Gorillaz
Gorillaz is an English virtual band created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. The gang is made up of four fictional members: 2-D, Noodle, Murdoc Niccals, and Russel Hobbs. Most of his songs, along with his entire fictional universe, are presented through animated, traditionally and computer-animated music videos, interviews, and short animated shorts. In reality, Albarn is the only permanent member of the gang. Producer and executive Remi Kabaka Jr. would begin collaborating with the group in 2016 after providing the voice of Russel Hobbs for several years and would be named an official member along with Albarn and Hewlett in 2019 in the Gorillaz documentary, Gorillaz: Reject False Icons.
History
Creation and early years (1998-1999)
Damon Albarn and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett met in 1990 when Graham Coxon, a fan of Hewlett's work, asked him to interview Blur, the band Coxon and Albarn had just formed. The interview was published in Deadline magazine, where Tank Girl, a cartoon created by Hewlett, first appeared. Hewlett initially believed that Albarn was, in his own words, "an asshole." Despite being an acquaintance of the band, they did not get along, especially when Hewlett began dating Coxon's ex-girlfriend, Jane Olliver. Despite this, Albarn and Hewlett shared a London house in 1997. Hewlett had ended their relationship. with Olliver and Albarn he had done the same with Justine Frischmann of Elastica.
The idea for the band came up while Hewlett and Albarn were watching MTV. In an interview it was commented: 'If you watch MTV too long you end up saying 'What the hell? There's nothing substantial here.", so we had the idea of an animation band, something that would be like an opinion on this subject." The band initially identified themselves as "Gorillaz" and the first song they recorded was "Ghost Train", which was later released as a B-side to their single "Rock the House" and as part of the B-sides compilation, G-Sides. The musicians behind the first incarnation of the Gorillaz included Albarn, Del the Funky Homosapien, Dan the Automator and Kid Koala, who previously worked together on the song "Time Keeps on Slipping" for the Deltron 3030 debut album.
Gorillaz (2000-2003)
The band's first release was the EP Tomorrow Comes Today, released on November 27, 2000. On the other hand, the band's first single was "Clint Eastwood", which was a worldwide hit and was released on March 5, 2001, peaking at #4 in the UK. It was produced by Dan the Automator and originally featured Phi Life Cypher, although the version featured on the album features rapper Del the Funky Homosapien, who plays the role of the ghost that lives inside drummer Russel Hobbs on the album. Later that month, the self-titled first album was released along with four singles: "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Tomorrow Comes Today", and & #34;Rock the House. The record went triple platinum in the UK and platinum in the US and sold more than 7 million copies worldwide. In addition, a remix of the song "19-2000" It was included in the soundtrack of the video game FIFA 2002.
At the end of the year, Gorillaz, along with D12 (sans Eminem) and Terry Hall collaborated on the song "911", which is about the 9/11 attacks. Gorillaz performed at the 2002 Brit Awards in London on February 22, appearing as 3D animation on four huge screens alongside Phi Life Cypher. The band was nominated for four awards, including Best British Group, Best British Album, and British Breakthrough Group, but did not win any of the four nominations.
In November 2002 the DVD titled Phase One: Celebrity Take Down was released. Also, rumors were circulating that the team behind Gorillaz was preparing a movie, but Hewlett said the project had been abandoned: "We lost all interest in doing it when we started meeting with the studios and talking to those Hollywood executives, we were not on the same wavelength. We said, 'fuck 'em', we stuck to the idea until we can do it ourselves, and maybe even make the money ourselves".
Demon Days (2004-2006)
On December 8, 2004, the band's official website reopened with a video titled "Rockit".
The new album, titled Demon Days, was released on May 11, 2005 in Japan, May 23 in the UK with Australia, and May 24 in the US. The album debuted at number 1 on the UK charts.
The first single was "Feel Good Inc.", which became the band's most successful song. The song features hip hop trio De La Soul, and was released as an EP in Japan on April 27, 2005, and as a single in the UK and Australia on May 9.
