Daft Punk's ambitions have never really changed—only their methods. From their early experiments in bone-rattling techno to their recent forays into maximalist pop, all of the duo's musical phases are simply new fronts in their war on time itself. The robot shtick gives the game away. Transforming themselves into immortal creatures, they express themselves through gleaming, chromed-out, formally perfect pop songs built to endure the decay of flesh. They apply Dr. Frankenstein's approach to the past, re-animating forgotten samples and saving their collaborators from the brink of obscurity. In their world, nothing has to age—and if it does, you just bring it back.
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Daft Punk carve out the fragmentary hearts of old songs, preserving their essence in digital amber. The same themes occur over and over; Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo are drawn like moths to the flames of romance, youth, and parties—emotional and physical settings where time melts away. People play their hits at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and graduation parties because they want to remember those moments forever, and the songs feel timeless enough to last that long. In an era where chaos reigns, Daft Punk provide stability.So as the world crumbles around us, we build fortresses in our mind. Which is to say, here at THUMP, we've decided to rank every Daft Punk song because arbitrary lists are the only things that make sense anymore. We included all five studio albums (including the Tron soundtrack), as well as numerous remixes, B-sides, and songs they've produced for artists like Kanye West—though if there were multiple versions of the same track, we only chose the best one. Some are all-time classics; some, not so much. All told, the catalogue includes 102 tracks comprising an artistic vision as distinct as the duo's silhouettes on that iconic Coachella billboard. More than anything, it's a reminder that the golden robots will always be there, spinning our favorite memories back to us one more time.— Ezra Marcus
102. "Television Rules The Nation"
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100. "Arrival "99. "The Brainwasher "98. "Round One "97. "Disc Wars "96. "Sunrise Prelude "95. "Rectifier "94. "Nocturne "93. "Reflections "92. "Adagio for Tron "91. "Encom Part III "90. "Sea of Simulation "89. "Finale "Daft Punk's dewy-eyed nostalgia is part of what's made the duo's tracks so heartwarming over the years—especially on their aptly titled meditation on reminiscence, Random Access Memories. But allowing Giorgio Moroder to wax rhapsodic for minutes at a time on the track that bears his name is more like listening to a distant relative's war stories than the disco biography the group likely intended. The retrofuturist instrumental moments are better—particularly the interstellar bass solo around the track's midpoint—and a reminder that history lessons aren't always best delivered as lectures.— Colin Joyce87. "Funk Ad "86. "C.L.U. "85. "Motherboard "84. "Rinzler "83. "Steam Machine "82. "Armory "81. "Recognizer "80. "Flynn Lives "79. "On/Off "Rumors abound that this minimally manipulated track was a goof at the expense of Franz Ferdinand's thirst for a remix from the robots, but the static scratching Daft Punk tacks on actually does add a bit of necessary edge to this blunt iPod commercial staple. Prank or no, the band seem to have dug it. In 2013, Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos had this to say of the rework's near-identical structure to the original: "I guess it was a bit of a nod from the Daft Punk guys to say: 'Ach, you got it more or less right.'" Sure, yes, that's it.— Colin Joyce77. "Castor "
88. "Giorgio by Moroder "
78. Franz Ferdinand, "Take Me Out (Daft Punk Remix)"
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76. "The Prime Time "
75. "Outlands "74. "Fall "73. "Tron Legacy (End Titles) "72. "Solar Sailor "71. "End of Line "70. "Indo Silver Club (Part 1) "69. "Arena "Looking back, Daft Punk and Tron seem like a fated match. The former are a pair of faceless androids whose humanity is only evident through their music; the other is a fictional world in which computerized avatars turn out to be real people, or at least something close to that. What brings the two entities together is electricity—in the case of the robots, it's found in an album of pulsating synths that course through your veins. In the film, power is expressed through an electrified grid where sad saps battle it out to the death, or eventual glory (or both). Or maybe their common ground was just cool-looking lights.— David Garber67. "Within "66. "The Son of Flynn "65. "The Game of Love "64. "Beyond "63. "The Game Has Changed "62. "Indo Silver Club (Part 2) "61. "I:Cube - Disco Cubizm (Daft Punk Mix) "60. "Human After All "59. "The Micronauts - Get Funky Get Down (Daft Punk Remix) "A chunky, self-consciously "Real Instruments, Bro" funk groove with lush details—you could almost eat that confectionary guitar riff—brought down slightly by an aggressively average Pharrell vocal. Sounds like something you might casually Shazam if you heard it on Sephora's in-store playlist.— Ezra Marcus57. "Night Vision "
