Daft Punk

For those who know me well, I grew up smack bang in the ballbag of 90’s grunge. It made such an impact on me that throughout my youth, I think I had always been shaded by the rebellious gritty ol’ shitty ol’ nature of low strung guitars and songs that ask you to cut the shit and be real [for fucks sake].

Electronic music had never really entered my radar through the 80’s. Now that I think about it, its entirely possible that the Mi-Sex classic ‘Computer Games’ or Yello’s timeless ‘Oh Yeah’ were the first real experiences I had with any songs that weren’t made with instruments. Even ‘Electric Dreams’ [I friggen loved that song] had a guitar solo…or at least I think its a guitar.

Either way, it wasn’t until the mid 90’s that I began to educate my musical tastebuds with music that was exclusively electronic. I don’t think its a secret that during that time pretty much anywhere on the planet were pockets of youth culture opening underground doors into a new existence. Raves, dance parties, festivals…whatever you called them, they held something new and aside from being something absolutely different to anything my parents could have warned me about, they were everything my parents warned me about.

Without going on forever trying to describe a decade of discovery that has been well documented, I literally exited that period with a more rounded appreciation for what electronic music could be and more of an appetite for anything that went doof or n’tss. (I also exited that time a little more hazy than when I started, but I’m pretty sure that was the deal I made going into it)

So it was with much more acceptance during one early morning, late 90’s Rage session that I first experienced what I now know to be the landmark music video to ‘Around the World’. It was so bizarre and so different that I recall that I couldn’t stop watching it. Add to that the fact that the track it was partnering still remains to be one of the most iconic songs of all time and it didn’t take long to warm to the two French boys we know to be Daft Punk.

It was around the turn of the millennium that I met one of my closest friends and over time, discovered he came from the electronic side of town. Over the years we have taught each other much of one another’s musical flavours and it wasn’t until we began spending a decent amount of time together that I began to have a more embodied understanding of what electronic music can do to a man (outside the supporting nature of my 90’s lifestyle). I mention this mainly because he was the one who first really took my ears, opened them with a digital crowbar and poured a metallic, LED lit jug of steaming hot Daft Punk right in there until my brain begged for the warming taste of  Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. Admittedly, it was far from the only thing he played, but considering it was on high rotation within the playlist, it was during this time that I very much learned the new skill of teaching myself to love a new genre of music.

I am quietly (not quietly) resentful that I missed the chance to see them the only time they have come to Australia when they played the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in 2007 for the Alive Tour. I am far from resentful that my friend did not miss out and still to this day comments about how amazing that gig was.

By the time the Alive album had come out in 2007, they had only released three studio albums…they’ve only released one since! I don’t care who the fuck you talk to, but you can’t argue about the impact that Daft Punk has had over the 20 years since their first release. In every genre, there are artists…then there are artists who define that genre.

So it came as no surprise I reckon that Alive was so popular. It was literally like a ‘Best of..’ remix album. When you listen to it, (it’s a live album) even the sound of the crowd yelling and shouting as each new track is introduced plays toward the increased sense of excitement you feel as the album unfolds. I got the distinct impression that, like most artists, they have played their songs so often that they have fine tuned each one of them to the point of near perfection. Drop this beat now…hit that beat there…hold that beat just so…be awesome here….fucking polished as shit. Blending favourite track into favourite track better than two 15 year olds at a blue light disco, (ask your parents kids) there is not one aspect of this album that doesn’t make you feel as though you should be right there in the middle of that crowd simply appreciating how it should be done.

Did I mention that I’m a little dark that I missed them?

It’s hard to imagine my life without electronic music now. Be really clear when I say that I’m far from the guy to go to when it comes to educating anyone on the ins and outs of electronic music. But I will say that the internal music library that lives inside me now feels a damn site more balanced as a result of being exposed to, engulfed in and held to the warm loving bosom of a music genre that wasn’t freely available to me as a young man. And for that I thank persistent friends, late 90’s warehouse spaces, kick arse headphones, decades of artists who continued to create music that at the time wasn’t marketable…and two French motherfuckers who absolutely killed it.

As an aside, it consistently reminds me that the friends and family we have around us are not supposed to like what we like. They are simply there to show us what joy they find within their own loves and pass them round like a basket of spring rolls on the Lazy Susan at your local Chinese restaurant….geez I love spring rolls.

This ones for you MG x

M/

~ Article updated November 2018