Daft Punk’s Album Rankings

On February 22^nd, Daft Punk released a video titled “Epilogue” which indicated they had broken up, which was later confirmed by their publicist.  I discussed this on my podcast, Groupie and Harmony, but I wanted to do something special on the podcast because they are arguably one of the best electronic groups and one of the most popular electronic groups.  Additionally, they hold a special place in my heart because they were the group that got me into electronic music, as I fell in love with them after listening to “Around the World”.  While electronic music was a music I listened to on-and-off for the past decade or so, Daft Punk was frequently the artist that would make me listen to it again at any given point.

In this post, I have ranked Daft Punk’s studio albums.  While I included 2 honorable mentions (one live album and one soundtrack), the focus is on their 4 studio albums.  I determined my rankings based on which one sounds the best and is the best album from start to finish.  I did not account for individual songs or listening to the album on shuffle during the rankings.  I listened to each of these albums in the last few days to give the best rankings possible.

 

Honorable Mention:  Alive 2007, 2007

In my opinion, there is a case to be made this album is Daft Punk’s greatest work.  It is omitted from the official rankings due to being a live album, but they reworked their music and mashed it up to the point where it is brand new music.  The duo took music that was often from different albums and reworked it to the point where they harmonized together.  Every track works perfectly, and the show flowed together very well.  Listening to it makes me wish I could go back in time to 2007 and travel to Paris for this show.

 

Honorable Mention:  Tron:  Legacy Soundtrack, 2010

I feel like this album is immensely underrated due to the mixed reviews of the film and how it hasn’t aged particularly well.  That said, it feels safe to list this soundtrack among the top soundtrack albums of the 2010’s.  On its own, there were points where it felt slower and limited by what fit with the movie.  That said, it always worked well with the movie while viewing it.  Further, Daft Punk was able to show their true self and what they were able to do at various points in the album; arguably, the track that might showcase this most is “Derezzed”, the lone single from the album.

 

4:  Human After All, 2005

Upon release, this album was largely criticized, but by the time their Alive 2006/2007 tour happened, people went as far as to apologize to the band since they understood their vision after the shows.  That said, is it a worthwhile album?  Depends on what you like.  While I’m not the biggest fan of the robotic sound that is prevalent in the album, I think it is a solid album.  There were complaints that it is repetitive, but I found this to be done wisely.  Three songs that I liked most from the album were “The Prime Time of Your Life”, “Television Rules the Nation”, and “Emotion”.  They went for a more minimalistic approach with both the songwriting and instrumentation; I think they were able to make it work for the most part.  I consider it to be the worst of Daft Punk’s studio albums, but it’s not a bad album by any means; the other three albums are just great.

 

3:  Homework, 1997

It’s incredible the range of electronic styles they were able to incorporate in this album; while most critics focused on the wide range of house genres and techno incorporated into the album, I am more impressed by the fact that they were able to incorporate big beat into the album and have it sound natural as well.  It is easy to point to the hits, as “Around the World” and “Da Funk” are brilliantly produced standout tracks on their own, but there are other highlights, like “Daftendirekt” or the criminally underrated “Alive”, one of the best tracks on the album.  There are some clunky points in the album and some songs that seem out of place at times, which prevents it from being higher.  That said, it is an excellent album and would be a career highlight for the majority of groups.

 

2:  Discovery, 2001

This album being ranked 2^nd is really something I would describe by saying that it’s not that it is worse than the number 1 album, but rather that the number 1 album is better.  If you were to shuffle the songs on the top 2 albums, this would come out supreme, but it just loses out when listening straight through.  While the music on this album is predominately house, it also incorporates a substantial amount of disco as well as some electronic rock, synthpop, and downtempo.  There is a case to be made that the album starts out with its peak, “One More Time”, but there are other strong tracks in “Aerodynamics”, “One More Time”, “Crescendolls”, “Face to Face”, and “Too Long”.  I consider one of the most important tracks on the album to be “Veridis Quo”, a more downtempo house track that is necessary to transition towards a track like “Face to Face” or one like “Too Long”.  The only reason this is not number one is because I felt like the transitions between songs weren’t as good as the next album.  Despite that, there’s a reason it is one of the best albums since 2000.

 

1:  Random Access Memories, 2013

If you were to listen to each album on shuffle, this might be the weakest result depending on your views on Human After All, but the sum of its parts is incredible.  It is without a doubt their most ambitious work; while it is often a disco album, it also incorporates funk, soft rock, synthpop, progressive pop, spoken word in “Giorgio by Moroder”, and even krautrock in “Contact”.  That said, the songs flow evenly with each other and there isn’t a track that feels out of place; even “Doin’ It Right”, the song I consider to be by far the weakest, feels like it has a place on this album.  The two songs that probably stand out the most on their own are the first two singles from the album, “Get Lucky” and “Lose Yourself to Dance”, two disco songs that feature Pharrell Williams.  The other songs that are really strong are “Giorgio by Moroder”, “Game of Love”, “Contact”, and “Touch”, the song that I consider to be the highlight of the album.  While I expect some would find the songs too long and experimental, I consider it to be a masterpiece.

 

What’s your favorite Daft Punk album or song?  Let me know in the comments!