The second single was 'DARE', released on August 29, 2005 in the UK, and on September 7 in Japan as an EP. On this song, the contributing artist is Shaun Ryder, lead singer of Happy Mondays.
The third single was 'Dirty Harry', which was released as a promotional single that year. The song features rapper Bootie Brown as a contributing artist, and was released on November 21, 2005 in the UK, and on December 7 in Japan as an EP. In its first week, it peaked at No. 6. The single's release put the record back on the Top 10 list.
The fourth and final single was the double A-side, "Kids with Guns"/"El Mañana". It was released on April 10, 2006 in the UK, and on April 19 in Japan as an EP.
By the end of 2005, Demon Days had sold over a million copies in the UK, making it the fifth best-selling album in the region for 2005. It went six times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the US, triple platinum in Australia, and had sold over 8 million copies globally.
At the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards in Miami on August 28, Gorillaz won two awards for "Feel Good Inc.," including the award for "Breakthrough Video".
Gorillaz performed "Dirty Harry" at the 2006 Brit Awards in London, and the band was nominated for "Best Group" and "Best British Album".
Plans were revealed for Gorillaz to go on a "holographic" between 2007 and 2008. The animated members would be displayed as virtual characters on stage using Musion Eyeliner technology. The virtual characters were used at the MTV Europe Music Awards on November 3, 2005 and again at the 2006 Grammy Awards on February 8 alongside Madonna, where the band performed a pre-recorded version of 'Feel Good'. Inc."
The DVD, titled Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades, was released on October 30 in the UK and the following day in the US. Gorillaz's illustrated autobiography, entitled Rise of the Ogre, was released on October 31, 2006 in the United Kingdom, and on November 2 in the United States.
D-Sides, a remixed B-sides compilation, was released on November 19, 2007 in the United Kingdom and on November 20, 2007 in the United States.
On October 24, 2007, the official fansite announced that a documentary film about Gorillaz, titled Bananaz, would be released. The film, directed by Ceri Levy, documents the previous seven years of the band. The film was released online on April 20, 2009 followed by the DVD release on June 1, 2009.
Plastic Beach and The Fall (2007-2013)
In late 2007, Albarn and Hewlett began working on the new Gorillaz project, called Carousel, which would ultimately culminate as the band's third album, Plastic Beach. Said Albarn: "I'm making the biggest, poppiest record I've ever made in many ways, but with all my experience to try and at least present something that has depth."
The album features guest musicians Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Mos Def, Bobby Womack, Gruff Rhys, Mark E. Smith, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Kano, Bashy, De La Soul, Little Dragon, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, among others.
The first single from the album was "Stylo", featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack. It was released for download on January 26, 2010.
The second single was "Superfast Jellyfish", featuring Gruff Rhys and De La Soul. It was released on May 9, 2010, and features samples from a 1986 microwave commercial, titled "Great Starts Breakfast".
The third single from the album was "On Melancholy Hill", released on June 14, 2010. The song was originally for The Good, the Bad & the Queen, another of Albarn's projects.
The fourth single, titled "Rhinestone Eyes", was released on September 6, 2010. The song was included in the soundtrack of the video game FIFA 11, being the second time the band appears in the saga.
In October 2010, Albarn announced to the media that he would not allow the cast of Glee to make their own versions of Gorillaz songs, saying that the music in the Fox channel series was an & #34;very lousy substitute for the real thing". This statement caused people to believe that the producers of Glee had approached Gorillaz to allow them to lend their songs for the series, which they did not. Albarn responded to the confusion with a laugh and said "and now they definitely won't."
On October 5, 2010, Gorillaz announced their new single titled 'Doncamatic', featuring Daley.
On December 8, Albarn confirmed that a Gorillaz album recorded during the American leg of the Escape to Plastic Beach tour would be released for free download from the band's website and exclusively for members of the fanclub who paid by December 25, 2010. The video for "Phoner to Arizona" was released on the official Gorillaz site for free on December 24, and a day later, the new album was released, titled The Fall.
