Our picks include Serge Gainsbourg, Gojira, Françoise Hardy, Carla Bruni, Booba and MC Solaar.
There’s so much we love about France.
The short list would definitely include the beaches, the art, the history, the food, the tennis, the architecture and — without a doubt — the music.
It’s the latter we are going to concern ourselves with here, as we offer up some suggestions for those creating their own special French music playlists just in time for the 2024 Olympics kicking off in Paris.
There are a lot of different ways we could have played this, ranging from the traditional Parisian music we often encounter in period-piece movies to more avant-garde and modern offerings.
We decided to go with a mix of styles, with the common theme being that this is all music we’d want to listen to even if it weren’t an Olympic year. Note: This is not necessarily rah-rah music meant to pump you up for the games — although some of the artists and songs may indeed accomplish that feat — but rather just selections to put you in the mood to enjoy your time (presumably via TV or the internet) in Paris this summer.
So here are eight of our favorite French acts, each with some recommended songs. Find out which ones you like and then go ahead and draw up your own Paris Olympics playlist.
We’ll kick things off with one of the country’s most widely known artists.
Serge Gainsbourg: The fact that he courted so much controversy during his lifetime — with his sexually provocative music and themes — often overshadows his staggering level of talent and widespread influence. Yet, the way he was able to so seamlessly mix chanson, jazz, funk, world music and other styles was truly astounding. Gainsbourg, who died in 1991 at the age of 62, should be regarded as nothing short of one of the greatest artists in French pop history.
Recommended songs: “Mambo miam miam,” “Bonnie and Clyde,” “L’anamour,” “La javanaise,” “Baudelaire”
Gojira: If you don’t know Gojira then you don’t know the greatest heavy metal band to rise to prominence in the 21st century. The group released the epic full-length debut “Terra Incognita” in 2001 and, from that point on, it’s been one face-meltingly awesome platter after another. This outfit rocks super hard, holding its own on bills with Metallica and other legends of the genre, but it also knows how to groove and add some cool prog elements to the mix. Don’t miss Gojira when it performs with Korn at Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View on Oct. 6 (livenation.com).
Recommended songs: “Amazonia,” “Born in Winter,” “The Heaviest Matter of the Universe,” “Flying Whales,” “Born for One Thing”
Françoise Hardy: An absolutely mesmerizing French singer-songwriter, who also crooned in Italian, German and English, Hardy released more than 30 albums during a career that stretched from the early ’60s until very recent times. She died just last month at the age of 80, leaving behind so many wonderful songs and albums. Hardy was one of the leading proponents of the ’60s yé-yé movement, which derived its name from the English words “yeah, yeah” and its sound from American and British rock bands of the era.
Recommended songs: “Suzanne” (an amazing cover of the Leonard Cohen song), “Comment te dire adieu,” “L’amitie,” “Mon amour adieu,” “Le temps de l’amour”
Air: The vastly acclaimed electronic music duo out of Versailles — featuring masterminds Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel — has released so many good albums over the years. Yet, the one that we keep going back to again and again is the gorgeous soundtrack to “The Virgin Suicides,” Sofia Coppola’s landmark film from 1999 that starred Kirsten Dunst. It’s nothing short of one of the finest ambient chill-out records ever recorded. Air performs Oct. 2 at the Masonic in San Francisco (livenation.com).
Recommended songs: “Playground Love,” “All I Need,” “Highschool Lover,” “Ghost Song,” “Cherry Blossom Girl”
Booba: After getting his start in the hip-hop duo Lunatic in the mid-’90s, Élie Thitia Yaffa — vastly better known by the stage name Booba — went on to firmly establish himself as a solo artist with a long string of hot-selling albums, including such platinum-plus outings as “Ouest Side” (2006) and “Futur” (2012). Booba has flow for days and his records benefit from absolutely stellar production work.
Recommended songs: “Saga,” “Mona Lisa,” “Kalash,” “Drapeau Noir,” “Ridin’”
Carla Bruni: She has a fascinating backstory, which includes the years (2008-2012) she spent as the first lady of France (the wife of then-president Nicolas Sarkozy). Yet that has nothing to do with why we are recommending her music. Instead, Bruni makes our list because her voice is so incredibly striking on such albums as 2003’s “Quelqu’un m’a dit” and 2007’s “No Promises.” Plus, she’s so good at covering other people’s music.
Recommended songs: “Chanson triste,” “Moon River,” “Quelqu’un m’a dit,” “Miss You,” “Enjoy the Silence”
MC Solaar: One of the France’s most heavily championed hip-hop stars, Claude Honoré M’Barali — aka, MC Solaar — just keeps right on releasing hit records. The short list would include such top sellers as the 1997 chart-topper “Paradisiaque” as well as 2001’s “Cinquième As” and 2003’s “Mach 6.” Having been in the game since the 1980s, Solaar has long been one of the top global ambassadors of French-language rap.
Recommended songs: “Da Vinci Claude,” “La Belle et le Bad Boy,” “Okay,” “Caroline,” “Le depart”
Alcest: The Bagnols-sur-Cèze-born band has a terrific sound, mixing black metal, post-metal, shoegaze and even ambient elements in some truly mesmerizing ways. And that sound has rarely translated better than on Alcest’s newly released offering, “Les Chants de l’Aurore” (translation: “The Songs of Dawn”), which follows 2019’s critically acclaimed “Spiritual Instinct.”
Recommended songs: “Flamme Jumelle,” L’Envol,” “Sapphire,” “Autre Temps,” “Onyx,” “Le Miroir”
