The French duo were responsible for some of the most popular and influential electronic music in history.
It has been confirmed that Daft Punk have broken up.
The Parisian duo were behind seminal house albums like Homework and Discovery, which both help kick-start America’s current love-affair with dance music at different times and in different ways, while ushering in a golden age of French touch.
The duo broke the news of their split with an 8-minute video called “Epilogue,” excerpted from their 2006 film Electroma. Pitchfork contacted the duo’s longtime publicist Kathryn Frazier, who confirmed the breakup, but gave no reason for the split.
Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo formed Daft Punk in Paris in 1993. With hit singles like “Around the World” and “Da Funk,” their 1997 debut, Homework, was an instant classic, spawning a wave of copycats and introducing countless new fans to house music.
Their 2001 follow-up Discovery featured now-classics like “One More Time” and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” cementing their reputation as both global superstars, and as nameless, faceless robots who rarely if ever appeared in public without their trademark, futuristic outfits.
They won a Grammy Award in 2007 for their live album, Alive 2007, and worked with producers like Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers and on their final album as a duo, 2013’s Random Access Memories, which also featured the hit single “Get Lucky” with Pharrell Williams and sold millions of copies around the world. Random Access Memories also won four Grammys in 2014, including Album of the Year and Best Dance/Electronic Album.
The duo were also notorious for their incredible live shows. Their famed 2006 Coachella performance, in which the duo performed inside of a pyramid complete with custom visual mapping, has been cited as inspiring the 2010’s spectacle-obsessed EDM era, as well as many artists of the era who went onto achieve fame.
Dance music will never be the same.
