‘Genius’ origin story rumour behind one of Daft Punk’s biggest hits leaves music fans stunned

Daft Punk fans have expressed their amazement after a video revealed the possible inspiration behind the duo’s 2000 single “One More Time” surfaced on Twitter.

It follows the announcement on Wednesday that the enigmatic artists, whose real names are Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, have split after a 28-year-long music career.

The pair were known for appearing with their robotic helmets, as well as other tracks such as “Get Lucky” and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”.

Famous collaborators across Daft Punk’s history included Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers, “Happy” singer Pharrell Williams and The Weeknd, who secured a UK number two single with “Starboy”.

Sharing a video from the YouTube channel Tracklib, one Twitter user showed how three sections from musician Eddie Johns’ song “More Spell On You” could have been looped and sampled by the duo on “One More Time”.

“The way Daft Punk flipped the sample for One More Time is still so crazy to me,” they write.

The Twitter user wasn’t the only one to spot the similarities between the two tracks, with one TikTok creator showing the adjustments needed to “More Spell On You” to reproduce the classic dance track:

Despite this, it’s unknown whether Daft Punk actually sampled the track, following rumours that the duo denied using part of Jones’ song in the single.

Meanwhile the US news site Vibe reported that use of the sample had been officially cleared, suggesting “More Spell On You” was definitely used as inspiration.

Although its origin remains a mystery, Twitter were still impressed by the theory, describing it “genius” and “pretty impressive”:

Daft Punk announced their split in a video titled “Epilogue”, uploaded to their YouTube channel on Wednesday.