Da Funk

"Da Funk" was originally released as a single in 1995, two years before Homework, making it one of Daft Punk's earliest widely-circulated tracks. Its defining feature is the bass line - a thick, distorted, almost broken-sounding synth bassline that influenced countless producers who heard it in clubs before it ever appeared on an album.

By the time Homework came out in 1997, "Da Funk" was already well-known enough to function as a calling card rather than a discovery. It appeared alongside the short film "Daft Punk's Videos (1991-1996)" which documented the band's early visual work.

Michel Gondry directed its music video too - a surreal, intentionally low-budget New York City piece featuring a man in a dog costume and his broken boombox. The video's strange tenderness set the tone for a career-long commitment to doing something unexpected with every visual opportunity.

Explore other tracks from the Homework era in our Around the World song history.