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Gorillaz (album) Gorillaz. (album) Gorillaz is the debut studio album by English virtual band Gorillaz, released on 26 March 2001 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone and June 19, 2001 in the United States by Virgin Records. [1] The album reached number three in the UK and number fourteen in the US, and the top ten in several other countries.
He was created by Hewlett and Damon Albarn in 1998, with his first official appearance being Gorillaz' debut EP Tomorrow Comes Today in 2000. [159]
Mar 26, 2021 · An Influential Debut. In addition to kicking off its monumental trajectory, Gorillaz’s introductory disc inspired others. For proof, look to the music and aesthetics of Dethklok, The Amazing World of Gumball, Flatbush Zombies, G-Unit, and Tyler the Creator. This is to name just a few.
Mar 29, 2021 · Yet two decades on – as of last Friday (March 26) – from the release of the debut Gorillaz album, Damon’s still far from finished with his ‘monkey thing’. When the self-titled debut ...
- Overview
- Phase One: Celebrity Take Down (1998–2002)
- Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades (2004–2008)
- Phase Three: Escape To Plastic Beach (2008–2013)
- Phase Four: We Are Still Humanz (2014–2018)
- Phase Five: No More Unicorns Anymore (2018–2019)
- Phase Six: Wish You Wear Ear (2019–2021)
- Phase Seven: The Static Channel (2022–2024)
The official storyline of the virtual band members of Gorillaz, as established by the music videos, the Rise of the Ogre autobiography, interviews with the characters and real-life band members in multiple forms of media, interactive games on the official Gorillaz website and social media posts.
The story of Gorillaz begins on the 15th of August 1997. Murdoc Niccals was a Satanist hoodlum and bass player with a very abuse childhood who dreamt about becoming a famous musician. He had been a part of various bands over the years, the most notable of them being 'Murdoc's Burning Sensations', but none of them were even remotely successful, largely due to his terrible singing voice. This time, however, during a crime spree with a gang of criminals, Murdoc decided to ram-raid a store known as Uncle Norm's Organ Emporium to procure synthesizer equipment in order to establish a "chart-topping" musical group.
Murdoc drove his Vauxhall Astra through the building's window, crashing directly into the face of Stuart Pot, a mentally deficient keyboard enthusiast and part-time employee at the Emporium, permanently damaging ("fracturing") his left eye and putting him into a catatonic state. Murdoc was sentenced to "30,000 hours of community service, plus 10 hours every week of caring for the injured Stu-Pot" (as he was nicknamed). Not long after, Murdoc again injured Stuart in a car accident in Nottingham's Tesco car park when attempting a 360° spin in order to impress some women. During the initial rotation, he was thrown through the windshield and landed face-first on a curb. This permanently damaged Stu-Pot's right eye but awakened him from his coma. Impressed by Stu-Pot’s new look, Murdoc then recruited the newly recovered (albeit still mentally defective) Stu-Pot as the keyboardist and vocalist for his group, re-dubbing him '2-D' ('Two-Dents') for the matching pair of dents in his head from the accidents.
In September of 1997, Murdoc acquired the property of the Khong Mansion, a sprawling haunted studio with a rather shady history, on a website named 'Gigantic Disused Haunted Studios In The Middle Of No-Where'. The mansion was situated atop a hill in the midst of a run-down cemetery and landfill in Districtshire, Essex. Shortly after, he renamed the building and Gorillaz' new headquarters to 'Kong Studios'.
Murdoc then found a drummer for the group in a Soho record store: an African-American expatriate Russel Hobbs. Russel was a middle-class New York native and was deeply troubled as a youth. He was expelled from an expensive private school for suffering from demonic possession. The trauma of said possession resulted in a four-year coma from which Russel was roused only by an elaborately executed exorcism. After his recovery, Russel began attending Brooklyn High School, where he quickly cultivated friendships with a group of rappers, DJs, MCs, and street musicians. He has said that "hip-hop saved [his] soul".
