Gorillaz are an English virtual band created in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, from London. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle and Russel Hobbs (drums). Their universe is presented in media such as music videos, interviews, comic strips and short cartoons. Gorillaz's music has featured collaborations with a wide range of featured artists, with Albarn as the only permanent musical contributor.
Gorillaz is the debut studio album by English virtual band Gorillaz, released on 26 March 2001 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone and in the United States by Virgin Records. The album reached number three in the UK and number fourteen in the US, and the top ten in several other countries. Gorillaz has sold over seven million copies worldwide. The album's success earned the group an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "Most Successful Virtual Band", and spawned the singles "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Rock the House", and "Tomorrow Comes Today".
"Feel Good Inc." is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz featuring American hip-hop group De La Soul. Released on 9 May 2005 as the lead single from the band's second studio album, Demon Days, the single peaked at No. 2 in the United Kingdom and No. 14 in the United States, topping the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart for eight consecutive weeks and appearing on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end rankings for both 2005 and 2006. The song peaked within the top 10 in 15 countries, reaching No. 1 in Spain and Greece, and has been certified five times platinum in Canada and triple-platinum in the United Kingdom.
"Clint Eastwood" is a song by English virtual band Gorillaz, released as the first single from their self-titled debut album on 5 March 2001. 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. The song is a mix of electronic music, dub, hip hop and rock. The verses are rapped by Del the Funky Homosapien, portrayed as a blue phantom in the video, while the chorus is sung by Damon Albarn.
"Rock the House" is a song from Gorillaz' self-titled debut album. It was released as the third single from the album in October 2001. It peaked at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. The song features a horn section loop sampled from "Modesty Blaise", a piece by British jazz musician John Dankworth. Rapper Del the Funky Homosapien is the only artist to provide vocals for the song.
Spacemonkeyz are a musical group consisting of Darren Galea, Richie Stevens and Gavin Dodds. They came together when Galea created a dub remix of the Gorillaz' "Tomorrow Comes Today", which Gorillaz founder Damon Albarn liked so much that he asked Galea to remix the whole album Gorillaz. The resulting album, Laika Come Home, was released in July 2002. The album's first and only single "Lil' Dub Chefin'" reached #73 on the UK Singles Chart.
Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades is a compilation DVD by Gorillaz, released in October 2006. The DVD is similar to the band's first DVD, Phase One: Celebrity Take Down, but compiles the videos and animatics related to the release of the band's second album, Demon Days, as well as the related singles.
Philip Cornwell is an English actor, comedian, impressionist and writer. He is part of the Dead Ringers television and radio series, and is the voice of Murdoc Niccals in the virtual band Gorillaz. Cornwell has co-written and performed principal roles in The Glam Metal Detectives and Stella Street. He also portrayed DJ Dave Clifton from I'm Alan Partridge and the movie, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.
"5/4" is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz and is the second track on their 2001 self-titled debut album. According to the Gorillaz biography Rise of the Ogre, "5/4" was originally intended to follow "Clint Eastwood" as a single, but was instead replaced by "19-2000" at the "last minute." The storyboards Jamie Hewlett had started for the accompanying music video before the switch were later included on the DVD Phase One: Celebrity Take Down. The title is a reference to the 5
4 time signature of the guitar riff that appears throughout the track. The song was performed live by the band on their first tour, and was subsequently brought back on the Humanz Tour, with Jehnny Beth taking lead vocals.
Cass Browne is an English musician and writer.
D-Sides is a 2007 compilation album by the British virtual band Gorillaz. The album contains B-sides and remixes from singles and bonus tracks for the band's second studio album Demon Days, as well as previously unreleased tracks recorded during the same sessions. It was released on 19 November 2007 in the UK and on 20 November in the United States and is available in standard and deluxe editions. The Japanese deluxe edition includes three extra tracks, plus the video for 'Rockit'. D-Sides performed similarly to its 2002 predecessor, G-Sides, reaching No. 63 on the UK Albums Chart, while it reached No. 166 on the US Billboard 200 chart.
Plastic Beach is the third studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz. It was released on 3 March 2010 by Parlophone internationally and by Virgin Records in the United States. Conceived from an unfinished project called Carousel, the album was recorded from June 2008 to November 2009, and was produced primarily by group co-creator Damon Albarn. It features guest appearances by such artists as Snoop Dogg, Gruff Rhys, De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Lou Reed, Mark E. Smith, Bashy, Kano, and Little Dragon.
"Stylo" is the first single from British virtual band Gorillaz's third studio album Plastic Beach. The song features guest vocals from Bobby Womack and Mos Def. The single was released on 26 January 2010.
"On Melancholy Hill" is the third single from British virtual band Gorillaz's third studio album, Plastic Beach. The single was released on 12 June 2010.
"Saturnz Barz" is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz, featuring Jamaican dancehall artist Popcaan. The song was released on 23 March 2017. It was released as the lead single from their fifth studio album Humanz. The song marks the group's comeback since 2012's "DoYaThing", although 2017 had seen the non-single release of the song "Hallelujah Money" which features English singer Benjamin Clementine. "Saturnz Barz" was produced by frontman Damon Albarn, Remi Kabaka Jr. and producer The Twilite Tone, and marks the group's first collaboration with Popcaan.
"Strobelite" is a single by British virtual band Gorillaz, released on their fifth studio album Humanz. It features guest vocals by Peven Everett. The single was released on 4 August 2017, with an accompanying music video released three days later.
"Humility" is a single by British virtual band Gorillaz featuring American jazz guitarist George Benson. It was released on 31 May 2018 along with "Lake Zurich" as the first single from their sixth studio album, The Now Now. On 12 July 2018, two remixes of the song by Superorganism and DJ Koze were released. It charted in a total of 8 countries reaching number 85 on the US Billboard Hot 100, with its highest position in any chart being number 7 in Billboard's Hot Rock Songs.
Song Machine is an audiovisual project by British virtual band Gorillaz. It is a music video web series consisting of a collection of music videos and singles that are released monthly by the band as episodes of the series, with each episode featuring additional guests. Each episode is released with accompanying interludes called "Machine Bitez", a series of skits consisting of short conversations and interviews with Song Machine's guests from Gorillaz' virtual band members. The project was officially launched on 30 January 2020. Season one of Song Machine consists of 9 episodes and was released as an album titled Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez on 23 October 2020. A second season was announced in 2020, though it was later scrapped in favor of Cracker Island.
"Désolé" is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz featuring Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara. The track was released on 27 February 2020 as the second single for Gorillaz' seventh studio album, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez. The song is part of the Song Machine project, which is a web series involving the ongoing release of various Gorillaz tracks featuring different guest musicians over the course of 2020.
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