In 2021 Daft Punk split up leaving behind an astronomical legacy that not many names in music could ever dream of matching. Across their 28-year career they were able to find success wherever they went and one of the highpoints came back in 2001 when they released their magnum opus ‘Discovery.’
Daft Punk had already grabbed the worlds attention with their debut album ‘Homework’ in 1997 which featured the smash hit ‘Around the World.’ For ‘Discovery’ they decided to go in a sonically different direction taking a lot of inspiration from disco along with aiming to explore musical structures. The result was a genre transcending masterpiece that was able to pull in a wide audience of people from various genre fanbases.
‘Discovery’ hit the charts in a big way reaching number 2 in the album charts in France, Canada, and the UK. Several of the singles made their way into the charts including ‘Harder Better Faster Stronger’ which made it to number 3 in the UK Dance Chart while the opening track to the album climbed all the way to number 1 in France. Of course, that song we all know to be the historic ‘One More Time.’ In total ‘Discovery’ has amassed over 2 billion streams on Spotify with the lowest streamed song still having over 26 million streams showing the strength across the album.
‘Discovery’ was not only a sonic success but a visual marvel as Daft Punk collaborated with Leiji Matsumoto to make the anime film ‘Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.’ It featured the entirety of the album as a soundtrack accompanied by minimal sound effects and zero dialogue. The artistry put into the film is stunning to witness and has become almost as iconic as the album itself thanks to being so unique and meticulously put together.
‘Discovery’ has gone beyond the realms of just being a great electronic music album and has gone as far as becoming one of the most highly regarded albums of all time. The crowning jewel in Daft Punk’s catalogue, it was rightfully ranked in Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It will forever be an absolute gem of an album that has inspired many of todays big names to do what they do.