This was a short-lived respite, however, as all of Russel's newfound friends were suddenly gunned down one night in a drive-by shooting. Russel, the sole survivor, became the unwilling receptacle for the spirits of all of his slain compatriots, most notable of whom was the rhyme-dropping blue phantom, Del. With their latent possession of his body, Russel gained incredible musical prowess in percussion, rap, and hip-hop as well as a disturbing side-effect: his eyes glowed an eerie white. With this new and violent turn of events, Russel's family shipped him off to England to live with his uncle in Belsize Park in hopes of helping him recover from his traumas quietly - not realizing they'd put him directly into the path of Murdoc's aspirations to superstardom, and the excesses that came along with it.
Russel got a part-time job working in a Soho record store, called 'Big Rick Black's Record Shack', where he met Murdoc Niccals. When Murdoc asked for an obscure 50s record, he slipped a bag over Russel's head and took him to Kong Studios. Russel was impressed by the demos that 2-D and Murdoc had produced and he chose to stay there, despite having been kidnapped. At that point, all the fledgling group needed was a guitarist. The band decided to draft in 2-D's girlfriend at the time, Paula Cracker, to play the guitar. With that, and an ape that played the bongos, the early working group, Gorilla, was formed (other names were also considered, such as Satan's Scrotum, Thor's Raw, Number Of The Beats, Meatus and Asterix, but ‘Gorilla’ was the chosen one).
After attempting to kill 2-D and leaving Gorillaz, Murdoc headed off to Mexico to get some sun and relax. However, after using fake dud cheques at a brothel, Murdoc was arrested and sentenced to thirty years at La Mesa State Prison on the 31st of October 2002. During this time, Murdoc met cellmates who taught him a bit of black magic, and acquired himself a pet raven named Cortez.
Meanwhile, that same evening, Kong Studios had been shut down tight in its owner's absence by local law enforcement, after an unknown man was seen running, naked and in hysterics, in the marshes near the studio. The police proceeded to keep the area secured while they investigated the strange paranormal events surrounding Kong.
After Murdoc, the next band member to leave was Noodle. Noodle went back to Japan in a fruitful attempt to uncover the secrets of her own past after suffering from nightmares and visions on the Gorillaz Tour. Noodle left for Japan on the 1st of October 2002, where she checked into a capsule hotel and began her search.
2-D was the next one to leave. He headed out into the world of L.A., rubbing elbows with Brian Setzer, joining The Viper Room Club, and moving into an apartment flat with actress Britt Ekland. However, after Britt spent every night banging on the walls and building a wicker statue, and getting sick of the Los Angeles lifestyle, 2-D decided to go back to Eastbourne and work at his father's funfair. 2-D returned to England on November 25th 2002. It was during this time that 2-D's ego got a significant boost and he re-established his grip on reality, coming to terms with his newfound pop icon status with the ladies. He also began a friendship with Shane Lynch from Boyzone. 2-D also began to grow a resentment for Murdoc, breaking free of adoring his abuser.
Russel remained in L.A. for some time but became increasingly haunted by The Grim Reaper, who eventually banished Del from his body. Luckily, Russel was approached by Ike Turner who offered him sanctuary in his basement to recover from this experience.
After a year of searching in Japan, Noodle was close to giving up on her search, she decided to head down to a sushi bar in downtown Hong Kong, to eat in woe. While she was there a waiter called for an order of "Ocean Bacon" and all of Noodle's memories came flooding back. she was reunited with her mentor, Mr. Kyuzo who was working as a chef at the establishment and learned that she was part of a secret government super soldier project and could speak English fluently. Noodle was the only survivor after the project was scrapped. Mr. Kyuzo erased Noodle's memory using the words, "Ocean Bacon" and sent her off to England in the FedEx crate. Armed with her newfound knowledge and iron resolve, Noodle decided to return to Kong Studios. on 27 October 2003, Noodle returned to Kong and discovered that the building had fallen into a state of disrepair during the band's absence. She also discovered that the building was invested by zombies and monster-infested darkness. Using the Kong security room as a safe house Noodle slowly cleaned the building of its unwanted inhabitants. Now knowing English, Noodle began to soak up what was playing on her TV in the security room and discovered society was being fed manufactured shit. It was here that Noodle began writing and putting together the concepts of the band's sophomore album Demon Days.
