Daft Punk – Get Lucky (2013)
from the album “Random Access Memories”.
From someone with such a fascination for older music, and particularly, rock history from decades past, this is probably an unexpected pick. A modern one, at that, and not even my usual “genre”, though I must protest to ever letting mine or anyone else’s taste in music be classified into “genres”. There’s something great in every genre, you know. And Daft Punk rarely disappoints as pioneers in the electronica/house genre.
As soon as I heard this song, during the spring of 2013, I knew it’d be a hit. I didn’t just know that, and to sound even more presumptuous about it, I knew it’d be the biggest hit of the year, and that it’d most probably introduce an old trend as a new one in modern pop/rock; that 70’s disco-tinged bass line. Come on, who can resist Nile Rodgers irresistibly and infectiously groovy bass playing? His guest appearance here is every bit as important as including Pharrell on lead vocals. Some credit must also be included for Pharrell as well, obviously, who himself has a 70’s vibe about him and who literally seems to be on a real golden creativity streak right now.
The lyrics might not be much to write home about, it’s mostly just a generic tale about having a good night and meeting that special person that you connect with, presumably sexually and physically more than emotionally. We all know that story, and while one could argue that it’s been told one too many times in pop culture, what’s so outstanding here is how just how happy, and in a way, innocently it’s portrayed; literally like it’s from another time, a much happier and more easy-going time. Pharrell, Nile and Daft Punk just wanna have a good time and get down, you know.
This song’s appeal has more to do with its blend of artists – the grooviness of Nile Rodgers, the attitude and charisma of Pharrell Williams and the backbone of Daft Punk – it’s musicianship and the overall feel. This song doesn’t have much to prove, it sort of already know it’s great and leaves it at that. It builds on the bass playing and it’s groove, and it’s danceability. It jus oozes spontaneity, and sounds like a song that was recorded and made for the love of music, as a celebration to a style gone out of style.
A song that’s spontaneous? That’s made purely for the joy of it? Something that’s not stadium made house music or rap? Are you crazy? There are OTHER kinds of music being made out there?! Yes, really. This became such a world-wide smash hit simply because it stood out for all these reasons; we really needed something like this to inject some life in the charts again. It spawned a lot of sound-alikes, most prominently in the vastly inferior “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke (also guest starring Pharrell Williams; he seems to dip his finger everywhere he senses a hit these days).
In short; I love this and I count this as one of the best songs of the past ten years, and one of my favourite party anthems of all time. Well done, Daft Punk, well done, Pharrell, and well done, Nile Rodgers.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5EofwRzit0[/youtube]
