YMMV / Daft Punk

• Actor Shipping: Some people seemed to ship the duo, given by the staggering amount of fanarts. But, they usually ship their robot personas, and not their real life counterparts.
• Award Snub:
  • The 2013 VMAs are a rather prominent example, losing to One Direction in the Best Song of the Summer category. To make matters worse, "Get Lucky" was near the bottom of the votes.
  • The French musical awards (Les Victoires de la Musique) are even worse in this regards. None of their albums got nominated ever, despite the presence of a "best electro album" category. They only got nominated twice for "best concert" and lost, once to a veteran of French music (understandable), and once to a singer discovered in a TV musical competition (not quite understandable). No wonder French people are usually derisive towards Les Victoires.
• Contested Sequel: Human After All is easily the duo's most polarizing album, primarily due to its shift to a more minimalist, distortion-heavy dance-rock sound, which both critics and fans alike were split on whether it's daring, intense, and atmospheric, or repetitive, desultory, and overall sounding under-developed.
• Creator Worship: Daft Punk is one of the most widely respected and celebrated electronic music acts in the world, being seen as one of the most identifiable yet accessible entry paths into the genre. Even with the divided opinions on their albums, it's rare to find someone who actively dislikes them beyond simply not being into their style of music.
• Epic Riff:
  • Aerodynamic" from Discovery has an epic long guitar solo that is instantly recognizable to anyone who's heard the song.
  • "Digital love" also has an awesome electric guitar solo.
  • "Robot Rock" has an iconic guitar and synth riff that is sampled from Breakwater's "Release the Beast".
  • The keyboard in the chorus of "Instant Crush" is syonymous with the song itself.
• Even Better Sequel:
  • Daft Punk's very first single was "The New Wave" from 1994, an extremely minimalist 7-minute techno workout (five and a half in the edited version). Their second single? A little funk throwback you might've heard of, called "Da Funk." And the rest is history.
  • While Homework provided good foundation, it was Discovery that really cemented the duo in mainstream history. While the former was more huddled in the French house genre, the latter saw never-before-seen levels of musical and productive experimentation and near-legendary use of sampling to achieve this.
• Fandom Rivalry: Ever since One Direction won the award for "Song of the Summer" (it was fan-voted, after all, and One Direction has won almost every such award they've been nominated for), things have been bitter between the two fandoms. Though, to be quite fair, "Best Song Ever" received more than 8.5 million votes, (even their closest rival, Miley Cyrus's "We Can't Stop," had less than half of that total; a little more than 4 million, to be exact), while "Get Lucky" had a paltry 42k votes, barely beating "Blurred Lines" to avoid finishing dead last.
• Fan Nickname: The "Too Long / Steam Machine" mashup from Alive 2007 features an extended synth arpeggio-based passage not from any preexisting song, but has been collectively recognized by fans as "Aura Rock" (it's unclear where the title originated from, but it's appeared to have stuck).
• Gateway Series: The duo have introduced many people to house and electronic music as a whole thanks to many of their successful songs such as "One More Time" and "Around the World".
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Watching the band lose an award in the storyline of Interstella 5555 is now humorous after their 5 Grammy win in 2014.
• It's Popular, Now It Sucks!: In addition to the usual They Changed It, Now It Sucks! reaction, some of Daft Punk's early fans feel betrayed by Random Access Memories and "Get Lucky" getting much radio airplay and being a smash success.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Harder Better Faster Stronger" is so well-known that it has gained a lot of memes.
    • BURGER. NUGGETS. NUGGETS. BURGER. ^note A clip from a sketch where two people playing Daft Punk have an argument because of Thomas singing the wrong lyrics to "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". It went viral and spawned several variations, including an animated version.
    • Daft Hands. And other variations. ^note A video by Austin Hall recorded in a single take where he shows the lyrics to "Harder Better Faster Stronger" written on his hands in time to the lyrics. It became a viral sensation and led to numerous variations involving songs, primarily those by Daft Punk, being "played" on the hands or other body parts.
    • Harder Better Faster Whopper ^note A mashup of "Harder Better Faster Stronger" and Burger King's "Whopper Whopper" ad became popular in 2023 for being catchier and better than the original commercial, leading to it being used as an audio for animations and other videos.
  • "Robot Rock" often finds itself paired alongside memes based on Fauxtivational Posters.
  • "Get Lucky":
    • Edited with Michael Jackson. ^note One of the more notable Daft Punk remixes/mashups pitches up "Get Lucky" and adds Michael Jackson's trademark sounds into the mix.