While searching for a new hideout, Murdoc discovered an island located in the middle of the ocean, specifically at Point NemoW, made entirely out of landfill stuck together. He sprayed the island bright pink and used the insurance money to build a new Gorillaz HQ on top, renaming the island to 'Plastic Beach'. According to the pelican at the entrance of the building in the Plastic Beach adventure game, Plastic Beach is at the farthest point from any other landmass in the world, dubbed 'Point Nemo'. After finding the island, he shipped a lot of the band's belongings to Plastic Beach, their new home and recording studio. While residing on the island, Murdoc began writing and putting together the concepts for the third Gorillaz studio album Plastic Beach, but he had to first reassemble his bandmates.
Murdoc stated that he tried to recover clues to Noodle's whereabouts from the wreckage of the windmill island, but the most he could gather was a DNA sample. He later used her DNA to create a violent cyborg version of Noodle, who acts as his bodyguard. Cyborg Noodle doesn't speak, but is adept at firearms and replaces Noodle as the band's guitarist throughout this phase.
After failing to get a degree in law, 2-D left Oxford and headed off to Beirut to live by himself. 2-D was gassed, kidnapped on his Beruit retreat, and taken to Plastic Beach in a suitcase as shown in 2-D's Plastic Beach Ident short. While the short seemingly reveals the Boogieman as his kidnapper, 2-D believes Murdoc was the one who kidnapped him. 2-D was held at Plastic Beach against his will by Murdoc, who forces him to assist in the making of the next Gorillaz album. 2-D fell under strong depression during this stage in his life, being held captive and constantly abused by Murdoc and Cyborg Noodle, being watched by his biggest fear - a whale, missing his bandmates and being forced to withdraw from painkillers.
Initially, little was known about the fate of Russel. Following his return to Brooklyn, Murdoc mentioned he had essentially dropped off the face of the Earth. Murdoc mentions that he used a drum machine built from all of Russel's equipment to provide percussion for his album. Finally, Russel's Plastic Beach Ident short hit the website, showing him stomping down a fishing dock in a barely suppressed rage and jumping off the end into the ocean, possibly attempting suicide as shown from a letter he left behind. Following his attempt, Russel let his body float out to sea. During this time, Russel ingested so much pollution, trash and toxic waste that he was transformed into a giant as tall as all of Plastic Beach, making a reference to Gulliver's Travels. Russel's situation reinforces the idea of human excess destroying nature already present in the album.
Murdoc and 2-D proceed to make their way to Plastic Beach via a road trip to the ocean in a 1969 Camaro SS (dubbed 'Stylo'). Murdoc and 2-D are attacked by Bruce Willis, driving a 1968 Chevrolet El Camino. Cyborg Noodle is rendered useless due to a bullet through her head, and Willis opens fire on the two, resulting in a car chase that makes up the Stylo music video. Murdoc drives them off a cliff into the ocean, and the car transforms into a shark-shaped submarine. The car chase was recorded on film by Murdoc's personal camera crew and was edited to make the music video for the Stylo single which was later released on the 26th of January 2010. A month later, on the 25th of February, the band released Superfast Jellyfish, the second single from their new record featuring De La Soul once again along with Gruff Rhys and the song White Flag with Bashy, Kano and The Syrian National Orchestra For Arabic Music two days later. The visual accompaniment for Superfast Jellyfish was released on the 8th of March 2010, but despite the song being already out it was technically only made a single on the 9th of May of the same year.
(2010).
Two and a half years had passed since Murdoc's arrest. The music industry struggled heavily and desperately needed great songwriters and musicians to sustain itself. As such, one day, Murdoc was met by an Entertainment Internal Affairs representative offering him parole in exchange for him to record a new album, which he agreed with. Upon leaving prision, Murdoc heard about Damon Albarn and The Heavy Seas's upcoming Royal Albert Hall show and immediately moved to Studio 13, a recording studio in West London owned by Albarn, without informing anyone prior to it.
