The Influence of French Touch
By Elizabeth Lindberg on October 28, 2024
Nowadays, it’s a somewhat common saying in the EDM scene that if you don’t know an artist’s nationality, they’re probably Dutch. That wasn’t always the case though. During the rise of electronic music in the 90’s, the place to be was about 300 kilometres south. None other than the land of champagne and revolution: France.
A plethora of artists call France their home. From Daft Punk to David Guetta, plenty of French artists have made their mark on the electronic music scene. So why not take a look at some of the artists that revolutionized, evolved, and formed the French Touch subgenre.
French Touch started really getting it’s act together at the beginning of the 90’s. Parisian clubs were absolutely bumpin’. The genre took inspiration from a lot of what was already playing in a lot of clubs in major French cities, a lot of Euro disco (think early Giorgio Moroder), and a lot of what the American’s were cooking up across the pond in cities like New York and Chicago. Of course, you can’t deny the influence of 70’s and 80’s French pop music into the development of French Touch.
Many people contribute one name to much of what made French Touch into what it is: Thomas Bangalter. (He’s the silver robot from Daft Punk.) The songs that him and his labelmates put out on Bangalter’s label Roulé gave the jump start French Touch needed to really get moving. Bangatler’s solo work, as well as his work with Daft Punk and Stardust influenced the roots of the genre massively. Of course you have to mention Motorbass as well, a musical duo consisting of Philippe Zdar (who would later go on to form Cassius) and Étienne de Crécy, who were also innovators in house music in France.
The subgenre started taking off in the broader European market in 1997, with Daft Punk releasing their debut album Homework, containing the horrifically catchy and repetitive “Around the World” and bass heavy “Da Funk” as iconic tracks on the project. Cassius also released their debut 1999 in, you guessed it, 1999, which saw moderate success in the mainstream. Combine that with Air’s iconic debut Moon Safari and Stardust’s Music Sounds Better With You coming out in 1998, and you’ve got an incredible couple of years for house music.
Just a couple years after that, a young David Guetta emerged onto the scene. 2001 also debuted the iconic, short lived duo Modjo, famous for hit song “Lady (Hear Me Tonight)”, which topped the UK charts. From the early 2000’s onwards, French Touch has continued to solidify itself into mainstream EDM and pop, with Madonna’s Confessions on a Dance Floor being one of the first mainstay projects to take heavy influence from French house, Kanye West’s Stronger going on to win a Grammy in 2008, and a lasting influence which can be heard on modern radio hits like Dua Lipa’s “Houdini“.
France has continued to be a hot spot for EDM development, with Kavinsky’s “Nightcall” being used as the theme for 2011’s Drive, staring Ryan Gosling, and Breakbot’s infamous “Baby I’m Yours” which has been memed to no end.
France has been and will continue to be a hot spot for electronic music, and if you’re interested in exploring more about the electronic music scene, then boy do I have the show for you. Every Tuesday from 4-6 p.m., I host Electric Echoes, which focuses on dance music. Make sure to come check it out if the topic interests you!