Homework (Daft Punk album)

In 1993, Daft Punk, comprising Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, presented a demo of their music to the DJ Stuart Macmillan at a rave at Disneyland Paris. The contents of the cassette, including the track "Alive", were released on the single "The New Wave" on 11 April 1994, by Soma Quality Recordings, a Scottish techno and house label co-founded in 1991 by MacMillan's band Slam. In 1995, Daft Punk released "Da Funk" and "Rollin' & Scratchin'" on Soma. The popularity of the singles led to a bidding war among record labels. Daft Punk signed to Virgin Records in 1996. Richard Brown of Soma said: "We were obviously sad to lose them to Virgin but they had the chance to go big, which they wanted, and it's not very often that a band has that chance after two singles. We're happy for them." It was mastered by Nilesh Patel at the London studio the Exchange. Daft Punk discussed their method with Spike Jonze, the director of the "Da Funk" music video, who said: "They were doing everything based on how they wanted to do it. As opposed to, 'oh we got signed to this record company, we gotta use their plan.' They wanted to make sure they never had to do anything that would make them feel bummed on making music." Although Virgin Records holds exclusive distribution rights over their material, Daft Punk owns their master recordings through their Daft Trax label. ==Music==

Daft Punk produced the tracks included in Homework without a plan to release an album. According to Bangalter, "We did so many tracks over a period of five months that we realized that we had a good album." They set the order of the tracks to cover the four sides of a two-disc vinyl LP. "Daftendirekt" is an excerpt of a live performance recorded in Ghent, Belgium. It served as the introduction to Daft Punk's live shows and was used to begin the album. Homework's following track, "WDPK 83.7 FM", is a tribute to FM radio in the United States. "Da Funk" carries elements of funk and acid music. It contains a sample of "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll", written by Gregory Bufford, Jerome Bell, and Vaughan Mason, and performed by Vaughan Mason & Crew. Bangalter expressed that "Da Funk"'s theme involved the introduction of a simple, unusual element that becomes acceptable and moving over time. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine complimented the song as "unrelenting", and Bob Gajarsky of Consumable Online called it "a beautiful meeting of Chic (circa 'Good Times', sans vocals) and the 90s form of electronica". "Phoenix" combines elements of gospel music and house music. It contains a sample of "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, and performed by Elton John and Kiki Dee. The following track, "Fresh" contains a sample of "If You Leave Me Now", written by Peter Cetera, and performed by Viola Wills. Daft Punk considered "Fresh" breezy and light with a comical structure. "Around the World" carries influences of Gershon Kingsley's hit "Popcorn". "Teachers" is a riff on the Parris Mitchell song "Ghetto Shout Out!!", released in 1995 on Dance Mania. The track is a tribute to several of Daft Punk's house music influences, including future collaborators Romanthony, DJ Sneak and Todd Edwards. "Oh Yeah" features DJ Deelat and DJ Crabbe. "Indo Silver Club" features a sample of "Hot Shot" by Karen Young. "Alive" is the final version of "The New Wave", released as Daft Punk's first single. The final track, "Funk Ad", is a reversed clip of "Da Funk". == Packaging ==

The artwork for the front cover and inner sleeve was conceived by Daft Punk and photographed by artist and film producer Nicolas Hidiroglou. He met the duo through a connection at Virgin Records, and recalled that it took a week to complete the artwork. Homem-Christo had previously designed the Daft Punk wordmark, which was the basis for the front image of the logo embroidered onto the back of a satin jacket. Variations of the logo would continue to be the front cover image for all of Daft Punk's studio albums until Random Access Memories in 2013. To create the inner gatefold photo, various items representing track titles were arranged by Bangalter on a table at his home. The black and white image of the duo in the liner notes was photographed by Phillppe Lévy. Additional artwork and the album layout were done by Serge Nicholas. == Release ==