Murdoc stayed at 13 for the weeks leading up to the concert. There, however, he was met by a familiar face: Russel Hobbs. After leaving the band in 2012, Russel had gone back to the United States, where he developed an interest for boxing, and stayed there for two years before going back to England, where he met live band member Jeff Wootton, who let him stay at his futon for a while until he had sorted everything out.
The concert opened up with the B-side Spitting Out The Demons, soon followed by Slow Country, which made both members nostalgic for their time on Gorillaz and left Murdoc impressed by the new live bassist, Seye Adelekan. The two avoided speaking to each other until the show's after-party at a club, when the two were left alone by themselves. Eventually, after a brief chat to relieve the tension between them, Murdoc asked "Do you want to do another one?", to which Russel responded "Yeah". The two were not interested in being friends again, but wanted to get back to doing their music. Murdoc then left the club, and a few days later called Jeff, inviting Russel to move over with him.
In the meantime, after leaving the band, Noodle returned to Japan and had gotten back to pearl diving with Chiyoko. One day, however, Noodle accidentally released Mazuu, a shape-shifting devil that had spent over 500 years trapped in a large pearl at the bottom of the ocean. She spent years chasing Mazuu, finding it in Tokyo disguised as a human, having risen to the criminal underworld. Noodle infiltrated Mazuu's headquarters, decapitated the devil, and escaped in one piece. She packaged herself in a FedEx crate and addressed it to "West London, England, c/o Murdoc Niccals" after becoming aware of Murdoc and Russel's reunion.
2-D, still living in England, heard that Gorillaz was getting back together and decided to go on a silent retreat in the Himalayas for the next six months as a way to prepare for seeing Murdoc again and being able to stand up for himself if he needed to. He planned on staying there for longer but was excommunicated from his group of monks for talking too much in just a few months. Murdoc and Russel had settled down at 13 and began to move their equipment and work on new demos. Soon after, Noodle arrived, followed by 2-D sometime later on the 29th of July 2015. During this period, Russel, Noodle and 2-D made several comments and remarks on how Murdoc seemed vastly different after staying in prison for over two years, showing regret for his past actions (but still occasionally teasing the others). With that, Gorillaz were reunited once again and were ready for a new album.
The band recorded throughout 2016 at Studio 13, finally completing their first album in 7 years, Humanz, in 2017. On the 19th of January 2017, the band released their first song after their five-year hiatus: Hallelujah Money, featuring Benjamin Clementine, along with its own music video. Murdoc decided to release the album by throwing “the party to end all parties” in a haunted house in Detroit known as the “Spirit House”. When the band first arrived at the house in the Saturnz Barz music video, they were haunted by three demons. A giant one-eyed blue worm haunted Noodle, a grey multi-limbed monster haunted Russel and a pizza slice with a face haunted 2-D. Three other singles were released alongside Saturnz Barz, these being Ascension, Andromeda and We Got The Power. Later on, two additional singles were released: Let Me Out and The Apprentice.
Hot off the heels of their big return album with Humanz in 2017, the band decided to continue their momentum and release a follow-up album in 2018. While still on the Humanz Tour, the band recruted Ace D. Copular, famous for his work as the leader of The Gangreen Gang on the 90s kids show The Powerpuff Girls (which Noodle was a fan of as a kid), to temporarily replace Murdoc as their bassist while he was serving time in prison. The band, now with a slightly altered lineup, went on to record and released their sixth studio album, The Now Now, while still on tour.
(2018)
On the 31st of May, the lead single Humility and its accompanying music video were released. In it, Russel, Noodle and Ace enjoy their day on the Venice Boardwalk in Los Angeles while the uncharacteristically happy 2-D roller-skates around the boardwalk, enjoying his new life without Murdoc constantly abusing him. At the end of the video, Russel causes 2-D to trip over, whose eyes turn from white to black; after which he loses his ability to roller-skate and immediately falls a second time. Humility was quickly followed by four other singles: Lake Zurich, Sorcererz, Fire Flies and Hollywood until, on the 19th of June, The Now Now was officially released to the public following a live performance of the full album at the Boiler Room Tokyo in Japan.
