Artist Profile

Gorillaz

Brief overview:

Gorillaz are a British musical and visual project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. Damon Albarn, born 23 March 1968, is an English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is best known for being the front-man of the alternative rock band Blur as well as the vocalist and principal songwriter of virtual band Gorillaz. They originate from Essex, England. The labels that have worked with throughout their history are; Parlophone, Virgin, EMI, Def Jam, Universal Music Group. They are still present to this day and started in 1998, however had an hiatus in the year of 2011 and 2012. This was because of the band members and live performers going to do their own separate thing. They are heard to be recording new material in late 2013 and to be expanding on this in the next year or so. The Gorillaz are famous to a worldwide stage for their live performances.
Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett first met in 1990 when Graham Coxon, a fan of Hewlett's work, asked him to interview Blur, which was a band both Albarn and Coxon and had only recently formed. Damon Albarn being previously known and famous for being the front-man of Brit Pop-rock band 'Blur' who also had much success in the charts, already had a reputation to have the ability to earn commercial success. Blur were described to be as the 'rivalry' band to the Gallagher brother's 'Oasis'. They competed for years throughout the late 80's and early 90's in the charts as they music was deemed to be quite similar genre and structures. They both didn't agree in sharing the fame as Britain's most hyped up band at the time so a hatrid slowly begun to grow throughout years to come.
The project consists of Gorillaz itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters. This band has four animated members: 2D (lead vocalist, keyboard, and melodica), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar and drum machine), Noodle (guitar, keyboard, and occasional vocals) and Russel Hobbs (drums and percussion). Their fictional universe is explored through the band's website and music videos, as well as a number of other media, such as short cartoons. The music is a collaboration between various musicians, with Albarn being the only permanent musical contributor. Their style is a composition of multiple musical genres, with a large number of influences including alternative, rock, hip hop, electronica, dub and pop.

The band's 2001 debut album 'Gorillaz' sold over seven million copies and earned them an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band. It was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2001, but the nomination was later withdrawn at the band's request. Their second studio album, Demon Days, released in 2005, went five times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the United States, earned five Grammy Award nominations for 2006 and won one of them in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category^. The band has won numerous other awards, including two MTV Video Music Awards, an NME Award, three MTV Europe Music Awards, and have been nominated for nine Brit Awards. The combined sales of the Gorillaz and Demon Days albums had exceeded 15 million by 2007. The band's third studio album, 'Plastic Beach', was released in March 2010.
Their latest album, The Fall, was released in December 2010 as a free download for fan club members, then in April 2011 as a physical release.
In April 2012, Albarn revealed that the project was "unlikely" to continue due to disagreements with Hewlett. However, he later stated that when he and Hewlett had worked out their differences, another Gorillaz record was possible.

As you can tell, the album artwork that Blur had used for their Greatest Hits album was taken across as Damon Albarn used it for the very commercially successful album 'Demon Days' by the Gorillaz.

Music videos:

Gorillaz - Dare:

 The main purpose of most Gorillaz music videos is to advertise and portray the animated characters who are seen as the musicians behind the tracks when really it's actual performers and recording artists. It is a classic and original trademark that was created by Damon Albarn, the founder  of the Gorillaz. This video involves Shaun Ryder, ex front-man of popular indie Brit pop band Happy Mondays. His head is introduced in a close-up shot at 0:33. The whole video than that image is animated. A contrast of dull and bright, attractive lights are used throughout the video. The contrast makes the difference between shots more significant and noticeable to the audience.



Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood:

 Clint Eastwood is one of the Gorillaz most commercially successful song. Now reaching 49+ million views on YouTube,  the song was released as the first single from their self-titled debut album in March 2001. It peaked at number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and number 57 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The single has sold 480,000 copies in the UK according to the Official UK Charts Company. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it 38 on its 100 best songs of the 2000s. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 141 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". The song is named after the actor of the same name due to its similarity to the theme music of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as well as the song's notable melodic line. This was said by Damon Albarn in an interview that the film actually inspired by the slow tempo, catchy hooks in the melody.
The song is a mix of electronic, dub, hip hop and rock, so yet again this is an independent music style that only the Gorillaz have. The verses are rapped by Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, portrayed as a blue phantom in the video, while the chorus is sung by Damon Albarn, portraying the animated character 2D. There are many artists that collaborate with Gorillaz as their music is constantly diverse and changing. This is seen in their latest album 'Plastic Beach' released in 2010 where orchestra are used frequently in the majority of the songs on the track-listing, also an appearance from Snoop Dogg. They are now at the prestigious and successful level they require to have the ability to be able to work with someone of the reputation that artist Snoop Dogg has.

The music video for Clint Eastwood has a performance from  the animated band who individually fade into the shots at around 0:20 seconds. Seeing them play the instruments quite comfortably is amusing but fascinating at the same time. Technology is now at the advanced level in which animated characters can be made to look like they are actually playing instruments to a convincing, professional level.