Daft Punk

[Bosco]

Feel bad for the devout Daft Punk fans out there. I think they deserved a better sendoff in a more sincere and humanized way. Was the video clever? Sure. But the timing of this announcement is oblivious. The whole world is in a global crisis with a lot of uncertainty, and you release a vague and confusing "epilogue", which seemingly is the end of the band (or is it?), just to stroke your artistic ego.

You can do better Daft Punk. And your fans, who made YOU, deserve better too.


To end on a positive note, 'Alive 1997' is their best work available.

[Csar]

That's an interesting way of looking at it, and I'd agree. But then again, we don't know what happened to cause this decision.

[Conn6orsuper117]

I have never seen Daft Punk's Electroma and didn't realize Epilogue was related. Is it worth tracking down?

you can find it on youtube (if its still available, I seen it 4 years ago), and its worth watching except for the ending, its just as dark as the actual epilogue video, if not sadder.

You can do better Daft Punk. And your fans, who made YOU, deserve better too.

To end on a positive note, 'Alive 1997' is their best work available.

Its all I want, a special edition Alive 1997, extended to include the full 2nd half, maybe a box set with Full video footage.

[MadPooter]

I'm reacting to this a lot more strongly than I might otherwise considering the number of things going on in my life personally, but I really do consider myself a fan. Or, did.

I went through the motions yesterday--what was great about them? What did I love?

What I came up with is I love *a lot* about their music. Yes, it was repetitive--but like it or not everything they did had merit, and at least half of it was legendary.

It was both wonderful and awful that Daft Punk did things in the name of their own artistic merit and did not do things "for the fans." On some level, you had to respect them for trying to maintain their artistic integrity. They didn't do things to simply feed their own popularity.

But nonetheless they left fans waiting, and waiting, and waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

I was waiting to see what they did in a live set with Random Access Memories. I was waiting to hear what their next album was going to sound like, to see if they further shifted away from electronic music or if they veered back toward it. I was waiting to see where else they chose to perform, regardless of whether or not I was able to be there. I was waiting to see whether their image would change and shift.

Everyone was left waiting--there was no question about the anticipation that Daft Punk left.

I have to agree with Bosco--why now? Why the decision to simply end after years of... nothing...

For me, it felt a little like I was pining after someone I had had a relationship with. And this "sendoff" felt like the "closure" conversation that comes long after you had broken up.

I think, though, Ben_J said it best: He said he understood it more like endlessly chasing after the girl of your dreams trying to go out with her, and finally she ends up rejecting you so hard that you finally understand nothing is ever going to happen.

[satur8]

I'm working on a remake of alive 1997

Rollin' & Scratchin'. Duude.

Keep us posted on this.

[satur8]

Here's my R&S live cover:

Magnificent.

[Wolkenkrabber]

Well this thread has picked up some legs.
I decided to take a peek at the Daft Club forum...
Well I guess DP fans don't get to vent there. Maybe they should come here.

Incidentally my source for the "2021 album" rumour was this.
https://twitter.com/hasitleaked/status/1363983856827777027

I'm not saying this guy is an oracle, but I follow his website and twitter for both films (Where You Watch) and music (Has It Leaked) and he doesn't tell too many lies.

https://twitter.com/hasitleaked/status/1363988149903503363

[Bosco]

just was lurking the Daft Punk Reddit page and noticed an alarming disparity

~83,000 members subscribed to the Daft Punk Reddit page, while The Chemical Brothers have ~1,100 members.

I knew Daft Punk would have a greater following, but I thought there would be more crossover.


Also looked these up for fun:

The Prodigy ~2,100 members
Underworld ~822 members
Orbital ~410 members
Aphex Twin ~32,000 members


Obviously a younger influence on reddit, but interesting to see the contrast.

[Csar]

Yeah, I always thought the Chems were a bit underappreciated in terms of numbers and public recognition, even though they're one of busiest and most prolific electronic acts coming out of the UK. You'd think they should be a household name by now just like other electronica artists like Daft Punk, Justice, Prodigy or Fatboy Slim. Perhaps it's a personality thing. The Chems have never made much ado about themselves. No helmets, no cakes, just music and creative/ innovative live shows.

[Ben_j]

just was lurking the Daft Punk Reddit page and noticed an alarming disparity

~83,000 members subscribed to the Daft Punk Reddit page, while The Chemical Brothers have ~1,100 members.

I knew Daft Punk would have a greater following, but I thought there would be more crossover.


Also looked these up for fun:

The Prodigy ~2,100 members
Underworld ~822 members
Orbital ~410 members
Aphex Twin ~32,000 members


Obviously a younger influence on reddit, but interesting to see the contrast.

I'm not that surprised. Daft Punk are incredibly mainstream, and they're more than just music, they became part of pop culture.

[satur8]

~83,000 members subscribed to the Daft Punk Reddit page, while The Chemical Brothers have ~1,100 members.

Yeah, I always thought the Chems were a bit underappreciated in terms of numbers and public recognition, even though they're one of busiest and most prolific electronic acts coming out of the UK. You'd think they should be a household name by now just like other electronica artists like Daft Punk, Justice, Prodigy or Fatboy Slim. Perhaps it's a personality thing. The Chems have never made much ado about themselves. No helmets, no cakes, just music and creative/ innovative live shows.

I'm not that surprised. Daft Punk are incredibly mainstream, and they're more than just music, they became part of pop culture.

