Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" is a song by French duo Daft Punk. The single was first released on 13 October 2001. A live version of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" was released as a single from the album Alive 2007 on 15 October 2007.^[1][2] This version won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 2009. The song was sampled by Kanye West in his 2007 single "Stronger". ^[3] In October 2011, NME placed it at number 132 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".^[4]

Composition

"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" features a robotic vocal performance by Daft Punk.^[5] As documented in the Discovery liner notes, "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" contains a sample of "Cola Bottle Baby" by Edwin Birdsong.

A live version of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" was recorded at Bercy in Paris from 14 June 2007. It was released as a digital download single on 15 October 2007, for the live album Alive 2007.^[2] The track contains a part of the "Television Rules the Nation / Crescendolls" segment of the Bercy performance that features elements of the songs "Around the World", "Steam Machine", "Television Rules the Nation".^[6] This version of the song won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording at the 51st Grammy Awards.^[7]

Kanye West's song "Stronger" from the album Graduation prominently features a sample of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". Two actors who wore the robotic Daft Punk costumes in the film Daft Punk's Electroma appear in the music video for "Stronger".^[1] It was later performed live at the 2008 Grammy Awards with Daft Punk in their trademark pyramid while West was on stage rapping.^[8] Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo clarified that "Stronger" was "not a collaboration in the studio, but the vibe of the music we do separately connected in what [West] did with the song."^[9] He later specified that the live version was "truly a collaboration from the start. We really did it all hand in hand."^[10]

Diplo released a remix of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" titled "Work Is Never Over". It appeared in his compilation album Decent Work for Decent Pay.

Music video

The animated music video for "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" was produced by Daft Punk and directed by Kazuhisa Takenouchi, a veteran director for Toei Animation, under the supervision of Leiji Matsumoto. It features the four characters shown on the single cover in a vast electronic facility. The victims are transformed by various machines to resemble humans. The video was first released as an individual episode in promotion for the single release. It later appeared as a scene in the feature film Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.

A music video for the live version of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" was directed by Olivier Gondry. It contains footage shot by the audience on 250 cameras at Daft Punk's Brooklyn performance in KeySpan Park. The video was inspired by the Beastie Boys concert film Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That!.^[1] The video had its world premiere online on 26 October 2007, at Webcastr.^[11]

"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" is featured in a popular YouTube video titled "Daft Hands",^[12] which later appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.^[13] The video is ranked among the top viewed YouTube videos in the "All Time" category.^[12] "Daft Hands" was referenced in Weezer's "Pork and Beans" music video along with the variant "Daft Bodies" and multiple other Internet viral videos.

Track listing

1. "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" (Album Version) – 3:43
2. "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" (Breakers Break Remix) – 4:38
   • Remixed and edited by Dominique Torti
3. "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" (The Neptunes Remix) – 5:12
4. "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" (Pete Heller's Stylus Mix) – 9:14

Australian track listing

1. "Harder Better Faster Stronger" (Alive 2007) – Radio Edit
2. "Harder Better Faster Stronger" (Alive 2007) – Extended
3. "Harder Better Faster Stronger" (Alive 2007) – Video Clip

Chart positions

References

External links

• Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger at Discogs