The Musical History of....

 The "Gorillaz" are the brainchild of Damon Albarn (of Blur Fame) and Jamie Hewlett who created the band in 1998. I remember the first time I heard the band "Gorillaz". I was on the yearly chorus trip and we were in our hotel room in Toronto Canada. On the local cable station there was a channel playing interesting music types and the first video I saw was by this band. That song was called "Clint Eastwood". I was instantly a fan and I made it a personal mission to track down their debut album "Gorillaz".


Free Music Downloads

The Gorillaz consist of 2D on vocals, Noodle on guitar, Russel on drums, and Murdoc on bass. All of which are cartoon incarnations who act as the "real" members of the band. When the Gorillaz real life musician's would play they would play behind a screen while prerecorded material featuring the animated cast would play.

Gorillaz self titled album to this day remains one of my favorite albums. I love the blend of musical styles on the album and its one of the very few instances where I feel that rap works on the album. The Rapping is done by Del The Funkee Homosapien and it really flows well with the sound of the rest of the record. "Del" is represented as the split personality of the drummer of the group Russel and makes several appearance's on the album in songs like "Clint Eastwood" and "Rock the House". This album featured such musical styles as Latin, punk, as well as the rock and hip hop

In 2004 the band released the song "Rock It" on their website exclusively. It came with the announcement of another album that was on the way. From the sound of "Rock It" we knew the new material was going to be good stuff. It was just the core of what Gorillaz were.


Free Music Downloads

"Demon Days" was released in 2005 and it saw a regression in the musical format of its predecessor at least for most of the singles that is. Surprisingly "Demon Days" mainly featured the actual band. The songs that didn't have guest rappers were great. Unfortunately on the tracks  "Dirty Harry" and "Feel Good Inc." there were guest rappers who made the songs sound cheap and forced. Dirty Harry had the potential to be a really great song but because of a horrible rapping part it was ultimately a throw away. Feel Good Inc. was the first single off of "Demon Days" and it too was the victim of crappy rapping but not nearly to the extent of "Harry". The song "Dare" was released as a single and it was the only song that had a featured artist that worked.


Free Music Downloads
Songs on the album that were a success but not singles were "Last Living Souls", "Every Planet We Reach Is Dead", and "Don't Get Lost In Heaven". The song "Fire coming out of the monkey's Head" had spoken word lyrics performed by the late Dennis Hooper. Its one of the truly interesting songs on the album. "Demon Days" wasn't nearly as epic as the self titled album but it was good enough to make me excited for the next release. Little did I know that it would turn my opinion of the Gorillaz on its head.