A song is a key for locked memory boxes. A song can transport you back through time, giving you a chance to relive moments and ideas that occurred back when you first heard that song. A song is not just a song; it is also a story.
Daft Punk – “Da Funk”
When I was in grade six, I discovered electronic music. In all honesty, I actually discovered electronic music when I was younger, and I had a strange fascination with the techno group, 2 Unlimited. Nevertheless, I truly discovered electronic music in grade six when I first heard “Da Funk” by Daft Punk.
Back when MuchMusic used to show music videos (an unfortunately, seemingly strange concept now), I used to watch every day after school. Videoflow would be on most afternoons and they’d always showcase the latest in alternative music. I loved bands like Sloan, Smashing Pumpkins, and Weezer, you know, those stereotypical nineties bands. But when I first heard Daft Punk, the music affected me in a different way than those guitar-based bands had.
Everything about this music was new: the video, for example, was so much more than just a band playing a song in front of the camera. It was a surreal story, featuring a man with a dog head limping around on crutches, feeling lost and alone in a big city. There was talking overtop of the music, and an obvious narrative running throughout the whole video. The music was only a soundtrack to this story; it wasn’t up front and obvious like so much of the pop music of the 90s. I remember being unsure of who or what Daft Punk even was. Was it the dog?
After some research on a new found source of music information, “The Internet”, I found out that Daft Punk were two guys from France, who covered their faces when they did interviews. They had an album out called Homework, and I could listen to three thirty-second samples on the internet. What a wonderful new world I was falling into. I listened to the clips for “Da Funk”, “Around The World” and “Burnin’” probably two hundred times in that year. I never owned the full album until later in life, but I remember having such a powerful connection to these songs.
Like I said, I had had an experience with electronic music, through typical 90s techno, but I had never experienced dance music like this. The sounds were harsh, distorted, yet melodic and still rhythmic. There weren’t vocals on the track; the fact that the video for the song was as memorable makes sense, because the narrative took the place for the vocals that I missed out on. This was a new frontier for me, and I fell head first into it.
Even to this day, I cite Daft Punk as one of my greatest influences. Homework was never my all-time favourite album (that honour goes to Discovery), but if it weren’t for those experimental French DJs, and that record in 1997, there’s a good chance that I wouldn’t be making music today.
- Jamison of Teen Daze
