Gorillaz

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Gorillaz is an English virtual band, conceived in 1998 by the musician Damon Albarn and the artist Jamie Hewlett. The band consists of four invented characters: 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle and Russel Hobbs. The voice of 2-D comes from Albarn. The idea arose when the two were watching MTV, a channel that Hewlett found empty. They wanted to make a virtual band as a comment on the manufactured pop music of the moment, the age of the boy bands.

Music and breakthrough

The first album, Gorillaz, was released in 2001. Albarn recorded it in his Studio 13 in London and in Jamaica, with the help of the hip hop producer Dan the Automator. The single Clint Eastwood brought success, and the album went triple platinum in Britain. In 2005 came Demon Days, a darker concept album about the night and a world in decline. Plastic Beach followed in 2010, Humanz in 2017, The Now Now in 2018 and Cracker Island in 2023, among others.

Influence

Albarn moved away from the Britpop sound of his band Blur and mixed trip hop, punk rock, dub, Latin influences, hip hop and electronic music with world music, often with a long list of guest artists. Live, Gorillaz first performed with a hidden band, later with projected animations and, since 2010, with a fully visible band. In this way the group proved that a band can also be a cartoon.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 2001Gorillaz
• 2005Demon Days
• 2010Plastic Beach
• 2010The Fall
• 2017Humanz
• 2018The Now Now
• 2020Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez
• 2023Cracker Island
• 2026The Mountain

See also

• The Fall
• Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez
• The Mountain