James Murphy once tried to book Daft Punk for a house party
By 2005, Daft Punk had established themselves as perhaps the premiere electronic music act in the world. With two acclaimed albums, Homework and Discovery, already in their back pockets, the French house duo were just on the verge of releasing their third LP, Human After All, when LCD Soundsystem decided to pay tribute with their single ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’.
James Murphy was still an upstart producer and record label man when he began recording his own music. Originally part of the production duo The DFA with Mo’ Wax co-founder Tim Goldsworthy, Murphy soon established DFA as New York’s hottest indie label. LCD Soundsystem soon became the label’s flagship band, having been catapulted to indie success with the 2002 single ‘Losing My Edge’.
‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’ became LCD Sounsystem’s first true-blue hit single, peaking at number 29 on the UK Singles Chart in 2005. Murphy wanted to capitalise on the momentum and reached out to see if the actual members of Daft Punk would be willing to appear in a video that Murphy had envisioned.
“Well, after the fact, we tried to set up a video,” Murphy told John Doran. “I tried to get them to play a house party. I love house parties from when I was a punk rock kid and I had spent so long obsessing on what was missing from indie rock that was present in dance music that I forgot what was present in indie music that was missing from house music. I just had this idea that someone might have gone through the same epiphany with dance music that they had and then ended up saving up to have Daft Punk to play in their basement.”
“I wanted to do a documentary were we would get a local band to play in a basement, then us and then Daft Punk, but film it like a proper rock show with the crowd shots and everything,” Murphy added. “And being the nature of what house parties are, not that many people would even know who Daft Punk are, which would be extra funny. There would just be this basement, daft punk, some kids, a keg and a washing machine. It would be great.”
When the French duo failed to return his calls, Murphy wasn’t too put out by the rejection. When asked why he chose Daft Punk as the subject for a hit house party song, Murphy explained that the duo were the perfect choice because they could represent a wide range of music rather than just being an underground music reference.
“Well, I do love Daft Punk but really I think they’re a great signifier because they manage to be genreless rather than something really specific you know like, ‘Junior Sanchez Is Playing In My House’,” Murphy explained. “They are like a band and they are DJs; they do song style songs and techno songs; they do dark stuff and pop crossovers. It is like referring to David Bowie, who has been everything from folk to glam rock.”
Check out ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’ down below.
