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Daft Punk is the main project of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (born February 8, 1974) and Thomas Bangalter (born January 3, 1975), two dance music artists from Paris. Its name was inspired by a review in the British music magazine Melody Maker, which described their first collaboration, a Beach Boys inspired guitar group named Darling that recorded on Stereolab's Duophonic imprint in 1992, as "a bunch of daft punk". Daft Punk's debut single The New Wave (Soma, 1993) was followed by their first commercially successful single "Da Funk" (1995). The album Homework (Virgin, 1996) was regarded as an innovative synthesis of techno, house, acid house and electro, and widely acknowledged as one of the most influential dance music albums of the nineties. In addition to "Da Funk", "Around the World" was the most successful single from Homework.
2001's Discovery, with its more commercial, synth-pop-oriented style, disappointed some fans of Homework. Nevertheless, it sold very well, and the single "One More Time" was a major club hit. Some have interpreted the title "Discovery" as meaning "very Disco", as much of the album hearkens to the disco era; "Homework" can also be a reference to the respective album's focus, house music (Home ≈ House). Much of Daft Punk's newer fan base knows them mainly from Discovery.
Daft Punk are notable for their use of visuals in music. The duo "became" robots for all of their publicity shots and interviews. The music videos for their singles from Homework featured memorable characters and were directed by cult video producers, including Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry. The album Discovery subsequentally became the soundtrack to the anime film Interstella 5555, which they co-produced with Leiji Matsumoto.
With Music Sounds Better With You, Thomas Bangalter had a major club hit in 1998, released under the name Stardust on his own Roulé-label. In 2002 he produced the motion picture soundtrack for Gaspar Noé's Irréversible. Bangalter also teamed up with DJ Falcon to create Together, who subsequently released the club smash So Much Love To Give. Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo operates his own music label, Crydamoure.
Four years after the release of Discovery, Daft Punk plans to release the follow-up album, Human After All. It is presently set for release on March 22, 2005.
Selected Discography
Albums
VHS/DVD
- D.A.F.T. - A Story about Dogs, Androids, Firemen and Tomatoes (DVD/VHS, 1999)
- Interstella 5555 (Movie, DVD, 2003)
Billboard Chart Positions, by song
- Around the World - Hot Dance Music/Club Play, reached #1
- Around the World - Hot 100, peaked at #61
- Da Funk - Hot Dance Music/Club Play, reached #1
- Revolution 909 - Hot Dance Music/Club Play, peaked at #12
- One More Time - Hot Dance Music/Club Play, reached #1
- One More Time - Canadian singles chart, reached #1
- One More Time - Hot Dance Music/Maxi-single Sales, peaked at #2
- One More Time - Rhythmic Top 40, reached #27
- One More Time - Hot 100, peaked at #61
- One More Time - Top 40 Mainstream, peaked at #33
- One More Time - Top 40 Tracks, peaked at #32
- Digital Love - Hot Dance Music/Club Play, peaked at #9
- Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Hot Dance Music/Club Play, peaked at #3
- Face to Face - Hot Dance Music/Club Play, reached #1
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