At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Human After All received an average score of 57, indicating "mixed or average reviews", based on 28 reviews. Q felt that it lacked the "fun" of Daft Punk's previous work. Barry Walters of Rolling Stone said that the duo generally "repeats rather than elaborates its riffs", and that they "exaggerate their band's own robotic tendencies here, much to the detriment of its grooves". of The Guardian called the album "a joyless collection of average ideas stretched desperately thin". Robert Christgau from The Village Voice graded the album a "dud", indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought". Mixmag wrote that Human After All sounded "as if Bangalter took a holiday and let his four year-old son ... loose in the studio with a toy sound machine". Mojo magazine said that it "strips out the most flamboyant frills to create a more incisive sound". Human After All was nominated for the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album, but lost to the Chemical Brothers album Push the Button.
Commercial
The album topped the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart and 80,838 copies in the UK. The first single from the album, "Robot Rock", received moderate attention, reaching number 32 in the UK and number 15 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart, but was not a major hit. The second single, "Technologic", reached number 40 in the UK but did considerably better in airplay and was featured in an iPod commercial. "Human After All" reached number 93 in France.
Legacy
Many reassessed Human After All after Daft Punk's Alive 2006/2007 tour. Pedro Winter, Daft Punk's manager at the time, said: "Everyone shut their mouths... People even apologized, like, 'How could we have misjudged Daft Punk?' The live show changed everything. Even if I'm part of it, I like to step back and admire it. Me, I cried." Bangalter said: "Human After All was the music we wanted to make at the time we did it. We have always strongly felt there was a logical connection between our three albums, and it's great to see that people seem to realize that when they listen now to the live show." "Technologic" was sampled in the Busta Rhymes single "Touch It", produced by Swizz Beatz. Subsequently, elements of both "Technologic" and "Touch It" were featured in Daft Punk's live album Alive 2007. A portion of the vocals were also altered for the Hannah Wants single "Rhymes", which reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart in 2015. "Technologic" was later interpolated in the 2024 single "Guess" by Charli XCX.
Track listing
Notes
- "Robot Rock" contains a sample of "Release the Beast", written by Kae Williams Jr., Gene Robinson, and Vince Garnell, and performed by Breakwater.
- Warner Music France (re-releases)
| producer = Various
| prev_title = Human After All
| prev_year = 2005
| year = 2006
| next_title = Musique Vol. 1 1993–2005
| next_year = 2006
Human After All: Remixes, comprising remixes by musicians such as Soulwax and Justice, was released on 29 March 2006 On 17 June 2014, it was reissued in Japan with four additional bonus tracks. On 9 August, it was released digitally internationally for the first time, with an additional remix of "Technologic" by Le Knight Club. A vinyl pressing was released on November 28, 2025 to coincide with the album's 20th anniversary.
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts
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!align="left"|Chart (2005)
!align="left"|Peak<br />position
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!scope="row"|Canadian Albums (Nielsen BDS)
|align="center"|38
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!scope="row"|Greek Albums (IFPI)
|align="center"|6
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!Chart (2021)
!Peak<br/>position
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! scope="row"| Croatian International Albums (HDU)
| style="text-align:center;"| 12
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Year-end charts
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!align="left"|Chart (2005)
!align="left"|Position
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!scope="row"|French Albums (SNEP)
|style="text-align:center;"|92
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!scope="row"|US Electronic Albums (Billboard)
| style="text-align:center;"|16
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