A legend never dies if they can be turned into a robot, yet robots must get shut down eventually. It’s been more than a week since Daft Punk announced their retirement as a duo, and during that time fans like me have been going through the motions of grief. Daft Punk is one of my most favorite musical acts of all time. They were one of the first groups that helped reinforce my own taste in music during my early teens. They weren’t something my parents listened to—it was music I can claim as my own. I was fascinated with the imagery of Interstella 5555 and music behind it, eventually listening to the rest of their catalogue. It was in those moments that led me on the journey of music discovery, exploring artists that were similar to them, eventually solidifying my love of music in general.
Daft Punk’s decision to end their project is not a surprise, seeing as they haven’t released their own music for eight years—save for their collaborations since Random Access Memories. I didn’t expect it to end so abruptly without a final project, but I am glad they said anything at all. I have been ruminating about the kind of impact they had on the music world, even before I knew they were going to breakup. Their influence is hard to understate in the realm of electronic music, and even beyond that. Many artists I listen to spoke about how much they saw them as influences and this lamenting speaks to the kind of legacy they had on so many.
As hyperbolic as the statement may seem, electronic music as we know it today might not have been same without Daft Punk. Electronic music shows probably wouldn’t be the large-scale productions they are today, or how there are pseudo-anonymous, helmeted acts like deadmau5 or Marshmello, or even how Daft Punk’s music curation sways trends after each major release. Indeed, it seems as if with each album they released there was a musical statement that others listened to and followed.
The outputs other artists had around the time of their albums Homework and Discovery saw the styles of filter-heavy French and disco house come to the forefront in the late 90s and 2000s. It’s a kind of style that is having a bit of a resurgence with the sounds of future funk, where interpolated, looped disco samples over anime imagery call back to Interstella 5555. Human After All led to more incorporation of rock elements in electronic music, with the harsher sounds of eletro house and blog house that led to artists like Justice, MSTRKRFT, and Digitalism in the late 2000s. That was taken further with Alive 2007, a seminal tour that gave rise to the bombastic staging of EDM shows and festivals in the 2010s where artists like Skrillex, Zedd and Swedish House Mafia reigned supreme. “When Daft Punk came to the LA Sports Arena in 2007, I bought a ticket and it changed my life… It really opened the doors to what you can create live,” Skrillex said in the documentary Daft Punk Unchained. It was that moment that led to his foray in creating electronic music on his own, igniting an entire movement in his own right.
As EDM became more brash, unwieldy, and manufactured, Daft Punk ran away from the monster they had a hand in creating rather than embracing it. They’ve gone on to say they don’t really listen to EDM in some of their last interviews as a duo. “EDM is energy only. It lacks depth. You can have energy in music and dance to it but still have soul,” said member Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo in an interview with NME. This was seen in their last two releases, where they favored more traditional instrumentation over synthesizers and drum machines. Their Tron: Legacy score led to more contemporary film scores melding electronics and orchestration. And their final album, Random Access Memories, was a love letter to all that came before them, changing their sound drastically into a more full-fledged band. After which, the electronic and pop music world fell in line. There was a resurgence of disco-funk and incorporation of live instrumentation in electronic music, like in Calvin Harris’ Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1 or Avicii’s True. Even in pop music with disco-infused hits from artists like Bruno Mars, The Weeknd, Dua Lipa and Doja Cat to name a few.
There is much to appreciate from the artists and music that was birthed by their influence. Artists I enjoy like Madeon, Porter Robinson, Disclosure, Julian Casablancas and countless others have been mourning this post-Daft Punk world these past few days. “Every stage of my life would have gone so differently if it weren’t for Daft Punk,” said Porter Robinson on Twitter. Madeon’s tribute is especially heartfelt, seeing as he is the same age as me, and how their impact on him was much similar to my own. They had an affect on us when we were children, influenced our tastes, and made us appreciate music much like they did.
It’s any wonder how Daft Punk achieves their ubiquity among so many artists. Their decision to remain anonymous is admirable. There’s excellence here in promoting their brand as a band without putting their identifiable faces behind it. It is both iconic and mysterious to choose to be anonymous and take on these robot personas. It’s instantly recognizable, yet we don’t recognize who is behind the music. “Looking at robots is not like looking at an idol. It’s not a human being, so it’s more like a mirror,” says de Homem-Christo in a Pitchfork interview. Their personas are ancillary to the music. There is no meddling or drama from a rock star persona, no fans clamoring for an autograph or photo—just the music. What we take from them is reflected in ourselves.
The outpouring of love and support for them is a testament to all they accomplished. We see them grow musically over time, self-actualizing who they want to be as an act in their final album. It’s something that is hard to top, working with their heroes, favorite artists, and breaking off what is typical of them. They went from two youths making music in their bedrooms to working with talented session musicians in a studio. That kind of growth from Homework to Random Access Memories is aspirational. Musical acts break up and reunite all the time, but with a duo as enigmatic as Daft Punk nothing is a given. The late music critic that inadvertently named Daft Punk would probably celebrate hearing about their end, but Thomas and Guy-Man concluded on their own terms. They can continue to do what they’ve wanted all along in their anonymity—a return to their unassuming life as fallible humans.
Daniel Villarreal 