On February 9, 2012, Gorillaz announced "DoYaThing," a single to promote Converse sneakers featuring Gorillaz designs that would be released later. The song would be part of the 'Three Artists, One Song' project, with the two collaborators being LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy and Outkast's André 3000. A 13-minute long explicit version of the song was made available to listen to soon after on Gorillaz's official site. Hewlett returned to direct the music video for the single, including animated versions of the two collaborators.
In April 2012, Albarn told The Guardian that he and Hewlett had fallen out and that future Gorillaz projects were 'unlikely'. Tension between the two had increased, partly due to Hewlett's belief that his contributions to Gorillaz were being diminished. In April 2017, Hewlett explained: "Damon had half the Clash on stage, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, De La Soul, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Bashy, Kano and everyone. others. It was the greatest band that ever existed. And the screen on the stage behind them seemed to get smaller every day. I was asking "Do we have a new screen yet?" and the tour manager would say "No, it's the same screen," because it seemed to me like it was getting smaller and smaller."
Humanz (2014-2017)
In April 2014, Albarn told The National Post that he wouldn't mind trying again to record more Gorillaz. Two months later it was reported that Albarn had been writing several new songs on the road for Gorillaz. On October 19, 2014, Albarn told The Sydney Morning Herald that he was planning to release new Gorillaz material in 2016. At the same time, in the first half of 2015, Hewlett posted illustrations of the four on his Instagram account. members of the band and stated: "Yes, Gorillaz are back". Days later, Albarn confirmed that the return of the band was certain and assured that he hoped to start recording the new material between November and December.
Albarn described the music he wrote for what would be Gorillaz's next record as upbeat, moody and positive, stating that he planned to give the tracks "a benchmark of 125 beats per minute and nothing for underneath that", while also suggesting that once again, he would have many collaborations.
In July 2015, Albarn revealed that he was going to start work on Gorillaz's next album: "I started recording in September for a new Gorillaz album, I've been very, very saturated so I haven't had time. I would love to finish it and get back to the routine of being home and going to the studio five days a week.
Discussing his relationship with Hewlett, Albarn mentioned that despite comments about their split, the two were on good terms after all, which has helped their long-term relationship.
In October 2015, Albarn revealed to Rolling Stone that he and Hewlett were working on a new Gorillaz album. In April 2016, Hewlett uploaded two video clips on his Instagram showing his ongoing work on the album. The first clip featured Liam Bailey and the rumored executive producer on The Twilite Tone album. The second clip featured appearances by Albarn, Bailey, The Twilite Tone and Jean Michel Jarre. On May 17, 2016, Gorillaz were in the Chicago-based studio with hip hop artist Vic Mensa.
On September 20, 2016, Gorillaz published an abbreviated timeline looking back at Gorillaz's history of their releases since the year 2000. On October 3, 2016, Gorillaz began publishing a series of interactive multimedia stories revolving around the fictional lives of each Gorillaz character according to their social media profiles, beginning with Noodle's Book (narrating how the guitarist ended up in Japan and tracked down a demon crime boss), Russel's book (narrating how the drummer, still a giant according to the story of Plastic Beach, emerged from the waters and, stranded on the shores of North Korea, was left so hungry that he shrunk back to normal size), Murdoc's Book (narrating how the bassist was captured at sea by the EMI record label), and ending with The Book of 2-D (Narrating how the vocalist was swallowed by a whale named Massive Dick on Plastic Beach, and was shipwrecked off the coast of Mexico, where he had to eat whale blubber to survive).
On October 8, 2016, Noodle launched her own Instagram page and announced that she is the Global Ambassador for Jaguar Racing. On January 19, 2017, the band released a new song titled 'Hallelujah Money', featuring Benjamin Clementine.
On March 17, 2017, the track list for the upcoming album was leaked online, which featured guests from a variety of artists, including regular collaborators such as De La Soul, as well as new collaborators such as Grace Jones, Vince Staples, Pusha T, Rag'n'Bone Man, Anthony Hamilton and Kali Uchis.