    • Also originating from "Get Lucky" is people mishearing Daft Punk's vocal part as "We rub a Mexican monkey."
    • The central line of the chorus, "We're up all night to get lucky", has been snowcloned with other characters, including Lucky the Leprechaun or Marvel Cinematic Universe examples including "We're up all night to get Loki." (Guess who has a Daft Punk ringtone canonically!) and "We're up all night to get Bucky."
    • "Check out Daft Punk's new single "Get Lucky" if you get the chance. Sound of the summer."^note A message that the comedian Limmy has tweeted every Friday since 2013 as a Running Gag. As of 2021, he is still doing it nearly eight years later.
    • "Like the legend of the penis."^note A Mondegreen of the song's opening lyric originating from a Stylistic Suck parody lyric video.
  • "Giorgio by Moroder":
    • "My name is Giovanni Giorgio, but everybody calls me Giorgio (music plays)" ^note This centers around the end of Giorgio Moroder's monologue in the song, after which the beat starts; the meme makes something happen when the beats begin, namely characters in the video dancing.
    • The JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fandom has its own spin: "My name is Giovanna Giorno, but everybody calls me GioGio."
    • "We put a click on the 24-track" ^note For some reason, this part of Giorgio's monologue sees lots of memetic posts dedicated to it in fan communities like r/DaftPunk.
  • "Doin' it Right":
    • "doin"^note A fan mashup of "Doin' it Right" with a 2010 ad for a Christmas in July sale at the now-defunct electronics retailer H. H. Gregg.
    • "ReDoin"^note A remix of doin by JerryTerry
  • THE HUG. OH, THE HUG. ^note A moment in the 2014 Grammy Awards where Thomas and Guy-Man hugged after Random Access Memories won 5 Grammy Awards became popular for the sheer sincerity of it, with many people considering it heartwarming.
  • A dick. For twice the pleasure. ^note A quote said by Guy-Manuel in an interview when asked about having a spare body part, which received memetic traction for its hilarity and just how odd it is coming from a member of Daft Punk.
  • Paul de Homem-Christo, the Meme Lord. ^note Guy-Man's younger brother, also known as Play Paul, is often considered a legendary Fountain of Memes in the fandom, especially on Tumblr.
  • The avocado shirt. ^note Many unmasked photos of Thomas have him wearing the same avocado colored long sleeve shirt.
  • You guys want garlic bread or no? ^note A video posted by Guy-Man's girlfriend had him say this phrase off camera. It resulted in garlic bread becoming his Trademark Favorite Food in Fanon. Even a Voice Clip Song was made of it!
  • Daft Punk broke up to free Bobby Shmurda. ^note The announcement of the duo's disbandment coincided with the rapper Bobby Shmurda's release from a six-year prison sentence, resulting in jokes about the duo performing a Heroic Sacrifice for his freedom.
  • "Pee is Stored in the Balls". ^note A fan-made Daft Punk song that the uploader claims is actually a lost demo track from the Random Access Memories sessions. Many fans go along with it and talk about it like it's a real Daft Punk song.
• Narm Charm: Some of their lyrics display a less than perfect grasp of the English language, with painful rhymes throughout. Does it matter? Nope.
• Older Than They Think:
  • "One More Time" sat on a hard drive for three years before its release as a single in late 2000.
  • An early version of "Contact" was spun by DJ Falcon before its eventual release in 2013.
• Sampled Up: A number of their songs use samples from other songs that are much lesser known:
  • "Digital Love" did this to "I Love You More" by George Duke.
  • "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" did this to "Cola Bottle Baby" by Edwin Birdsong.
    • By extension, Kanye West's song "Stronger" did this to "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger," though to a lesser extent since the original song is still very well-known.
  • "Robot Rock" did this to "Release the Beast" by Breakwater.
  • "Superheroes" did this to "Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed" by Barry Manilow.
• Signature Song:
  • Most of their singles qualify due to being the most well-known of their songs, with some being more famous than others. Here are the contenders by album:
    • Homework: "Da Funk", "Around the World", "Revolution 909", and to a lesser extent "Alive" (which isn't a single, but is a major part of most of their live shows).
    • Discovery: "One More Time", "Aerodynamic", "Digital Love", "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", and "Something About Us".
    • Human After All: The Title Track, "Robot Rock", and "Technologic".
    • Random Access Memories: "Instant Crush", "Lose Yourself to Dance", and "Get Lucky".
