Daft Punk is no more. After building a legacy of iconic dance and pop music, an eight-minute video is about how Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have decided to bow out of the game.
Sharing ‘Epilogue’ – an excerpt form their 2006 film Electroma – the duo’s status was made known by their publicist, Kathryn Frazier.
Daft Punk has been embedded in pop culture since the release of their 1997 debut, Homework – the album that brought us Around the world and “Da funk”.Over the years, Daft Punk became synonymous with a central sound that fused house with funk, pop, hip hop, and rock in ways that the genre hasn’t been done before.
Even if you’re not a Daft Punk die-hard, you can’t deny the impact of their work. From ‘one more time and harder, better, faster‘ through to their Random Access Memories era, the duo built up a stack of awards, yes. But their contributions to the world of dance – and then pop – music extend far beyond any awards season.
Co-production credits and collaborations with Kanye West and The Weekend brought Daft Punk new waves of success as they moved into the 2010s. Still, as a live act, they kept a meticulously crafted and guarded public presence.
Their live shows were rare but spectacular. Touring globally just twice, first in 1997 and then on the Alive 2006/2007 tour, Daft Punk left a last impression on those fans who were lucky enough to see their show in the flesh.
Since the news broke, musicians have tributed to Daft Punk’s music and influential presence.
“Daft Punk left the game with a flawless legacy,” Mark Ronson tweeted. “I would say enviable but impossibly unattainable is more appropriate.”
“I remember how those gorgeous French robots got lucky and locked us out of heaven all night at the 2013 Grammys. I couldn’t even be mad for 3 minutes.”