Despite that and other early efforts to maintain some level of obscurity - including playing behind a screen that first year - the Gorillaz' popularity and productivity continues to balloon. Not for me."Īlbarn's distaste for mainstream popularity manifested itself most notably in 2001, when he withdrew Gorillaz out of consideration for the prestigious Mercury Prize. That seems to be all they care about in life, and that's fine, you know? It won't last forever, and if it does, you'll turn into Madonna, and if you want to turn into Madonna, that's great - for you. I just love a certain kind of it - the kind that may not look nice, but still reminds me of the stuff I used to listen to growing up … Lady Gaga works very, very hard, and so does Beyonce, to be very, very popular. Gorillaz is his musical manifesto - both his protest against modern pop and his profession of undying love for the genre.Īs Albarn told MTV this year, "I love pop music.
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Now, at age 42, Albarn's hammered away at Gorillaz for more than 10 years, and though he indicated in a 2006 issue of Uncut magazine that he was done cutting pop albums under the Gorillaz name, the project inevitably lures him back for more. It always comes back to the strength of the songs. In spite of their intriguing multi-pronged approach, Gorillaz are successful and beloved for the same simple reason that Bob Dylan and The Beatles and Les Paul always were: Their songs are just plain amazing, with inspiring compositions unlike anything that came before. Today, they've moved 20 million albums, earned a Grammy and a Mercury Prize nomination, even an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records. The first act to fully embrace the multi-media movement, Gorillaz built their identity on more than just albums and music videos, also utilizing an interactive website, DVDs, and an innovative live show to earn mass critical and commercial acclaim. Off their eponymous debut LP, the single served as a woozy, thrilling introduction to one of - if not the - most innovative and important bands of the '00s. Three years later, the video for the Gorillaz' interplanetary first single, "Clint Eastwood," landed on the very music channel they'd aimed to lampoon. Together Albarn and Hewlett fleshed out the concept, then Albarn went off to tinker with some demos that mashed together electronica, pop, and hip-hop, while Hewlett animated the band's googly-eyed, gape-mouthed members.
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Four fictional characters would comprise it: vocalist 2D, bass guitarist Murdoc Niccals, guitarist and keyboardist Noodle, and drummer Russel Hobbs. With a highly ironic hat-tip to the substance-less, ADHD-driven programming they'd just stomached, they started a cartoon band. On that otherwise ordinary day, Albarn and Hewlett hatched the idea for the epic multi-media cultural phenomenon that would become Gorillaz. The year was 1998 and Damon Albarn - then the dynamic frontman of Britpop band Blur - and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett were sprawled out in their London flat doing what a lot of fellow 30-year-olds were doing during their spare time in 1998: watching music videos on MTV.