While the band embarked on their 2018 tour supporting the album, named The Now Now Tour, Murdoc began planning his escape from prison. Murdoc claimed that the man he met at the bar in the Strobelite music video was a demon crime lord named 'El Mierda', who framed him for smuggling. Murdoc decided to escape the prison and track down El Mierda, but he couldn't bribe his way out since Noodle had frozen his bank account, believing him to be guilty of smuggling. He decided that picking a fight with 'Big Balls McGuinness' (one of the toughest prisoners in Wormwood Scrubs) would give him the respect he needed to get inside info on El Mierda from other prisoners. After losing the fight to McGuinness, he set his sights on 'Vlad the Inhaler', an associate of El Mierda. Murdoc recruited a fan to catfish Vlad, getting close enough to him to find the whereabouts of El Mierda. Astonishingly, this worked, and Murdoc now had the coordinates to what he believed to be the crime lord's hideout in Patagonia.
Murdoc finally enlisted the help of Noodle, who had been ignoring his countless calls. She only agreed to help after realizing the demon El Mierda is a soul harvester and may have taken 2-D’s soul, noting he hasn't been acting like himself for months. Convinced Murdoc knows about this, she refuses to do it for his sake but instead 2-D's. Noodle set a course for Patagonia to take on El Mierda herself. A week later, Noodle reported that she was safe - still embarking on her trip to El Mierda's hideout, being shown the way by some Andean mountain cats after getting "kinda lost". However, due to complications, Murdoc decided to escape once and for singlehandedly through the sewers. In a turn for the worst, he was assumed to have drowned in sewage while trying to escape. Meanwhile, the rest of the band was enjoying the success of The Now Now, releasing a music video for the single Tranz.
Two weeks later, Noodle arrived at the coordinates Murdoc had discovered, but instead of a secret hideout, the coordinates led to a health spa. She met El Mierda, who had given up his life of crime years prior, converting his evil lair into the El Montaña Wellness Centre. Notably, she discovered that El Mierda was not the man Murdoc met in the 'Strobelite' video, but was, in fact, an immortal old man who had never even heard of Murdoc. Noodle researched the details of Murdoc’s incarceration to discover that he was not sent to prison for smuggling but rather for simple parking fines. He was only meant to serve nine months and would have been released the same day he supposedly drowned during his escape. Noodle discovered that Murdoc had greatly fabricated the nature of his imprisonment, blaming his crime on the man from the Strobelite video, who turned out to just be an innocent leather salesman named Juan.
During a brief hiatus for the band, on the 3rd of September 2019, while visiting Iran to see Lake Urmia, Noodle made note of how climate change had taken a toll on the lake. She came to a realization regarding the fleeting state of nature on Earth and sent a postcard to Murdoc, 2-D, and Russel at Studio 13 with a message detailing her desire to build a machine and see the world before it’s gone. The postcard arrived at the studio on the 12th of September.
On the 7th of September, 2-D sent a postcard to the band while visiting Beirut, informing Noodle that he had gotten the parts for the machine she had mentioned, and asking what they were for. The postcard arrived at Studio 13 on the 24th of September.
On the 14th of September, Murdoc sent a postcard from his annual drunken holiday in Ibiza. The postcard arrived at Studio 13 on the 26th of September.
On the 21st of September, Russel sent a postcard from Mexico while working on his hot sauce business, "Hobbs Hot Sauce". He included a message telling the band that he’d “be seeing [them] and the machine REAL soon”. The postcard arrived at Studio 13 on the 4th of October.
The machine (revealed as the "Song Machine") was activated on the 28th of January. The following day, the band announced their next project, Song Machine, a multimedia series of songs/music videos released episodically through 2020, as a continuously-updating playlist via streaming services.
