This list is likely to piss someone off, but that’s by design.
Today to celebrate the duo’s incredible contribution to modern music, we’ll be ranking their ten best songs. Daft Punk were pioneers in electronic music, and their refusal to stay inside their French House subgenre that they initially found success in led them to be driving influences for nearly every big name electronic artists you can think of, from James Murphy of LCD Soundsyrem (who referenced them directly in a song, only to come back and title one of their most famous songs about the duo) to Skrillez, Zedd, Porter Robinson, Chromeo, Justice, Steve Aoki, Madeon, M83, and much much more. I’ve said this on Twitter, but I’ll repeat it because it still applies: how many artists do you think Kanye West would be willing to take production advice from in 2013, at the absolute peak of his Kanye West-ness?Īnd that’s just pop music with broad appeal. “Perfect albums” is a concept difficult to ascribe to a work of art, but Discovery is one of the first albums to pop in my head when I think of it. Yet they are iconic all the same, perhaps somewhat due to their helmeted personas but still mostly due to their prolific track record of making groundbreaking music time and time again.
On Monday, Daft Punk released a seven-minute video announcing the duo of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter were calling it a day after 28 years.ĭaft Punk have and will continue to occupy an odd place in music history: they are one of the most influential artists of all time but at the same time have never had a #1 single in the US (“Get Lucky” came close at #2).