Daft Punk - Homework (1997)

Weezer's Blue Album popularity is partially attributed to the wild success of their first two music videos featured on MTV. Spike Jonze directed both and has directed a fair number of others for artists such as R.E.M., Björk, and Kanye West. One of his other classic music videos starred an anthropomorphic dog walking around New York City with a radio blasting Daft Punk's "Da Funk", the first single off of their debut album Homework.

Daft Punk is a French electronic duo made up of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. The two met in secondary school and eventually formed an indie rock band with Laurent Brancowitz called Darlin'. The average effort lasted six months and broke during the latter half of 1992. Laurent joined his brother in a young band called Phoenix, while Thomas and Guy-Manuel began experimenting with drum machines and synthesizers and soon established themselves a new identity.

Daft Punk's early singles were quickly picked up by small record labels, but when it came time to make it big, they signed a deal with Virgin Records to whom they leased tracks for distribution, allowing the duo complete ownership and control over the master recordings. Daft Punk compiled enough singles and other songs by 1997 to release their first album.

It is important to note that electronic dance music is a DJ-centric class of music. It has a complex history and is divided into an innumerable quantity of genres and styles. Daft Punk comes from the French House scene (with its roots in the Chicago House scene of the early eighties) which makes use of a hard base drum on every beat ("four-on-the-floor"), a mid-range to fast tempo, cut-off and phaser synthetic effects, and obscure soul and funk tracks from the seventies. (To be frank, I'm largely ignorant of electronic music history, its numerous styles, and how Daft Punk fits into it, but I expect this murkiness to clear up the more I learn.)

Homework and Spike Jonze's music video are considered classics of the 1990s House scene. Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Roman Coppola, and Seb Janiak also directed music videos for Daft Punk. The album went double platinum in Canada, platinum in France, and Gold in the US and other countries.

Here is the discography surrounding Daft Punk's debut album:

 Darlin' (1992 single as Darlin')
The New Wave (1994 single)
Da Funk (1995 single)
Around the World (1997 single)
Homework Burnin' (1997 single)
Revolution 909 (1998 single)





The musical history tour trudges along, but it works best if there is input from others. If you have a good idea for where the tour should go next, give me a shout.