Gorillaz

A band called "Gorillaz" exist of four animated band members: 2-D (vocals, keyboard), Murdoc (bass guitar), Noodle (lead guitar and occasional vocals) and Russel (drums and percussion).

So what's the deal with this "virtual hip-hop group"?

Gorillaz was formed in real life by two people : Damon Albarn (from britpop band "Blur") and Jamie Hewlett, who is an English comic book artist and animator.

Damon Albarn has said that there has been many many people working with Gorillaz over the years with him self being the only permanent musical contributor by preforming the singing voice for 2-D on every album and track.

In short, the Gorillaz as real, singular human beings do not exist.

Everybody that has heard Gorillaz knows that it is some really alternative music. If I would describe the music style of Gorillaz I would say like I mentioned before that it is hip-hop with something called zombie-style rapping and alternative rock. So it basically alternative hip-hop/alternative rock. Does genre has some things in common because alternative hip-hop is a genre that's drawing equally from funk and pop/rock, as well as jazz, soul, reggae. it's more keyboard, guitar and strings.

So the whole discography of Gorillaz consists of two studio albums, ten singles, one extended play (EP), one B-side compilation, one remix album, and one remix/B-side compilation.

the band released their first studio album, Gorillaz. Their second studio album, Demon Days, was released in 2005.

"Feel Good Inc."

This song has been Gorillaz most popular song to date. This song is about pop-culture and the repeat of bad ideas through the lot of it. It's saying how people are brainwashed and driven into bad things and how Hollywood is shutting down good ideas. De La Soul represent Hollywood (the INC.), Noodle is freedom of thoughts and different, new ideas and 2-D is trapped in the middle of pop-culture but wants to escape, and realises by the end of it that he can't.

This explains why 2-D repeats the phrase "Feel good," over and over to himself, as he is depressed and frustrated, and why De La Soul are laughing mockingly at 2-D; because he can't be rid of them.

The music video to this song is one of my favourite music videos. It's so cool and really well done.



"Clint Eastwood"

Clint Eastwood is a mix of electronic, hip hop and rock.

Many people thinks that this song is about drugs and what he seen when he is on acid, but that not right.

The video and song name is a reference to the famous western starring actor Clint Eastwood, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". The yell from the film's theme song can be heard at the beginning of the video. Midway through the film, Del summons a graveyard from the ground, which is a reference to the ending of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". Although often mistaken for referring to drugs such as marijuana, LSD, or mushrooms, the song's famous chorus, "I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad. I got sunshine in a bag", is actually a reference to the money in the bag Clint Eastwood's character rides off with at the end of the film. Also in the video, resurrected "Gorillas" dance the Thriller referencing to Michael Jackson's Thriller music video.

The video for Clint Eastwood won an award at the Rushes Soho Short Film Festival Awards in 2001

It's a really wired video but really well done and cool.


"19-2000"

For me the song says that you got all the time in the world, slow down, take it easy, "get the cool shoeshine".


There are two different versions of this song the first called "19-2000" released on this début album "Gorillaz" and the second one called "19-2000 (Soulchild remix)"

Both videos are almost identical, except for a few minor changes in order for the two songs to sync up with the video.

"19-2000"



"19-2000 (soulchild remix)"



"Kids With Guns"

This is one of my favourite Gorillaz songs. I love the bass intro that goes on through the song.

Sorry but I can't find this song anywhere on the internet..:S if you have Spotify it's up there. Or if you have it on your computer listen to it.

http://open.spotify.com/track/0eEgMbSzOHmkOeVuNC3E0k

"Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head"

please listen to this song first and listen to the lyrics before reading my analysis.



So this is an really interesting song, first it sounds like a story but if you look a little deeper and think, you'll see it's more than just a story...

To me this song seems like the idealistic fantasies that we all have. In essence we either all want to be Happyfolk or we feel like we already are. The Strangefolk represent reality, in that, there's always going to be someone or something that comes along to ruin happiness for everyone else.

The Happyfolk were innocent and completely blind to the evil the Strangefolk brought because they couldn't see their eyes. This is a lot like life itself in that we often can't see when bad things are going to happen even if we have multiple signs (shadows, nightmares, etc.). Its that whole "ignorance is bliss" concept, only amplified.

Ultimately greed leads to the downfall of mankind, and that's why in digging for the precious jewels, the Strangefolk woke the spirit of the mountain.

There are two ways to interpret the mountain. You could say that it has always been just a volcano that became active once disturbed, or that there is some true spiritual meaning behind it, in that God punishes those who are evil. But unfortunately, the Happyfolk were caught up in all this, just because they couldn't see the eyes of the Strangefolk...

As depressing as it is, I think this song may just be saying, there never can nor will be a land of Happyfolk because Strangefolk will always come to inevitably destroy it.

"Oh little town in USA, the time has come to see
There's nothing you believe you want
But where were you when it all came down on me?
Did you come it down on..."

I can't be sure about this last line, but I think it's a statement about the U.S. and how the Americans may feel that they have it all over there, but then again they do so little to help foreign nations (this can be discussed). Or maybe, just maybe, 2-D is saying that Americans are the Strangefolk and somehow this song ties back to the U.S. going to war because of 9/11, and the "mining for gems" being one big metaphor for the U.S. digging for oil.

this really says that you can never find a place that's nice and peaceful because there isn't any...

This is an extremely well put together narrative and I love this song because it's sound so cool.

So after analysing Gorillaz I can say this: Many of the lyrics is really good and many of the lyrics is really deeper then you may think. The image that people have of Gorillaz is that it's just a cartoony hip-hop group with some weird song that don't have any meaning at all, just sounds good. They have never tried to listen to the lyrics.

Gorillaz is a really awesome group with a somewhat weird sound that calm your mind and deep lyrics that mean something rather then just sounding good, but that is also important and Gorillaz manage to pull it of almost every time.

I recommend for you to listen to the whole album "Demon Days" because i think it's one of the better albums in the world, and it's one of my favourite albums.