Daft Punk – Homework
Albumdata
| Artist | Daft Punk |
| Album | Homework |
| Year of release | 1997 |
Rating
Dance
Dance didn’t mean that much to me, until my friend Bram played me The Prodigy’s Music For The Jilted Generation. That was a revelation! It was to be my first dance/house/EDM/techno album.
In 1996/1997 I heard Da Funk by a new band from France: Daft Punk. Very funky and addictive. That album was the one to have. It first appeared on this day, 20 years ago. I bought the album at the end of February 1997 and it was my second or third dance album. I immediately loved it, from start to finish and played the hell out that record (read: cd).
That same year I bought a lot of dance (catching up), among which Orbital, Prodigy and Chemical Brothers. Since early 1997 I buy dance on a regular basis. I like the repetition of it; it has a mantra-like quality to it. Some pieces are genuinely moving. I think it enriches my collection greatly. More accurate: LCD Soundsystem’s The London Sessions is placed at position 3 in my album top 50!
Homework
After having released a few singles independently, which turned out to be successful, a kind of bidding-war started amongst record companies. As the dust settled Virgin came out as the winner, acquiring the distribution rights to Daft Punk’s music (the masters of their music is and remains the possession of Daft Punk). The concept behind Daft Punk is “to be free”.
Daft Punk – Homework (innersleeve)
The funny thing is that Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (both Daft Punk members) weren’t planning on making an album. The idea was to release a couple of singles. After completing several songs, the idea emerged that an album could be compiled. The album sounded like a classic from the day of release. During the (short) homage to (FM) radio in WDPK 83.7 FM the claim “the sound of tomorrow and the music of today” is made: rightfully so, as was soon evidenced. After the release of the album house music went through a revival and France was seen as the new Mecca for house music.
Live
I have never seen Daft Punk perform. Rumors are abound that a 2017 tour is in the works. Should it happen, I will certainly go see them, even though their last album (Random Access Memories) will be emphasized. Also a good album, but not as great as their debut or 2001’s Discovery.
Fun fact
In August of 2012 Rolling Stone magazine proclaimed this album to be the best EDM album of all time.
Songs
The album consists of 16 songs:
- Daftendirekt
- WDPK 83.7 FM
- Revolution 909
- Da Funk
- Phœnix
- Fresh
- Around the World
- Rollin’ & Scratchin’
- Teachers
- High Fidelity
- Rock’n Roll
- Oh Yeah
- Burnin’
- Indo Silver Club
- Alive
- Funk Ad
In closing
What do you think of Daft Punk, and this album in particular? Their best? Or is dance not part of your collection at all?