68. "The Grid "
58. "Lose Yourself To Dance "
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56. " WDPK 83.7 FM "55. "Short Circuit "54. "Aerodynamic (Daft Punk Remix) "53. "Contact "52. "Fragments of Time "51. Kanye West, "I Am a God " (prod. Daft Punk)
50. Chemical Brothers, "Life is Sweet (Daft Punk Remix)"
49. "Technologic"
48. Junior Kimbrough, "I Gotta Try You Girl (Daft Punk Edit)"
47. "Give Life Back to Music "
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46. Scott Grooves, "Mothership Connect (Daft Punk Remix) "
45. "Derezzed "
44. "Superheroes"
43. "Drive "
42. "Alive "
41. "Daftendirekt "
40. "Burnin' "
39. Prince, "Kiss (Daft Punk Remix)"
38. Kanye West, "Black Skinhead" (prod. Daft Punk)
37. "High Fidelity "
36. Gabrielle, "Forget About The World (Daft Punk Don't Forget The World Mix)"
35. Ian Pooley, "Chord Memory (Daft Punk Remix)"
34. "Get Lucky"
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33. "Emotion "
32. "Musique "
31. "Oh Yeah "
30. "Touch "
29. "Fresh "
28. "Revolution 909 "
27. "The New Wave "
26. "Doin' It Right "
25. "Rock'n Roll "
24. "Aerodynamite "
23. "Make Love "
22. "Veridis Quo "
21. "Indo Silver Club "
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20."High Life"
19. "Crescendolls "
18. Kanye West, "On Sight" (prod. Daft Punk)
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17. "Too Long "
16. "Face to Face "
15. "Voyager "
14. "Assault "
13. The Weeknd, "Starboy (feat. Daft Punk)"
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"Shite."The backlash against Daft Punk's 2016 collaboration with The Weeknd, encapsulated in the comments on this Resident Advisor news piece from September, is hardly surprising. "Starboy" is a frontal assault on Daft Punk's storied dance music lineage—a snotty millennial banger better suited to Snapchat stories than Essential Mixes. Many saw the collaboration as a naked cash grab, but "Starboy" is a leap beyond both sides' previous forays into 80s dance-funk.Gone is the tepid live instrumentation that bogged down Daft Punk's collaborations with Pharrell. Instead, they strip the beat down to elegiac keys, incandescent synths, and a razor-wire drum loop—their simplest, sharpest production work since contributing militant percussion to Yeezus. "Starboy" succeeds by cultivating tension between gloss and grit. The steel-tipped drums bristle against the warm synths and keys, while the song's sexy, restrained groove sends The Weeknd into savage mode overdrive. Tapping into a vein of bratty bravado, he careens past toothless PG-13 peacocking into the kind of unrepentant sleaze that made him successful in the first place, culminating in a breathtaking stretch on the bridge where he sneers about fucking your girl, guzzling cocaine, and buying his mom a station wagon all in the same breath. Its nasty, dumb, gorgeous, and so 2016 it hurts.— Ezra MarcusIf Daft Punk ever made a jock jam, this is it. "Phoenix" begins with a simple four-on-the-floor beat, then gradually adds cheerful syncopation. An angelic hook exudes positive energy in ribbons, and is complimented by a deep but joyful bassline. Daft Punk isn't overly ambitious here—they're just having fun, and better than anyone else at it.— Oliver KinkelIt's clear that Daft Punk know their music history, but never was it more explicit than on "Teachers," the Homework track that plays like the optimist's version of LCD Soundsystem's "Losing My Edge." A pitch-warped voice paying tribute to all of the duo's inspirations ("Paul Johnson, DJ Funk, DJ Sneak, DJ Rush, Wax Master, Hyperactive, Jammin Gerald, Brian Wilson…") puts Daft Punk in context of a long history of dancefloor-fillers before them. A muted disco instrumental both elevates and provides grounding for this unhinged history lesson. Think of it as Schoolhouse Rock to "Giorgio By Moroder"'s History Channel documentary.— Colin JoyceUnlike many of their dance music peers, Daft Punk understood there could be a clear connection between the joy of the dancefloor and the frenetic energy of the mosh pit. "Robot Rock," the first single from the group's 2005 album Human After All, sounded miles away from the 80s funk and house throwbacks that defined the duo's earlier releases, instead offering a sort of Jock Jams nod to the rock world."Robot Rock" never lets up, starting with an abrasive wave of percussion and hair metal power chords. In retrospect, the track's stadium-sized energy also makes it a proto-EDM wonder, a dynamic blueprint for the genre's head-bobbing, fist-pumping bass drops and repetitive structures. The French duo likely had no idea their quirky, standout single would go on to influence a new generation of dance music fans.— Britt Julious
12. "Phoenix "
11. "Teachers "
10. "Robot Rock "
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9. "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"
8. "Aerodynamic "
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