On March 23, 2017, Gorillaz announced via Instagram that the new album would be titled Humanz, with an expected release date of April 28, 2017.
Album includes six singles: "Saturnz Barz", "We Got the Power", "Ascension", "Andromeda", & #34;Let Me Out" and "Strobelite".
The Now Now (2018-2019)
In an interview with Q magazine in September 2017, Albarn suggested that another Gorillaz record was in the works. He mentioned enjoying the spontaneity of recording and releasing music while on tour, similar to what happened with the recording and release of The Fall, but expressed the desire to produce a record much more " "complete," adding that "if we're going to do something else with Gorillaz, we don't want to wait seven years because, you know, we get along now."
At the end of the same month, on September 30, 2017 while touring to promote Humanz, the band debuted a new song in Seattle, called "Ode to Idaho".
Hewlett confirmed in December 2017 that the band had plans to release a follow-up album to Humanz in 2018, citing his desire to keep the band on the move rather than taking extended breaks as they had done it with previous projects. Hewlett described some of the demos and new material as a "new direction" for the band, stating that he hoped to steer the Gorillaz artwork in a similar direction.
During his presentation in Chile, Albarn confirmed that a new album would be coming "very soon" and debuted a new song called "Hollywood" along with Jamie Principle and Snoop Dogg.
On May 26, 2018, the new album titled The Now Now was announced, with a release date of June 29. On May 31, the single "Humility" was released, featuring George Benson. This debuted along with the song "Lake Zurich". On June 7, the song "Sorcererz" was released, and appeared on the soundtrack of the video game FIFA 19. On June 14, the song "Fire Flies" was released. On June 21, the song "Hollywood" was released. On June 29, the songs "One Percent", "Kansas", "Idaho", "Magic City" and "Souk Eye" they were released. On June 30, the track "Tranz" was released and on September 13, the music video for that song was released.
As part of the fictional Gorillaz history, the band introduced Ace, a villain from the series The Powerpuff Girls. Ace was the band's bassist while Murdoc was in jail. On September 20, Murdoc escaped from jail and returned to Gorillaz.
In later interviews, Albarn stated that at the end of The Now Now Tour, Gorillaz would take a 10-year break and return with a new album and new tour in mid-September 2028, since they had released two albums at the time. only a year after their separation, but Jamie Hewlett denied everything at the end of November of the same year.
On December 16, 2019, Gorillaz released their second documentary titled Gorillaz: Reject False Icons, which shows the band's process and live performances from Humanz to The Now Now.
Song Machine (2020-2021)
On January 28, 2020, the band officially released images via social media announcing a new musical concept called Song Machine. A 23 second long promo track titled "Song Machine Theme Tune" was released on all streaming platforms along with an accompanying video. The next day, more information was revealed about the project, announcing that new "episodes" they would be released spontaneously throughout the year. In this new Gorillaz material, each episode would feature previously unannounced guests, "Momentary Bliss" the first of them. The single was released on January 31 and features collaborations with British rapper slowthai and punk rock duo Slaves.
After the premiere of the first episode, Albarn revealed that the group had been in the studio with ScHoolboy Q, Sampa the Great, among others. It was also said that those collaborations would possibly be saved for a future season of Song Machine. A possible collaboration with Australian band Tame Impala was also suggested, although this ultimately turned out not to be the case.
On February 27, the band released the second episode of Song Machine, titled "Désolé". The song features the collaboration of the singer Fatoumata Diawara.
The third episode, "Aries," released on April 9, it features bassist Peter Hook and drummer Georgia. A fourth single titled "How Far?" featuring drummer Tony Allen and rapper Skepta was released on May 2. This song was released as a tribute to Allen, who passed away on April 30.
On May 26, Gorillaz officially announced the launch of a yearbook titled Gorillaz Almanac via social media. This was released on October 16 alongside a physical release that would include tracks from the first season of Song Machine.
On June 7th, Gorillaz announced the fourth episode of Song Machine, titled "Friday 13th". The song's collaborator is rapper Octavian.
