Welcome back, music lovers. We have experienced one heck of a series of news cycles this week, so it’s time for a little something different. This week I am devoting this diary to a band called Gorillaz. This is the brainchild of Blur’s Damon Albarn and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett (famous for Tank Girl. In the late 1990s Albarn and Hewlett were apparently chatting about the lack of substance in contemporary pop music and that one might as well simply put a bunch of cartoon characters on stage or videos. So, they set out to do precisely that – with Albarn hoping to produce something a bit more substantial. The Gorillaz also let him explore some sounds that he ordinarily would not do within a Britpop format. First album got released in 2001, and there have been periodic releases and tours since, with a brief break early this decade.
I’ll start out with the opening video for the latest album, The Now Now, called “Humility” (George Benson vocal and Jack Black handling the guitar chores):
The songs on the album center around one of the characters (2-D) who has some conflicting thoughts about cutting off ties with those he once trusted. That’s the overall arc. There’s a whole back story to the characters that is itself intriguing. I may look up a video or two just for those who dig that kind of thing. Now the idea of using cartoon characters as a “band” is not entirely new. What is different is that these characters are not tied to a TV series or franchise. Albarn has used this concept as a vehicle to explore some social commentary to emotional and interpersonal conflict – always with a healthy dose of dark humor. Their 2010 album The Plastic Beach, for example, has as part of its back story some commentary on our pollution of our environment (specifically our oceans).
I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing them live (wrong place, wrong time). But thanks to one of my kids I got turned on to their recordings. Political activists who enjoyed the old Colbert Report might remember their appearance on that show, which had guest musicians Mick Jones and Paul Simonon (formerly of the Clash) as not only part of the studio recordings but part of the touring band as well. They have, as noted before, utilized numerous collaborators. More to come.
