Daft Punk at the Grammy Awards, January 2014. -

Matt Sayles / AP / SIPA

They hadn't posted anything on their YouTube channel for five years, it's an electric shock.

Daft Punk published this Monday a video entitled “Epilogue”, in which we see the helmeted duo walking towards the horizon, while they face each other, a count is triggered and one of the members explodes into a thousand pieces.

The images are taken from their 2006 film

Electroma

.

The music starts up as this message appears: “1993-2021.

There you go, Daft Punk, it's over!

The announcement was confirmed by their agent with the Pitchfork and

Variety

sites

.

No reason is advanced.

A look back at these three decades when the duo formed by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo made the planet dance.

"Daft punky trash", "a generation of slackers"

The two boys, rather shy, meet on the benches of the College Carnot in Paris in 1986. They spend hours hanging out in the ferries of Gibert and New Rose, in Saint Michel.

"A generation of slackers", comments Guy-Manuel interviewed in 1997 by David Blot in the magazine

Les Inrockuptibles.

After an attempt at rocky rock with Darlin ', a trio with Laurent Brancowitz, future guitarist of the group Phoenix and while the techno wave invades the Hexagon, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, absolute fans of the Dance label Mania, from Chicago, founded the duo Daft Punk in 1993.

An expression that comes from a British reviewer of

Melody Maker

, who called Darlin's sound "daft punky trash", literally "silly punk".

"Rollin 'and Scratchin'", "like a rocket taking off"

At that time, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo mix without headphones in confidential raves.

They tweak their first tracks thanks to the TB303 synthetic bass, wickedly knocking, and the TR909 drum machine, with its strident sounds.

In 1994, they released their first three-track EP,

The New Wave

, on the Soma Recordings label, of the Scots they met in a rave on the roof of the Beaubourg Center.

The year 1995 is that of their first success, the group released the maxi-electro-rock

Da Funk

and

Rollin 'and Scratchin'

, which "progresses in layers like a rocket taking off", according to Emmanuel de Buretel, current boss of the label. Because, in the columns of

Télérama

.

The title is spreading in all the raves and clubs in Europe.

Daft Punk opens for the Chemical Brothers in London.

"A real delirium around only two songs", surprised Thomas Bangalter in

Traxmag.

"Homework", "we could manage to keep control"

Spotted at the 17th edition of the Trans Musicales de Rennes by Virgin, the two young French people, in their twenties, sign an unprecedented contract with the multinational.

"We wanted to show that we could succeed in keeping control and freedom by working with a multinational record company without conforming to the standards of the profession, even by making house music", comments Thomas Bangalter in 

Traxmag

.

Homework

marks the triumph of the home studio.

Released on January 17, 1997, the album sold a million copies worldwide in two years.

“We

fell

in

love

with Chicago house and we tried to do as well,” says Guy Manuel in 

Traxmag

.

Janet Jackson, Madonna and George Michael are quick to seek - in vain - the little

Frenchies

,.

Daft Punk put France on the map of the musical world.

The French Touch was born, and Daft Punk will now always appear wearing helmets.

"Discovery", "a global artistic approach"

Their second album, released in 2001, is called

Discovery

.

In 2003, it served as the soundtrack for the silent animated film

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

supervised by Leiji Matsumoto, the creator of Albator.

“We have always tried to place our music in a global artistic process.

One of our first influences is Andy Warhol, Pop Art and all that he could do by combining music and cinema ”, explains Thomas Bangalter to Traxmag.

And to add: “We started to develop a strong imagination.

For someone who loves us, Daft Punk, it's not just "oh yeah, the song is good", it's also a visual universe with our clips, our cartoons… "

Discovery,

tinged with pop and disco, gives way to the duo's voices transformed using a talkbox, and arouses controversy among early fans.

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,

commercial success is at the rendezvous….

And the critics subside.

Their imprint in the imagination deepened in the following years with

Daft Club

, a remix album,

Human After All

, their third techno house studio album, the live

Alive 2007

and the soundtrack of

Tron: The Legacy

.

Their faces still hidden by their now iconic futuristic helmets, they were made knights of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2010.

"Random Access Memories", "In the plural, it becomes" memories ""

Daft Punk skilfully cultivate their absences and appearances.

After months of rumors,

Random Access Memories

released in 2013, “four years of full-time work for 74 minutes of music,” said Thomas Bangalter at

JDD

.

" That's it.

They are well and truly back, ”exclaims the presenter of

Saturday Night Live

, who unveils a fifteen-second teaser the day before the album's release and sets off a kind of global frenzy.

From the first week, the album ranks first almost everywhere in the world and totals 3.7 million copies sold.

With this album, Daft Punk pays a vibrant tribute to the music of the 1970s and collaborates with Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder.

"The combination of talents works miracles beyond what a single man, or a duo, can do," says Guy Manuel to

JDD

.

Random Access Memories

, “in English and in the singular, it is the" living memory "of a computer.

In the plural, it becomes “memories”, ”explains Thomas Bangalter at JDD.

And no doubt the legendary Daft Punk will leave a lot to their countless fans!

Culture

What will you remember from the legendary French band Daft Punk?

Style

Why the Daft Punk helmet is the ultimate stage costume

  • Daft punk

  • Culture

  • Electronic music

  • Music