Discovery (Daft Punk Album) - Reception

Reception

Upon release, critics noted the immediate style differences of Discovery from Homework. The change in aesthetic was a jarring move for fans of Daft Punk's earlier work and initially caused some critics to pan the album. Discovery gained praise in later years; the album ranked number twelve on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of 2000–04 and number three on their Top 200 Albums of the 2000s despite receiving an initial rating of 6.4. In 2009, Rhapsody placed the album at number twelve on its 100 Best Albums of the Decade list. It was also named the fourth best album of the decade by Resident Advisor.

Q rated the album five stars out of five, an unusual occurrence for the magazine. Regarding the album's structure, the magazine Spin noted, "It feels like a concept album—in this case, the story of how wine-flow disco circumnavigated intellectual pretensions on all sides en route to a temporary utopia that may finally believe in nothing but the boogie but still has the infinite on its mind every minute." The NME referred to Discovery as "audaciously weird" and added, "With its famously camera-shy creators now dressing as funkadelic Power Rangers, it is also something of a concept album." In 2012, Rolling Stone included Discovery at number eight on their list of The 30 Greatest EDM Albums of All Time, commenting, "On Discovery, they simultaneously parodied and honored radio cheese from the Seventies and Eighties and came up with jams to heat up your boogie nights and massage your waterbed soul."

The album peaked at number two in the United Kingdom and number forty-four in the United States. Discovery has sold at least 2.6 million copies as of 2005. The album was certified triple platinum in France (in 2007) for shipments denoting 600,000 copies. As a result of sales, Discovery was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 11 October 2010. Two cult hits were spawned from this album: "One More Time" and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". The song "Face to Face" (featuring Todd Edwards) reached number one on the Billboard dance chart in 2004. The album was included on BBC Radio 1's Masterpieces in December 2009 presented by Zane Lowe, further highlighting the progression of the reception of the album and showing how highly regarded the album is amongst fans and fellow dance artists.

Several songs from the album would later be sampled by other artists. Kanye West's song "Stronger" from the album Graduation features a vocal sample of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". "Stronger" was later performed live at the 2008 Grammy Awards with Daft Punk in their trademark pyramid while Kanye West was on stage rapping. Lil B's song "Basedgod F****d My Bitches" from the critically acclaimed mixtape "White Flame" heavily samples "One More Time". Wiley's song "Summertime" from the album See Clear Now features a sample of "Aerodynamic". Jazmine Sullivan's song "Dream Big" from the album Fearless features a sample of "Veridis Quo". On 18 February 2011, Trinity Orchestra played the first ever live full orchestral performance of Discovery at Trinity College. The filmed performance became the most watched YouTube video in Ireland on the day of its release.