The Party is Over: Daft Punk Splits

Woke up this morning with coffee in hand and ready to work, but decided to skim the news before cracking on into some edits. Then I saw the headline:

Daft Punk Break Up

While I knew this would happen eventually, the news was still a gut-punch to me. There were two things I've wished for before death: Daft Punk releasing another (or final) record, and to see them live, since I've never seen them live before. I know the duo are old now, and they have dabbled in pursuing separate collaborations with other artists after RAM, so it SHOULDN'T be a surprise to hear Daft Punk closing shop. But Daft Punk are one of those musical legends that mean a great deal to a lot of people, including me. Their music just hits different: groovy, catchy slappers with solid production, sure, but their tracks just had that special sauce that made them emotional, and especially with RAM, deeply personal. I'm gonna miss them very much.

What are y'alls thoughts? Favorite album and/or track? I don't have a favorite track, but I think RAM is my favorite album from Daft Punk.

I’m with you kinda across the board. Really sad to see them close down shop but happy for the stuff we got.

On any given day, my favourite could be either RAM or their Tron Legacy OST. Both are fantastic.

I suppose it's to be expected, given their relative lack of output in the past decade, but this is such a tragic announcement regardless. Something especially sad about the Daft Punk website being entirely blacked out, save for the Epilogue video.

Discovery is pretty hard to beat IMO, and that anime movie they commissioned to go with it only adds to that, as goofy as it is.

I'll second RAM and the Tron Legacy Soundtrack as some faves. Up to those two albums, I always thought of / consumed Daft Punk as catchy singles and not much more. Random Access Memories has a cohesive feel I enjoy.

Honestly, it's been so long since the last Daft Punk release I'm not too surprised. Glad they're leaving on a high note.

They haven't been very prolific recently anyway. Perhaps split up and without the expectations which come with the Daft Punk moniker, they can do whatever cool stuff they want again.

@warpr: I'll add that there's nothing stopping them from reuniting. A Tribe Called Quest reunited way after their last album and put out a very strong final record (unfortunately Phife Dawg then passed away, so now they are actually done for good.)

Daft Punk hasn't really been a going concern for awhile. This just makes that official. But that doesn't mean they'll never get back together again.

The biggest impact is that they won't be playing shows once music shows start being a thing again, until a reunion tour if one happens.

Really a bummer to hear, but not surprising. Introduced to them via Discovery and Interstella 5555. Played some RAM at my wedding. Will miss the iconic Parisian duo. Perhaps they have some side projects we will hear from soon? That could be exciting.

I remember having a very unique love / hate relationship with the song “Around the World” back in 97.

I wasn't old enough to listen to Discovery when it first came out, but the music videos and a couple of the songs stayed in my head as a fuzzy memory. Then when I was a teenager enough time had passed for the critical consensus on the album to be that it was a masterpiece (I think Pitchfork named it a top 5 album of the decade for example). This all meant that there was a time in my formative years where Daft Punk were the greatest musicians of all time and Discovery was the greatest album of all time in my opinion. I no longer think that, after getting older you just don't feel music the same way anymore and different kinds of genres and styles begin to interest you more. I'm very grateful however, for the feeling the band's music gave me then and if I try hard enough I can almost remember what it was like.

"Get Lucky" makes me think of Ryan so, even though I don't listen to Daft Punk, I'm feeling sad today.

These guys have always been with 1 foot inside the music realm and with 1 foot outside of it for the last decade. I feel like we'll still get to hear new music from these dudes one way or another. Either they re-appear after 10-20 years with a reunion tour + new album, or they'll start new projects apart from the robot-period or something.

I remember back in late 2016/early 2017 being constantly on the lookout for news of a Alive '17 tour to keep up with their once-a-decade schedule and being very bummed it didn't happen. Alive 2007 is probably my favourite album as a whole piece, though my favourite track is definitely Giorgio by Moroder.

Here's hoping for a VR reunion tour one day once Tron becomes real life.

This was the first news I read this morning and I am still devastated. I always rate them among the very best. It would be interesting to see if they continue to produce music in the future and how good it will be.

They were part of my high school soundtrack, and I still listen to RAM and plenty of tracks from Discovery regularly. Godspeed robo gentlemen.

Discovery is one of the best albums ever made.

I will say, and I know I may sound douchey, but I'm not a fan of in some of this the overly negative sentiment towards them going their own ways. I mean its just part of life and art. Daft Punk is a group that should be celebrated, in part, for their incredible restraint and craft in how little they put out, when they could have certainly put out way more and cashed in.

The Daft Punk run was INCREDIBLE and to really never put out anything weak or uninteresting in that long of a run is very impressive, not to speak of the highs they reached.

Personally I have the regret of never seeing them live. Maybe they will do a reunion show one day but that will be a hot ticket.

Thank you Daft Punk.

Easily the most consistently high quality music group I can think of. They just hit with everything they do, either as a duo, or away from each other as they collab with other artists. Their ability to create hit after hit no matter what sound they experiment with is nothing short of astounding.

I still remember the first time I discovered them as a child when an online mutual friend said "you don't know who Daft Punk is?" when I was just exploring the electronic scene, and my first time intentionally listening to them and being blown away. They're going out influencing the music world with every step they took.

That Tron Legacy soundtrack was far better than the movie deserved. I felt it elevated it far beyond what I had expected of the movie.