After 28 years, the widely influential electronic-pop duo Daft Punk has decided to call it quits. They announced their decision through social media, posting an eight-minute clip entitled “Epilogue” last Monday, according to CNN.
The clip, which was taken from their 2006 film, Electroma, follows two robots in the desert. In the clip, one of the robots explodes before an image of two robot hands appears on the screen with the time-stamp: 1993-2021. The clip has now surpassed 23 million views on YouTube.
Much like the rest of their career, their break up was an enigma to fans. The pair gave no reason for the split, and even the group’s publicist, Kathryn Frazier, has offered no explanation for it— although she did officially confirm it to the press.
Daft Punk’s 28 years in the music industry has been marked by mystery. The pair is famously publicity-shy and were rarely seen in public without their robot headgear. However, while avoiding the spotlight, Daft Punk has been a hugely influential force in modern pop-music.
The group was founded in Paris back in 1993, when long-time friends Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo decided to enter the budding Parisian electronic dance music scene of the early 1990s. The group soon became the face of French house music with their critically acclaimed debut album Homework (1997). Over the course of the next decade Daft Punk reached global success, releasing countless albums and performing all over the globe. In 2013, Daft Punk released arguably the most popular song of their career— collaborating with Pharell Williams to produce “Get Lucky.” The song became the central pillar of the group’s final album: Random Access Memories, which was widely successful and even garnered the Grammy for Album of the Year, according to the Rolling Stone.
Daft Punk may be done, but the group has left a permanent mark on pop-music and continue to be an influential force in the global pop scene. Their bright, electronic beats were a staple of the music from the early 2000s, and artists continue to sample their sound to this day. So while the group may be over— their legacy is far from it.