On July 20, the band released "PAC-MAN", the fifth episode of Song Machine. The song features the collaboration of American rapper ScHoolboy Q.
On September 9, Gorillaz released "Strange Timez," the sixth episode of Song Machine. The song's collaborator is Robert Smith, lead singer of The Cure. In turn, the band announced the full track list for their new studio album, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, which will be released on October 23. The album would contain the tracks of all the musical episodes that had been published up to that moment and those that would be published. In turn, it would also have a deluxe version with six extra songs.
On October 1, the band released "The Pink Phantom," marking the seventh episode of the multimedia series. The collaborators are the renowned singer, pianist and songwriter Elton John with the rapper 6LACK. As a preview, it was revealed that episode eight would have the musician Beck as a collaborator, and the name of the song would be "The Valley of the Pagans& #34;, which was previously leaked on the Internet. This was released on November 5.
On October 23, 2020 the new album was officially released. Contains the songs released as part of the previous episodes along with new songs thus making a total of 11 tracks along with 6 bonus tracks contained in the deluxe version of the album.
On December 24, 2020, the ninth episode "The Lost Chord" in collaboration with Leee John. This would be the final episode of the first season.
On March 26, 2021, it was 20 years since the release of the band's debut album, so they announced several plans to celebrate the event, such as new products, a reissue of the album, and some non-public tokens. expendables. The latter were harshly criticized, since they damage the environment. They also announced the G Collection, a box set that included all of the band's records in vinyl format. It was released on June 17, 2021. The second season of Song Machine is currently awaiting. This was confirmed.
Cracker Island (2022-present)
In April 2022, the band began the Gorillaz World Tour, ending in October of the same year. During this tour new songs were presented, among which was "Cracker Island". The song was released on June 22, 2022, and was revealed to be a collaboration with bassist Thundercat.
On August 31, 2022, the band confirmed, along with the release of the second single titled "New Gold", a new studio album for February 24, 2023. The song in question, is a collaboration with the band Tame Impala and the rapper Bootie Brown, who had already collaborated with the band on the song "Dirty Harry" of the year 2005.
On November 4, 2022, Gorillaz released the third single from the album, titled "Baby Queen". The song was first featured on the soundtrack of the video game FIFA 23, marking the fourth time the band has appeared in the series.
On November 13, 2022, Gorillaz performed at the MTV Europe Music Awards, winning the award for "Best Alternative Music Artist". A day later, the band released 'Dawn of the Ogre', a sequel to the autobiography 'Rise of the Ogre', released in 2006.
On December 8, 2022, the band released the fourth single, titled 'Skinny Ape', along with the announcement of two virtual concerts in Times Square and Piccadilly Circus on December 17 and 18, respectively..
On January 27, 2023, the band released the fifth single from the album, titled "Silent Running", featuring Adeleye Omotayo.
Musical style and evolution
Critics have generally described Gorillaz's music as art pop, alternative rock, hip hop, electronica, pop, trip hop, dark pop, alternative hip hop, rap rock, indie rock, bedroom pop, dance rock, new wave, funk, and worldbeat. The band's aesthetic and overall approach has been described as postmodern. According to Allmusic, Gorillaz do a mix of Britpop and hip hop., while The Guardian describes the band as "a hybrid of dub, hip hop, lo-fi, indie and world music". According to PopMatters, the band's early work foreshadowed "the fusion of hip hop elements.", rock, and electronic in pop music" that would grow significantly over the next decade.
Members
Timeline
Virtual members
Live Members
Discography
Studio albums
- Gorillaz (2001)
- Demon Days (2005)
- Plastic Beach (2010)
- The Fall (2010)
- Humanz (2017)
- The Now (2018)
- Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez (2020)
- Cracker Island (2023)
Tours
- Gorillaz Live (2001-2002)
- Demon Days Live (2005-2006)
- Escape to Plastic Beach (2010)
- Humanz Tour (2017-2018)
- The Now Now Tour (2018)
- Song Machine Tour (2020-2021)
- Gorillaz World Tour (2022)
Awards and nominations
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