Daft Punk’s early face masks were really, really creepy

Hilary Hagerman
·Managing Editor

Seeing Daft Punk decked out in helmets has become the norm over the past decade. The Grammy-nominated duo, who will be performing with Stevie Wonder at this weekend’s show, have been wearing intricate helmets since the late 1990s.

But, it hasn’t always been LED helmets for Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Before they switched to helmets, the pair wore Halloween-worthy face masks – and they were really, really creepy.

Take a look at this photo of Daft Punk from 1997 – the same year their debut album “Homework” was released.

Creepy, right? These ones, from 2001 (just before they debuted their helmets!) are nightmare-enducing as well (but we love the added Parisian charm of the baguette!).

We did not choose to become robots. There was an accident in our studio. We were working on our sampler, and at exactly 9:09 am on September 9, 1999, it exploded,”Bangalter told Remix magazine. “When we regained consciousness, we discovered that we had become robots.”

Fair enough.

Catch Daft Punk performing live at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, Jan. 26 – and don’t forget to tune into Yahoo Music Canada for up-to-the-minute coverage.