I once heard a rumor they wrote the song вЂњOne More TimeвЂќ and then sat on it for two years, waiting to see if it sounded вЂњtimeless.вЂќ During this time, they concocted a cool story about a studio explosion that left them disfigured and close to death. Settling back into their studio, the duo took a risk on nostalgia, setting forth to record a disco-inspired album called Discovery.

The duo wasnвЂ™t wearing masks then, but they would soon put them on and never again be seen without them. Breakneck bleep-bloops and white noise tidal waves explode in a style that defines itself.

The duo did tour that year, a trek later documented on the incredible live record Alive 1997. The 100 Greatest Music Video Artists of All Time: Staff List They wanted the music to speak for itself. They never wanted to be the center of attention. Bangalter and Homem-Christo obscured their faces, wearing paper bags over their heads in interviews and smudging their pictures on the album art. Music videos directed by Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze made Daft Punk oddball favorites on MTV. That album dropped in 1997, and rocketed the top of the underground. Their debut album was recorded using a make-shift вЂњstudioвЂќ that David Guetta once described as вЂњtwo small Mackeys, 8tracks connected together, a ghetto blaster, no real monitor andвЂ¦ only one compressor on the master.вЂќ It was made at home - well before вЂњbedroom popвЂќ became a widely accepted genre - so they called it Homework. He helped the band sign to Virgin Records, navigating the relationship to be more like a partnership, as Daft Punk valued creative control above all else. Daft Punk needed a manager.Д®nter Pedro Winter, a Parisian rave promoter as lanky as he was enthusiastic. In 1995, they released вЂњ Da Funk,вЂќ a stomping, side-winding synth riff that the duo told Swedish magazine Pop #2В was inspired by weeks of listening to Warren GвЂ™s 1994 G-funk masterpiece, вЂњRegulate.вЂќ BritainвЂ™s big beat heroes The Chemical Brothers liked it, incorporating the songвЂ™s upbeat robotic snarl into their live shows. Taking their name from their failure, Daft Punk released a song called вЂњ The New Wave,вЂќ (later called вЂњAliveвЂќ) in 1994. French Touch, as a style, was gloriously simple and unimaginably effective. Gay clubs and French castles pulsed with samples of disco and soul repeated and stretched into euphoric mantras. Brancowitz went on to play guitar in the extremely successful alt-rock band Phoenix, and the other two turned to embrace the underground sounds of ParisвЂ™ bubbling warehouse rave scene. In BangalterвЂ™s own words, it вЂњwas pretty average,вЂќ so DarlinвЂ™ broke up. Daft Punk Break Up After 28 Years With Eight-Minute 'Epilogue' Video

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