  • Overall: "Around the World", "One More Time", "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", and "Get Lucky" are tied for first, with honorable mentions going to "Da Funk", "Alive", and "Human After All" if you go by the duo's typical sound; while otherwise if you go by popularity there's "Instant Crush" and "Lose Yourself to Dance".
• Spiritual Successor: To Kraftwerk, being a (famously reclusive) electronic band from Europe, who also happen to be robots.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: In an odd and humorous example, "Get Lucky"'s chord progression sounds like the chorus of Girls' Generation's "Genie (Tell Me Your Wish)".
• Sweet Dreams Fuel:
  • "Digital Love", the innocent, sweet vocals and lyrics about meeting someone in a dream coupled with a beat that sounds like sped-up vaporwave and an overall dreamy atmosphere.
  • "Voyager" has a very tranquil feel to it even with a dance beat.
  • "Something About Us" is a slow, smooth love song that is sure to warm one's heart.
  • "Horizon", the Japanese-exclusive bonus track from Random Access Memories, is a peaceful acoustic instrumental that feels like a new beginning and is a great closer for the Japanese version of the album. This video, featuring pans over beautiful landscapes, makes it even better.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Every release since Homework has been met with criticism initially because it sounded different from the previous album. It usually didn't last long though.
  • Discovery got attacked for sounding like disco music instead of Chicago house.
  • Human After All drew ire for being just as repetitive as Homework, with the addition of heavy scrutiny over the two weeks it was recorded, engineered and mastered in.
  • The soundtrack to TRON: Legacy is getting some of this, because some people were expecting a Daft Punk album and not a film score.
  • Random Access Memories has no doubt proved that the "hate it now, love it later" mentality is the case with all their albums. It initially saw some criticism from longtime fans due to its move away from electronics towards live instrumentation, as well as it's more pop- and disco-influenced sound.
• Vindicated by History: Daft Punk are noted for always being about five years ahead of everyone else, which has led to many instances of this trope:
  • Discovery divided critics upon release, but now has been gaining considerable praise over the years, some considering it one of the finest albums of the last decade.
  • This tendency is particularly visible with Pitchfork: When it was released, Pitchfork's review of Discovery called it "grotesque but relatively harmless" and had a 6.4 score; On their "Top 100 Albums of 2000-04" list it was ranked #12; On their "Top 200 Albums of the 2000s", it was promoted to #3. More particularly, the first two paragraphs of the album review viciously mocked "One More Time"; nine years later this song ended up at #5 on their "top 500 songs of the 2000s" list; and eventually, Pitchfork included this album on a list of albums that they could "change the score if they could" from a 6.4 to a perfect 10, stating "If scores are meant to indicate a work's longevity or impact, the original review is invalidated by the historic record. Daft Punk's second album, Discovery, is the centerpiece of their career, an album that transcended the robots' club roots and rippled through the decades that followed."
  • Human After All had a lukewarm reception, but the phenomenal Alive 2007 tour has convinced the world that the songs of that album sound much better live.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Their Alive 2007 tour. They're pretty much the ones who invented the "DJs with awesome light shows" thing.
• The Woobie:
  • Charles, the broken-legged anthropomorphic dog who was the main character of the "Da Funk" video. Over the course of the video, his limp and appearance is mocked by a pair of young boys, he tries to participate in a survey and is turned down for not living in the city long enough, and is treated brusquely by a street vendor (who is annoyed by Charles' broken, constantly blaring boombox). Even when he has a happy reunion with childhood friend Beatrice and she invites him over for dinner, he ends up alone when he can't take the bus with her due to his boombox. The reactions were so unexpectedly strong that the duo brought him back for a sequel video "Fresh", showing him in a much happier situation: After acting in a scene for a film he's starring in, he meets up with Beatrice, who is now his girlfriend, and drives off with her to a date at a restaurant.
  • Melody, the young girl in the music video for "The Prime Time of Your Life". Throughout the video, she sees everybody around her as pink skeletons, and sees herself in photos as extremely fat, despite being moderately sized. To fit in with these skeletons, she proceeds to cut herself with a razor, until she's removed all of her flesh and becomes a giant, pink blob of muscle. She then sees her life flash before her eyes and collapses over dead, with her parents rushing in to find her dead body. It's then revealed that everything she witnessed was Through the Eyes of Madness, as all of the skeletons were actual humans, and she was anything but fat in the photos she looked at.

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