Daft Punk on Apple Music (2024)

Discovery

100 Best Albums There’s a video that Daft Punk made to promote 2001’s Discovery in which the French duo, wearing their famous robot helmets, dance on the Tokyo subway. Some riders smile and stare, while others look politely away. At the time, Daft Punk was big enough business to dismiss goofing off—their first album, 1997’s Homework, had already sold two million copies. And yet, when asked about Discovery’s turn toward ’70s and ’80s pop, Thomas Bangalter said the goal wasn’t to evoke a specific sound or era, but the raw wonder they’d felt encountering that music as children. Dancing on the subway in a city where they didn’t speak the language, liberated from judgment and self-criticism: It’s all there in the title.The album’s biggest singles—“One More Time,” “Harder Better Faster Stronger,” “Digital Love”—were as useful to wedding DJs as they were to pop philosophers. And the rest—the faux-metal guitars of “Aerodynamic,” the sci-fi daydream of “Veridis Quo,” the UK garage showcase of Todd Edwards on “Face to Face”—glimpsed down dozens of stylistic alleyways without disrupting the album’s course. “Electronic music”—a term that always suggested the future, however vague—was demonstrated to be as familiar and comforting as classic rock, and no less real in its depth of feeling.You can easily trace Discovery forward to EDM and the continuing entwinement of techno and rock. But you can also trace it back to The Beatles circa Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band or The Beach Boys circa Pet Sounds and Smile: music that took pop seriously as art, but also recontextualized older, seemingly uncool styles in ways that felt progressive and fresh. Most of all, though, Daft Punk wanted to be universal. And as implausible as it may have seemed for two French men in robot helmets, Discovery got them there. “We hope all the kids will love the video,” a disembodied voice says near the end of the promo clip. “As well as their parents.”

Homework (25th Anniversary Edition)

Few records combine sonic innovation with veneration for what came before as succinctly as Daft Punk’s 1997 debut, Homework. The title itself implies this duality: It’s a reference to both the bedroom studio where musicians Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo recorded their early house and techno productions, and a nod to the older artists the duo studied in preparation for their dance music breakthrough.Many of those musical ancestors are name-checked on the Homework track “Teachers,” on which Bangalter and Homem-Christo salute the (mostly) electronic music producers and DJs who inspired their work. That includes plenty of semi-obscure Chicago house music heroes and Detroit and UK techno champions, many of whom predated Daft Punk by a decade—but who were still active in the late-1990s rave scene. By tagging their peers, the members of Daft Punk were expressing solidarity with the many BIPOC artists whom they’d obsessed over for years. It was a declaration of belonging that could have come off as appropriation, had Homework not so fully elevated the genre.Bangalter and Homem-Christo might wear their influences on their sleeve, but their music transcends mere tribute; it’s some of the most unforgettable hook-laden house and techno ever put to wax. When it comes to the dance floor, if a record’s hot, that record is hot. And DJs across the globe pumped Homework’s 16 tracks, which included everything from playful filtered disco (“Revolution 909”) to throttling acid techno (“Rollin’ & Scratchin’”). Meanwhile, radio jocks and MTV programmers on the lookout for format-friendly versions of popular rave sounds swooned over Homework cuts like “Da Funk” and “Around the World,” which became breakout hits, thanks to inventive videos directed, respectively, by Spike Jonez and Michel Gondry.That near-impossible confluence of talent and timing allowed Homework to achieve its position atop every list of 1990s electronic music. As time went on, the members of Daft Punk would prove themselves worthy of every accolade Homework received as they continued to evolve from students to teachers to masters—elevating the state of electronic music every step of the way.

Random Access Memories (Drumless Edition)

2023

Random Access Memories

2013

Random Access Memories (10th Anniversary Edition)

2013

TRON: Legacy Reconfigured

2011

TRON: Legacy - The Complete Edition (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

2010

Human After All

2005

Discovery

2001

Daft Punk Essentials

Harder, better, faster, stronger.

Daft Punk Video Essentials

These electro-dance legends craft videos as innovative as their tracks.

Daft Punk: Fitness+ Spotlight

Harder, better, faster, stronger—and more to motivate you.

Daft Punk: Deep Cuts

The robot DJs prove they can disco-fy anything.

Daft Punk: Chill

Lean back and relax with some of their mellowest cuts.

Inspired by Daft Punk

Modern pop greats pen digital love letters to the robotic duo.

GLBTM (Studio Outtakes) [Edit] - Single

2023

2013

Harder Better Faster Stronger (Alive 2007) - Single

2007

Technologic (Radio Edit) - Single

2005

Phoenix (Basement Jaxx Remix) - Single

2005

Robot Rock - Single

2005

Robot Rock (Soulwax Remix) - Single

2005

Alive 2007

2007

Alive 1997

2001

Musique, Vol. 1 (1993-2005)

2006

Human After All (Remixes)

2006

Daft Club

2003

I Gotta Try You Girl (feat. Daft Punk) [Daft Punk Edit] - EP

Junior Kimbrough

Starboy (feat. Daft Punk) [Kygo Remix] - Single

The Weeknd

No. 23: Daft Punk’s Discovery

The robot duo added soul to their synths—and blew up.

Daft Punk

Hit your fitness resolutions with this 2001 classic.

Daft Punk

“Get Lucky” is what happens when hard work meets perfect timing.

Épisode 4 - DAFTPUNKOLOGY

Homework a 25 ans : Pedro discute de Daft Punk – Épisode en anglais.

Essential Album: Homework

Tim Sweeney revisits Daft Punk’s full-length debut, 25 years on.

Daft Punk Special

Kevin Parker and Nile Rodgers celebrate the French duo with Matt.

The Daft Punk Tribute

Zane Lowe mixes songs celebrating 28 years of Daft Punk.