We never thought this day would come, but it has: Daft Punk has broken up.
The French musical duo of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have announced the end of their 28-year partnership in classic Daft Punk style: using a cryptic, 8-minute video drop entitled “Epilogue.” The video, which shows Bangalter and de Homem-Christo in their signature masks walking through the desert, ends with one of them blowing the other up while their song “Touch” plays in the background.
This is a big day for music. The band, which started in Paris in 1993, spent almost three decades defining the Parisian house music scene, both inspiring a generation of electronic enthusiasts in a niche scene as well as contributing massive chart-toppers listened to around the world. In the recent Rolling Stone list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, Daft Punk was one of only two French artists to make the cut, with their 2001 album “Discovery,” and the 2013 album “Random Access Memories,” both making an appearance. They have been sampled and parodied, earned multiple Grammys, and worked with artists like Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, and The Weeknd. People around the world, across countless countries and languages, know the lyrics to “Get Lucky,” “One More Time,” and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.”
What’s next for these two superstars is uncertain, but for now, put on a best-of playlist and cheers to the end of an era.
