This week's "robbed hit" comes from the French neo-electrodisco duo Daft Punk, who originally started out as a rock outfit in France in the early 1990 called "Darlin". Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, schoolmates in Paris, cribbed their new name from a bad review of their original act, and transformed themselves into an electronic act in the spirit of Kraftwerk and Yello. Their first success came in 1996 with the track "Da Funk", which sported a notable video directed by Spike Jonez. The instrumental went on to reach the top ten in the UK, France, Italy, Belgium, and Iceland. It even got some American attention, where the track topped Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart and "bubbled under" the pop Hot 100 at #108. At the Grammy Awards in 1998, when the first Best Dance Song trophy was awarded, "Da Funk" was nominated, losing honorably to the great Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer for their "Carry On".
With that exposure, Daft Punk signed with Virgin Records, who re-released "Da Funk" and where they recorded their debut album Homework. The next single that would herald the set was "Around The World", which traded the early-80s funk pastiche for electro-disco swirls, as especially represented by the music video by master Michel Gondry, where he places groups of dancers each signifying the different instruments on the track circulating on a round stage depicting a 12 inch record. The eye-catching clip made you forget the song is basically a repetition of sounds and the three words that made the title. Nevertheless the song was another huge smash in the clubs both in Europe and in America...
"Around The World" again topped the Dance Club Play charts, and was the duo's first to reach Billboard's official pop Hot 100 chart, where it stopped at #61 for a couple weeks in October, staying for 20 weeks on the list. Internationally, the single topped the charts in Italy (six weeks) and Iceland, and reached the top ten in Belgium (#4W/#15F), France (#5), the UK (#5), Ireland (#8), and Finland (#9). It also made the top-40 in Australia (#11), Switzerland (#12), Austria (#15), Germany (#16), Sweden (#20), Norway (#20), Canada (#24), and the Netherlands (#28). The Homework album, which placed in the top ten in their French home as well as the UK, slipped on to the Billboard 200 sales chart at #150, going on to move over 500,000 copies. At the 1999 Grammy Awards, the pair were again nominated for Best Dance Recording, this time losing out to Madonna for her "Ray Of Light" single.
Two more singles were released from Homework. "Burnin'", inspired by the Chicago house music scene, was a top-40 hit in France (#29) and the UK (#30). That was followed by "Revolution 909", a funky rave instrumental that got to #47 in the UK and #50 in France. Neither made the charts in America, but were loved by underground club kids especially in New York.
(7/10)
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Here's the "Tee's Frozen Sun" remix from Todd Terry that helped the track top Billboard's Dance Club Play list... and lastly, Daft Punk with "Around The World" in concert...
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