally their Grammy win is cemented on the Grammy Walk of Fame outside the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. While yes, art and music is all subjective, there is just something so validating about a Daft Punk record being publicly crowned the best of the year. This is why it gets number 5 on my list.
#4
The number 4 spot goes to Daft Punk achieving their very first Billboard Hot 100 chart topper with “Starboy.” This may come as a surprise to some fans, considering Daft Punk have had such immense hits like “One More Time” and “Get Lucky”, but “Starboy” was indeed their first chart topper. Released in November 2016 as the lead single to The Weeknd’s new album of the same name, it would not reach number one until the first week of 2017. Daft Punk’s first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart came in 1997 with “Around the World,” making their trip to the #1 spot one of the longest in history at over 19 years. Even though Daft Punk are only featured artists on the track, it is very fulfilling to see them achieve such an honor in the music world.
#3
Squeezing into the number 3 spot, we have Daft Punk’s live Grammy performance alongside Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers, Stevie Wonder, and many other legendary session musicians. This performance will surely go down as one of the greatest in Grammy history. It’s clear that every performer on stage was having the time of their lives and the good energy was palpable even through the tv. Legendary musicians such as Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Steven Tyler, Beyoncé, and more could be seen grooving to the music. One of my favorite parts of the performance was Daft Punk’s big reveal about halfway through, after which they begin to mix in some classic Daft Punk tracks such as “Harder Better Faster Stronger” and “Around the World.” This was undoubtedly the biggest performance of their lives, as about 28 million viewers were watching from home. Needless to say, they did not disappoint and it is a Grammy performance to remember for generations.
#2
At our number 2 spot is the entire release of Random Access Memories in 2013. This was by far Daft Punk’s biggest venture into the mainstream and they went all out to ensure proper care went into the release of their magnum opus, Random Access Memories. Daft Punk signed a one album deal with Columbia Records in order to amplify their advertising ability and to make the album as authentically released as it deserved to be. This included, TV spots, Magazine spreads, radio play, and many in person experiences like airing the full album announcement at Coachella and giving out promotional masks and wristbands. All in all the album release was a worldwide event and it is what got me into Daft Punk. Random Access Memories had begun production in 2008 and it was truly a passion project for Daft Punk. Some longtime fans were disappointed in the album but for many others it was an experience like no other. The feeling of being transported to the Golden Age of Music Recordings and indulging in an audio-engineering masterpiece was truly blissful. The thematic undertones of technology moving towards humanity were also a change in pace for Daft Punk, where their previous album were typically themed around humanity moving towards technology. Over the years I have learned so much about this album and the people involved and it never ceases to amaze me how respected and talented Daft Punk really are in the music world, not to mention the art direction and visual marvels that Daft Arts produced for the album as well. This is why it lands at number 2 on my list.
#1
More or less an extension of the previous entry on the list, Daft Punk’s Grammy win for Album of the Year at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards tops the list as the number 1 Daft Punk moment of the 2010’s. Album of the year is undoubtedly the most prestigious accolade given out at the Grammy Awards and it is something most artists dream of. Daft Punk have been vocal in the past about how sales and awards mean little to them compared to the quality of the music they put out but I think even they longed for this award, especially since Random Access Memories was the epitome of a well thought out and executed album as opposed to many others which are more or less a collection of singles thrown together. The most memorable moment of all was the long hug Daft Punk shared after winning. Two childhood friends who started making music in 1992 at the age of 17, dressed as robots in front of millions of people, hugging it out and clearly savoring the moment they had dreamed of since they were young. Surely viewers who didn’t even know the backstory of Daft Punk could feel the emotion of that hug. Clearly this award meant a lot to them and this is why it deserves the number 1 spot on my list.
"Daft Punk is a French electronic music duo formed in Paris in 1993 by Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo and Thomas Bangalter." This is how Wikipedia describes Daft Punk, however, fans of the duo know that Daft Punk is more than just an electronic music duo, they are a multi-talented powerhouse who have dipped their toes in almost all forms of entertainment. Of these non-musical endeavors, the most prominent is undoubtably their love of film and all things cinema. This is made evident by their appearances at the Cannes Film Festival over the years, both as directors and as fans of cinema in general.
2003
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2013
2017
The Cannes Film Festival celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2017. Thomas was sure to be in attendance for this occasion. He and his wife were spotted exiting their vehicle and entering their hotel preceding the festival. During the opening ceremony, Thomas and Elodie were captured on camera in the crowd by sheer coincidence. This year in addition to his wife, Thomas' son Tara Jay (an aspiring actor) accompanied them. Thomas and his son were spotted on the red carpet before the closing ceremony. The trio were again captured on camera during the ceremony, this time seemingly on purpose as Elodie is in the center of the shot. After the closing ceremony of the 70th anniversary, Thomas, Elodie, and Tara Jay were spotted exiting along with the rest of the crowd. Tara Jay acted as a shield from the cameras as they walked by, whether this was on purpose or not, I found it amusing.
2018
2019
Not many details are available yet but Daft Punk appear to be participating in an exhibition focused on the electronic music movement that has, over the past 30 years, changed the face of music. The Exhibition is scheduled for April 9 - August 11, 2019.
Philharmonie de Paris (French) Philharmonie de Paris (English) Tsugi article (French) Thought 2018 was a slow year for the robots? Well...it kinda was but HERE is everything they did in 2018!
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AuthorI am a massive Daft Punk fan and collector. I enjoy researching and writing about their career and I have a bachelor's degree in history. Professional inquiries email me here. Archives
August 2022
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