This, all of this. When showing the Epilogue video to my son, he was the one that noticed it had 13 million views in 24 hours. It's not only impossible to compare TCB vs DP in terms of quality, but sadly also in popularity.

Yes, I always hope for commercial success for Tom and Ed, but I appreciate their integrity and style and actually enjoy this tighter-knit, discerning fanbase.

[Apostle]

TCB has commercial success, I doubt they would complain about that!

Daft Punk is/was good, can't deny it. Alive 2007 was an awesome show, and happy I got to go to one, but them "breaking up" just doesn't do anything for me. HAA was them literally trolling everyone, and RAM wasn't my thing. All their work is French house, straight through. One note, a very good note, but just one nonetheless. They had two albums, and 1 tour. But, the masses just lost their damned mind at Coachella and here we are eulogizing two albums.

They were extremely good at marketing the robots. And maybe the best Daft Punk track was under the name Stardust, and it wasn't even by both of them!

[GLAKO-FAHN]

i want to be so commercially unsuccessful that i get to headline a few big festivals every [nonpandemic] summer, even twenty five years after my first album

[satur8]

C'mon guys, I wasn't implying they haven't achieved commercial success. I was hinting that most average people know AT LEAST a few Daft Punk songs by name, while the Chemical Brothers have not continued that type of name recognition or longevity for the masses outside of electronic music circles.

I was wishing them continued success and applauding their path and evolution of doing their own thing. I  hope the context helps.

Yes, we could all do with that lack of success. lol

[Csar]

Ha, I was just looking through some recent additions to youtube on chems stuff and found this comment:

This mix is a veritable classic, from the band that headlined the 1st night of the 1st Coachella.  Glad they haven't released their Epilogue...

[Joslyn]

The sad news of the retirement of Daft Punk was rather sudden but it seems to be celebrated more than debated. I think had a great impact in the growth the French dance scene (Cassius, Basement Jaxx, Justice, Kavinsky, Ed Banger) and their first 3 albums had major impact.
Ithink we will be seeing (hearing) Thomas again. He seems the most involved into music. Roulé was his label which released a lot of his solo stuff, he was part of Stardust (Guy-man wasn't), he made the soundtrack for Irreversible. I think Guy-man did 2 production jobs on his own.
(The same thing will happen to Tom and Ed. Tom will keep producing while Ed proceed in a career as a therapist)

just was lurking the Daft Punk Reddit page and noticed an alarming disparity

~83,000 members subscribed to the Daft Punk Reddit page, while The Chemical Brothers have ~1,100 members.

I knew Daft Punk would have a greater following, but I thought there would be more crossover.

Also looked these up for fun:

The Prodigy ~2,100 members
Underworld ~822 members
Orbital ~410 members
Aphex Twin ~32,000 members

Obviously a younger influence on reddit, but interesting to see the contrast.

I get that. Daft Punk has more of a pop influence while the Chemical Brothers are more indie.
How Aphex Twin got those number of members in comparison is beyond me.

Another thing I noticed this week. Did The Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk each others reputation across the Channel? The Chems were DJ-ing Da Funk in their sets before it was released while Daft Punk remixed Life is Sweet on the Chems 2nd commercial release.

[ThePumisher]

Ed proceed in a career as a therapist

What? 

Did The Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk each others reputation across the Channel?

Ed likes Erols farewell to Daft Punk, but i can only talk about Insta.

Tom will keep producing

I think the most thing why we believe this is that Tom has the Studio in his house while Ed doesn't. So Tom just needs to change rooms while Ed needs to leave the city. And Ed starts study something (and finished it) while Tom did tour without him and released some solo stuff. But i don't want to think about them splitting up or even hear about it.

How Aphex Twin got those number of members in comparison is beyond me.

Yeah, that seems to be a bit weird. Richard knows his stuff, he's a fantastic producer in a technical way, but for most ears his releases seem too trippy. At least for me it is.

[Bosco]

Not to keep hammering this point...

Over the course of 4 days Daft Punk has picked up 3,000 more subscribers on reddit. That's triple the existing members for Chems Reddit subscribers.

So in terms of Reddit popularity, The Chemical Brothers cover approximately 1/86 of Daft Punk's subscribers right now.



Aphex Twin's popularity has to do with the fact he's been anointed as a modern day Genius by dedicated Indie publishers. I don't necessary disagree. But most casual music fans can appreciate his work to some degree and I think he rides the line of  beautifully crafted weird music and palatable batshit weird music.

tldr, he's a popular and accomplished exotic.

[Stefan]

I really like some of Daft Punk's songs, but I've never liked their music consistently to consider myself a fan. Alive 2007 is absolutely amazing though, I'd always have loved to see them live had they ever put out another live tour with this energy.

The same thing will happen to Tom and Ed. Tom will keep producing while Ed proceed in a career as a therapist

All I'm reading is that I can book apointments ad Ed's  to help me with abandonment issues once the Chems split up.

[neorev]

I really like some of Daft Punk's songs, but I've never liked their music consistently to consider myself a fan. Alive 2007 is absolutely amazing though, I'd always have loved to see them live had they ever put out another live tour with this energy.

All I'm reading is that I can book apointments ad Ed's  to help me with abandonment issues once the Chems split up.

Yea, I'm the same. Daft Punk were hit and miss. I enjoyed their first album and their live albums the most. The rest was ehhh. I also felt the Tron score was just okay. They know how to write a hook, or at least sample one, but I found it gets repetitive. Musique is my favorite track.