In a statement to the press, Russel said "Song Machine is a whole new way of doing what we do. Gorillaz breaking the mould ‘cos the mould got old. World is moving faster than a supercharged particle, so we’ve gotta stay ready to drop. We don’t even know who’s stepping through the studio next. Song Machine feeds on the unknown, runs on pure chaos. So whatever the hell’s coming, we’re primed and ready to produce like there’s no tomorrow. Y’know, just in case.”
In April 2022, the band embarked on the Gorillaz World Tour 2022, a live concert tour to make up for not having had a proper one for Song Machine, and quickly began to play live brand-new songs never heard before. In July, the band announced that they had begun recording their next album at the Silver Lake Mansion in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, while the London Sewage Department continued Kong’s restoration. During this time, Murdoc became increasingly interested in the occult and eventually founded a cult focusing on the supernatural, dubbed The Last Cult. The rest of the band weren’t too keen but didn’t think much of it.
2-D was given the role of 'The Chosen One' and started a podcast as a way to journal the first days of The Last Cult. Over time, 2-D talked about various tasks he’d been assigned including digging holes, painting Murdoc’s giant obelisk, finding books for Noodle, as well as the activities of the neighbours, mostly for the “main lady” next door, who seemed to fancy 2-D, and Murdoc became attracted to. It was also implied that Murdoc may have started the cult simply in an attempt to impress her.
Around this time, the band began receiving strange broadcast television transmissions. The role of 'Seeker of Truth' was given to Russel, and he was tasked with watching these transmissions and solving the mystery behind them. Russel discovered that all of the transmissions dated back to the years 1923, 1948, 1973, and 1998, following a 25-year pattern. Among these transmissions was a news broadcast from the near future in the following year 2023, in which the band is taken to LA County Hospital and questioned by LAPD officers after a cult gathering caused a supernatural event to occur under the Hollywood sign (as seen in the music video for Cracker Island). Unaware of the events leading to this future, the band watched the transmission. The supernatural event from this transmission would later be dubbed by Russel as 'The Rupture'.
While watching 2-D paint The Last Cult's giant obelisk for 'The Great Leader' Murdoc, Noodle - 'The Scholar' - began to question if "this cult thing might already be going a bit sideways". Russel seemed happy with the obelisk, as it only improved the reception of the mysterious transmissions. Murdoc had hoped the obelisk would impress his crush next door, but as it turned out, the woman next door was actually Moon Flower, the high priestess of a cult known as 'The Forever Cult', and was unimpressed with Murdoc and The Last Cult. Murdoc's jealousy grew as Moon Flower continued to take a liking to 2-D. Meanwhile, Russel was going mad trying to solve the mystery of the transmissions and the Rupture.
After piecing together several clues from the Static Channel, Russel was convinced that the Rupture would occur on New Year’s Eve 2023 at midnight, causing an inter-dimensional portal to open under the Hollywood sign. However, nothing happened that night as Russel stood by the sign, alone in the rain for hours. He continued watching the Static Channel for clues, slowly slipping into a dazed state of hypnosis.
2-D continued to spend time with Moon Flower next door and was eventually recruited to the Forever Cult after drinking a mysterious tea made from the Forever Cult’s garden. Through her concern for Russel and 2-D’s safety, Noodle began piecing together clues of her own, uncovering a strange connection between Moon Flower and Lady Hollodown, an actress and movie producer from the 1920s. She came to the conclusion that the Forever Cult has been around since as early as the beginning of the 20th century, masquerading as a movie studio called "Forever and Ever Pictures" that was partially owned by Lady Hollodown.
Gorillaz is the eponymous debut studio album by English virtual band Gorillaz. It was released on 26 March 2001 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone and in the United States by Virgin Records. It was produced by the band with Jason Cox, Tom Girling and Dan The Automator. Work on this album began in late 1998 (at least, according to the date given from Rise of the Ogre), and ended sometime ...
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Gorillaz were formed in 1998 by Damon Albarn of alternative rock band Blur, and Jamie Hewlett, co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl. In 2001, the band released their first studio album, Gorillaz , followed by Demon Days in 2005, Plastic Beach in 2010, The Fall in 2011, Humanz in 2017, The Now Now in 2018, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez in 2020, and Cracker Island in 2023.
