Daft Punk Without Their Helmets On, Then And Now

Robbie Daw | June 6, 2013 12:53 pm

Daft Punk‘s Random Access Memories has been the top album in the this country (and several others) for the past two weeks, and the much-talked-about LP has sold over 450,000 copies in that time. So it makes sense that Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo would swing by Columbia Records’ offices while in New York to crack open a little bubbly.

What the pair might not have been expecting is fellow electro duo/producers The Knocks, who were said to be present at the celebration, snapping a pic of Bangalter and Homem-Christo out of their robot drag and posting it online. Or did they?

A screen grab (top photo, right) from what appears to be The Knocks’ Facebook wall is doing the rounds online, with the caption, “Daft Punk playing champagne beer pong (without helmets on) in Sony offices.” The image is nowhere to be found on The Knocks’ wall now, however, and instead they’ve posted, “We didn’t take any picture. Thanks.”

All this aside, many pics of the Daft Punk members sans head gear have been available online for years, as evidenced by the above split photo. That’s an easily-located shot of Thomas and Guy-Manuel circa 1994 on the left. They do press interviews in their street clothes. Hell, they even hit up Coachella this year, and left the helmets at home in the process. You just probably didn’t recognize them, since they look like your average, everyday dudes.

Still, there’s an obvious fascination with seeing the robots looking quite human…even if they’re playing, um, champagne beer pong while doing so.

Are you shocked, bored, doing jumping jacks or throwing yourself off a cliff after seeing Daft Punk in street clothes? Let us know your emotional state below, or by hitting us up Facebook and Twitter.