To this day, only a handful of people can positively state how the first spark of the “French Touch” Electro music scene came to be ignited.
To have an idea, you’ll have to travel in time more than 20 ans en arrière (20 years backwards.)
L’Angleterre (England), 1988: Thousands of diehard Techno devotees turn “barking mad” all over the country when la Dame de Fer (the Iron Lady), Margareth Thatcher, proclaims that they were all to be forever “privés de sortie” (“grounded”), in the wake of the Ecstasy-filled mayhem of madness left by the so-called “Second Summer of Love” (the first one took place in 1967 in San Fran‘…)

Overnight, it became illegal to throw “rave” parties anywhere in the UK…
Ensued a massive exodus of soriées Techno unleashed upon France, which were, a few years later, to propel into le devant de la seine (the front stage) world-wide famous French Techno Stars, such as David Guetta and Daft Punk!

Almost à mi-chemin (halfway) between la place Charles-de-Gaulle and Place de Clichy, the Lycée Carnot (Carnot High school) saw many young and ambitious students graduate to become influential men and woman in the world: Some, as Jacques Chirac and Dominique Strauss-Kahn (aka “DSK“) became de fins politiciens (shrewd politicians—except maybe for DSK); others, like Louis Aragon were to become famous écrivains (writers); des acteurs remarquables (remarkable actors), like Jean Reno, also attended classes there (remember him in le Grand Bleu, les Visiteurs, Léon, Ronin, Da Vinci Code, etc.); and finally musicians, such as the duo who, to this today, many people “around the world” (…) are still surprised to discover that that they are actually French—Daft Punk!

When Thomas Bangalter, the son of a noted musician (his father worked with la Compagnie Créole), met like-minded Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo at the lycée Carnot, les deux sont devenus amis (the two became friends) and decided to start a band they called Darlin’, which they named after the 1967 song of The Beach Boys.

In 2002, Thomas Bangalter composed la bande originale (the soundtrack) of the movie “Irreversible“, starring Vincent Cassel and his wife Monica Bellucci. A deliberately provocative, ultra-violent, and particularly disturbing movie (causing quite an uproar in the Cannes Festival of the same year), it features a rather horrific scene shot in a now-closed Metro station (most likely ordered to be closed due to this movie) located within a few blocks from the lycée Carnot, where the Daft Punk duo attended their high school years—Needless to say, you are definitely not advised to watch this movie

In an amusing ironie du sort (irony of fate), shortly after Darlin’ performed two gigs or so in the foggy pays des Beatles (country of the Beatles), the now defunct UK magazine “Melody Maker“ issued a very unflattering review of their songs, dismissing their music as mere “daft punk“— That is, the very same sobriquet they would later adopt as their stage name, and under which they would become mondialement connus (world famous.)
How about that for bouncing back from un échec (a failure)!


Daft Punk – “Alive“
Daft Punk released their premier (first) single titled “The New Wave” in 1994, a track which would then turn into a final mix, “Alive“, which eventually made it into “Homework“, their debut album.
Released trois années (three years) after their first single, “Homework” also featured some major hits, such as “Da Funk” and “Around the World“, which earned le duo français a worldwide fame.


“Da Funk” (1995), directed by Spike Jonze (later of “Being John Malkovich” fame, also director of “Sabotage” by The Beastie Boys, and Björk’s “It’s Oh So Quiet”), the Daft Punk music video features un homme-chien (a man-dog) carrying a radiocassette (boombox) in the streets of New York City!


Daft Punk – “Around the World“
Only a year after Kylie Minogue‘s single “Spinning Around” came out, heralding a new “synthpop” era that would dominate most of the past décennie (yes, “décennie” means “decade”, because we’re in 2012!), Daft Punk released their second album titled “Discovery”


Ok, just “One More Time”? (from the 2001 “Discovery” album)
Could it really have been plus de dix ans (more than ten years ago?)


Also from the “Discovery” album, “Aerodynamic” appeared the following year in the critically-acclaimed French movie “l’Auberge espagnole”, the prequel to “Les Poupées russes”


Daft Punk’s “Robot Rock” (“Human After All”)
In 2005, Daft Punk’s album “Human After All” received mixed reviews: Considering that it was conceived in barely three weeks, many a critique accused it of being nothing less than “du travail bâclé” (“a botched job”)!


Finally, in 2010, the Frenchy duo Daft Punk “went Hollywood” to meet TRON: Legacy
À vous de juger mes amis (You be the judge my friends)
