A group of astronauts played an instrumental called "Magic Fly" with synthesizers. The space imagery, the helmets and suits, the disco rhythm, the repetitive and haunting melody... everything evoked Daft Punk. Except that it was 1977: Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo were only two years old. The group we saw in the video clip was not a duo but a quartet, led by a mysterious Ecama, a pseudonym for Didier Marouani. This musician chose to conceal himself out of necessity, not by choice. He had already been spotted composing for Nicoletta and singing during summer tours for Johnny Hallyday and Claude François. And his record label, Polydor, didn't want to hear about "Magic Fly." "Since I couldn't show my face, I hid myself away and released it on Vogue with a band," he explained.
This band, Space, had been somewhat forgotten in France until Bangalter cited it as a reference, among others, in interviews. In return, the 70-year-old's assessment of Daft Punk was harsh. "They were 25 years late, but I thought their music was good, very polished. And it's normal for creators to influence each other. But when I saw them come in with their helmets, that's when I thought they were messing with me." Marouani had the unpleasant impression of having been robbed.
"Magic Fly" was born from a commission for a canceled show by astrologer Elizabeth Teissier. Marouani had just acquired his first synthesizer, which he used for the demo. He decided to press the tempo with a bass drum pedal after hearing "Daddy Cool," the hit by Boney M., a creation of German producer Frank Farian. The disco virus had spread across Europe even before the release of Saturday Night Fever (1977), directed by John Badham. And the future belonged to synthesizers. Marouani worked in an apartment in Les Halles previously occupied by another musician. It was where Jean-Michel Jarre composed the album Oxygène, the first triumph of French electronic music after its release in late 1976. Nearly 20 million copies were sold worldwide.
Two decades before the expression "French touch" became a marketing pitch with Daft Punk as the figurehead, pioneers were already endorsed by the British, Germans, Swedes, and Dutch. Four months after Space's "Magic Fly," a twin group, Space Art, was number one in France with another song, "Onyx," and outfits more akin to beekeepers than astronauts. Part of the French scene had been starry-eyed since the appearance of the Rockets, five Fantômas with silver-painted faces. Their heavy use of the vocoder, the synthetic treatment of voices, had charmed Italians. They were all influenced by two German groups: Tangerine Dream for the ethereal sounds, and Kraftwerk for the robotics.
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