Some people might argue that 24 years isn’t a “landmark” anniversary. Maybe it’s not, but then again, it’s not in the Penta DNA to simply conform to the status quo, we like to do things our own way, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do here. Yep, we’re going to celebrate the 24th anniversary of Gorillaz’ seminal self-titled debut album.
First things first, let’s turn back the clocks for a bit of a history lesson. Damon Albarn spent most of the 1990s as one of the UK’s biggest cultural figureheads as frontman of legendary Britpop band Blur. As Britpop began to fizzle out and the decade came to an end, so did his highly publicised relationship with fellow scene icon Justine Frischmann of the band Elastica. After the breakup, he found himself living with acclaimed artist and fellow London creative Jamie Hewlett. It was this living arrangement that would spark the beginning of the most successful virtual band of all time.
2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle, and Russel Hobbs - the four “musicians” that make up the band - may have seemed like a gimmick at first, but really what they offer fans is a whole world of lore and backstory to explore. They are sometimes weird, sometimes crass, sometimes dark, and sometimes funny, but they are always entertaining. Each of the characters has their own carefully crafted backstory and exist in a universe somewhere between fictional and real life.
With Blur, Albarn had already demonstrated an eagerness to expand his musical palate and experiment musically, but under the pretence of the four characters designed by Hewlett, he had free rein to explore anything he wanted. The result is an album that spits out everything from trip hop and dub music to punk and alternative rock.
Unsurprisingly, this open-minded approach opened the door to a plethora of different collaborators, with artists from all kinds of places and genres making contributions – something that would become a trademark of the band in years to come.
This album is creative, unique, and vibrant, and led by lead single ‘Clint Eastwood’ – a song so brilliantly simple that a clip of how Albarn made it went viral on TikTok - reached number 3 in the UK charts (you have to remember that this was back in the days before streaming warped the music charts). It would subsequently go platinum in the US and triple platinum in the UK.
Gorillaz’s music is nowadays somewhat ubiquitous, with the likes of “Feel Good Inc” and “On Melancholy Hill” racking up billions of streams and plays across various platforms, but ‘Gorillaz’, with its own weird little vibe, is where it all began.
Many musicians spend their entire careers without having a hit single, let alone making a wider cultural impact. Damon Albarn achieved it multiple times, being a driving force in two of the most important and influential music groups of the 90s and 2000s.
Obviously, we’ve barely scratched the surface of the world of Gorillaz with our short review here, but if you are to take anything away from it, it’s that a revisit and relisten to “Gorillaz” is well worth your time.
Gorillaz’ self-titled debut album was released 26 March 2001.
Still credits: “Gorillaz - Gorillaz (Full Album)” uploaded to YouTube by Gal Godonut
