It was the first single from her seventh studio album Point de Suture, and was released first digitally and on radio in June 2008, then in a CD in August 2008.

Despite cold critical and public reception, the single achieved success, peaking at number one in France on both physical and digital sales charts.

On 21 May, Thierry Suc, one of Farmer's producers, announced that the first single from the album would be "Dégénération"[1] and that it would be released on radio on 19 June 2008.

[7] As scheduled, on 19 June, several radio stations broadcast "Dégénération", including NRJ, Delta FM and RTL.

A few days later, an unofficial CDR promo (unknown remix) of "Dégénération" was circulated and received attention from high-profile DJs.

In early September, TF1 promoted the song airing some excerpts between the programmes and the fully music video in the night.

The electronic sound has a "more metallic rhythmic" than Farmer's previous singles and constitutes "a remarkable artistic experiment".

[11] Psychologist Hugues Royer said that the message of the song is to "shake the boredom to find again the desire", to "promote sex therapy" to "reset the appetite for life".

[13] Interviewed by Claire Chazal in the news broadcasting of 31 August, 8:00 pm, on TF1, Farmer explained that the title of the song was a reference to "Désenchantée", her 1991 number-one hit, in which the word "génération" is mentioned.

When the music begins, she wakes up, unties her strips, gets up, and throws blue laser beams from her palms to the doctors and the militaries.

[28] Many critics have noticed that the video was "erotic" and "provocative", and some have thought it was inspired by Luc Besson's film The Fifth Element (futuristic atmosphere, red hair, body covered with strips)[29] or Le Parfum.

[32] Royer said this video is "peppered with special effects worthy of the early career [of Farmer]"[33] and conveys a message "which invites its listeners to come out of coma where they languish sex to engage in sexual intercourses without taboo.

"[34] In January 2009, when the third single from the album was released, it was revealed that the music video for "Dégénération" as well as that of "Si j'avais au moins...", were part of a short film named The Farmer Project.

[37] On 18 August, French magazine Télé Star qualified "Dégénération" as a "failure", "a repetitive single without refrain, which has left perplexed fans of the first hour as well as professional people".

[41] As for Le Point, "Dégénération" is "a repetitive electro pop [song] with naive lyrics full of muddled and mystic double meanings".

[17] More positive, Swiss newspaper Coopération stated: "Make love, not the war: such is the message of this electro-pop hit which eyes up Depeche Mode".

[51] On 5 July, "Dégénération", then only available digitally, entered the Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart at number six before dropping quickly and remaining in low positions.