Daft Punk is the French electronic duo who have revolutionized music in the last two decades. Their first album, Homework, was released in January 1997. The track Da Funk and its Spike Jonez directed music video are what put them on the charts.
Nowadays, you rarely hear about these musicians. It is a big deal (at least for me) when a song of theirs comes on the radio. But this is one of the many reasons why I love Daft Punk. I love their music and mystery that surrounds them.
I was born in 1998 and raised on a farm in the middle of nowhere, so foreign electronic music was not something I was ever introduced to. It was not until 2011 that I first heard their sound.
One day in January 2011, I was staying over at a friend's house. It was late and we were bored, so her mother finally caved and agreed to take us to a movie. The only movie that looked cool and not "babyish," but also appropriate for our young minds was Tron: Legacy.
Tron: Legacy is easily one of my favorite movies. I am pretty sure my mouth was hanging open the whole time we were in the theater. It has amazing visuals, a great plot, and oh, the soundtrack is mind-blowing. Can you guess who the composers for the soundtrack are? Correct - Daft Punk.
When I was dropped off the next morning, I immediately ran down to the computer room (yes we still had a computer room) and found the soundtrack online. I bookmarked the page and would listen to it while I played Poptropica. I was living my best life.
Fast forward two years, I was in the library looking for CDs to burn onto my iTunes library to put on my new iPod. I came across the Tron: Legacy soundtrack and remembered being so obsessed with it. I checked it out and put it in my CD player so I could listen while I rode my bike home. By the time I got there, I was captivated once again.
15 year old me started to form her own music taste. The root was Daft Punk. I had the soundtrack and a bunch of their songs from miscellaneous albums on my iPhone 4. At this point in my life, I was a casual fan.
For Christmas that year (2013) I was actually given the Random Access Memories CD because I wrote that I loved Daft Punk for my high school band secret Santa. I hated that album, so I returned it and bought paints or something. Still one of the cringy-est things I have done. But do not worry, I have since bought it back.
Cue the 2014 Grammys! I hate awards shows, but I was not going to miss Daft Punk perform live. They performed with Pharrell Williams and Stevie Wonder. If you have not seen this performance, I highly suggest you hop on YouTube as soon as possible. For me, it was a religious experience. Thus, I ascended to by position as a committed, obsessed fan.
It is now 2018 and nothing has changed. I spent a majority of 2017 praying that Alive 2017 would be announced after their Weeknd Grammy performance. I have two Daft Punk tattoos, the 2007 Alive pyramid on my wrist and the Random Access Memories helmets on my shoulder.
Their music brings me so many happy memories of discovering them and basically becoming my own person. I did not know anyone who was even relatively interested in them, they were my private sanctuary.
Even now, in college, their music is something I can sit back and listen to to get away from it all. Meeting people who recognize my tattoos has lead me to starting conversations and making friends. Daft Punk has changed my life and made me into the person I am today.