Homework was released in the US on 25 March 1997. The first single, "Alive", was included as a B-side on the single "The New Wave", released in April 1994. The next single, "Da Funk", was initially released in 1995 by Soma and was rereleased by Virgin Records in January 1997. It was Daft Punk's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play chart, and reached number seven on British and French charts. The third single, "Around the World", was Daft Punk's second number-one single on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play chart, number five in the United Kingdom and number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100. The fourth single, "Burnin'", was released in September 1997 and reached number 30 in the UK. The single lacked an artist credit in the packaging In 1999, Daft Punk released a video collection featuring music videos of tracks and singles from the album under the name of D.A.F.T.: A Story About Dogs, Androids, Firemen and Tomatoes. Although its title derives from the appearances of dogs ("Da Funk" and "Fresh"), androids ("Around the World"), firemen ("Burnin'"), and tomatoes ("Revolution 909") in the videos, a cohesive plot does not connect its episodes. Sales Daft Punk wanted the majority of pressings to be on vinyl, so only 50,000 albums were initially printed in CD format. After its release, production was accelerated to meet demand. Homework was distributed in 35 countries, reaching number 150 on the Billboard 200. In 1999, it was certified gold in France for selling more than 100,000 copies. By September 2007, 605,000 copies had been sold in the US. == Critical reception ==

David Browne, writing in Entertainment Weekly, described the "playful, hip-hopping ambient techno" and said Homework was "ideal disco for androids". Robert Christgau of The Village Voice identified "Da Funk" as a "choice cut", indicating "a good song on an album that isn't worth your time or money". Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine wrote that "while a few tracks are more daft than deft", "Da Funk" had inspired acts such as the Avalanches. In the 2004 Rolling Stone Album Guide, Douglas Wolk awarded Homework three out of five, writing that "the duo's essential, career-defining insight is that the problem with disco the first time around was not that it was stupid but that it was not stupid enough". In the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Alex Rayner wrote that Homework tied established club styles to the "burgeoning eclecticism" of big beat, and demonstrated that "there was more to dance music than pills and keyboard presets". Ian Mathers of Stylus Magazine wrote: "There's a core of unimpeachably classic work on Homework, hidden among the merely good, and when you've got such a classic debut hidden in the outlines of the epic slouch of their debut, it's hard not to get frustrated." In 2009, Brian Linder of IGN said Homework was "groundbreaking achievement", praising the combination of house, techno, acid and punk. Reviewing it in 2010 for BBC Music, Chris Power compared Homework "less-is-more" use of compression as "a sonic tribute" to the FM radio stations that "fed Daft Punk's youthful obsessions". That October, NME named "Around the World" the 21st-best track of the preceding 15 years. In 2012, Clash described Homework as an entry point of accessibility for a "burgeoning movement on the cusp of splitting the mainstream seam". In 2012, Rolling Stone named Homework the greatest EDM album of all time, describing it as "pure synapse-tweaking brilliance". In a second review for Pitchfork, in 2018, Larry Fitzmaurice awarded it 9.2 out of 10, writing: "Homework remains singular within Daft Punk's catalog, the record also set the stage for the duo's career to this very day—a massively successful and still-going ascent to pop iconography, built on the magic trick-esque ability to twist the shapes of dance music's past to resemble something seemingly futuristic." Homework success brought worldwide attention to French house music. According to Scott Woods of The Village Voice, the album revived house music and departed from the Eurodance formula, and "[tore] the lid off the [creative] sewer". == 25th Anniversary Edition ==

On 22 February 2022, one year after their breakup, Daft Punk updated their social media channels with cryptic posts leading fans to a newly created Twitch account. At 2:22pm UTC, a one-time only stream began of the duo's full Daftendirektour performance at the Mayan Theater. At the same time, Daft Punk released an expanded 25th-anniversary edition of Homework. It includes remixes from DJ Sneak, Masters at Work, Todd Terry, Motorbass, Slam and Ian Pooley. The remixes were also simultaneously released as a separate remix album, Homework (Remixes), with a physical release on 25 November 2022. ==Track listing==

Personnel taken from Homework liner notes. Daft Punk • Thomas Bangalter – performance, production, sleeve concept, art direction • Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo – performance, production, sleeve concept, art direction Additional personnel • Nilesh "Nilz" Patel – mastering • Nicclas Hidiroglou – cover, satin & vintage central photograph • Philippe Lévy – black and white live photograph • Serge Nicclas – album layout & additional artwork == Charts ==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications and sales==