Daft Punk Disbanded

Shepherdstown, W.Va., – On February 22, 2021 Daft Punk released their video Epilogue onto their YouTube channel, marking the end of the French dance duo’s 28 year long musical career.  

This separation was later confirmed by their publicist Kathryn Frazier. Though there has been no confirmation as to why Daft Punk disbanded, the separation follows a long musical drought from the group.

Their most recent song to come from Daft Punk was Alive 1997, which hit the internet in 2017. Additionally, Daft Punk has not had a live performance since 2010, in which they performed during an encore for French band Phoenix’s at Madison Square Garden.

Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo founded their French Indie-Punk band Darlin’ in 1992 with Laurent Brancowitz. Shortly after their group was reviewed in a British magazine as a “Daft, Punky Thrash,” the group disbanded and later returned under the moniker Daft Punk, with Brancowitz splitting to start Phoenix. 

Daft Punk debuted with their album Homework in 1997 with Virgin Records, shortly followed by singles like Da Funk and Around the World. The now infamous robot-head personas appeared in 1999  

Despite their role in the animated film Interstella 5555 and the launch of their album Discovery in 2001, the pair made efforts to make minimal media appearances to preserve their identities. 

The duo is also credited for bringing life to modern dance music in America in the early 2010s and with their Grammy winning Alive 2007 tour.  In 2013, their single Get Lucky broke the top ten rankings across 32 different countries, winning them both Record of the Year and Album of the year. Daft Punk finally reached the number one spot in 2016 with Starboy with the Weeknd. 

Some still believe that, given the duo’s low-profile presence and contrarian tendencies, this may not be the last time we will see Bangalter and Homem-Christo. While the reasoning behind their disbandment is still unannounced, it is fair to say that not many music groups get to leave their legacy behind in the same way Daft Punk got to – entirely intact and completely untouchable.

It makes sense that they would go out in a bang, just as they had begun.