Gorillaz | Gorillaz Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Gorillaz are a virtual band created in 1997 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett that consist of four fictional animated band members: 2-D (Vocals/Keys) , Murdoc Niccals (Bass Guitar) , Russel Hobbs (Percussion) and Noodle (Lead Guitar) . Contents [ show ] Band Creation The band was created by Damon Albarn from the Britpop band Blur, and Jamie Hewlett, the co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl . Their style is reminiscent of 80's dance music with strong influences from hip-hop, dub, electro, and pop. Unlike other fictional bands whose music has had real-life success, they are neither a parody of a particular genre (Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind) nor marketed to young children (The Archies), and their actual musical output is far more of an attraction to most of their fans than their existence as cartoon characters. The band's first album, 2001's Gorillaz , sold over 3 million copies and earned them an entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band.

Their second studio album, Demon Days, was released in 2005 and included the hit singles " Feel Good Inc. ", " Dare ", " Dirty Harry " and " El Mañana/Kids With Guns ." Demon Days went Double Platinum in the U.S., Triple Platinum in the U.K., and earned 5 Grammy award nominations for 2005. Phase One: Celebrity Take Down (1999-2003) Damon Albarn 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 recently formed. The interview was published in Deadline magazine , home of Hewlett's comic series, Tank Girl . Albarn and Hewlett started sharing a flat on Westbourne Grove in London in 1997. The idea to create Gorillaz came about when the two were watching MTV : "If you watch MTV for too long, it's a bit like hell – there's nothing of substance there. So we got this idea for a cartoon band, something that would be a comment on that," Hewlett has said.

The band originally identified themselves as "Gorilla" and the first song they recorded was "Ghost Train" which was later released as a B-side on their single " Rock the House " and the B-side compilation G Sides . The trio of musicians behind Gorillaz' first incarnation included Damon Albarn, Del the Funky Homosapien and Dan the Automator . The Gorillaz were very well received in the UK underground music scene and generated a lot of word-of-mouth advertising, as well as a large shroud of mystery over who was behind Gorillaz and what could be expected from the band in the months to come. Promo outlets circulated a promotional booklet to promote the fictional backstory behind the cartoon band. The band's official website, Gorillaz.com , was a virtual representation of Kong Studios , the band's fictional studio and home. Inside, you could browse through each member's bedroom, their recording environment and even the hallways and bathrooms.

Each room also had bonus surprises and games to play: for example, the lobby had a remix machine, the cafeteria contained the message board on the wall and Murdoc's Winnebago (accessible only by using the enhanced section of the Gorillaz album) contained a voodoo doll of 2D. Each member also had his or her own computer which contained pictures, samples used in various Gorillaz songs, their favorite websites and their e-mail inboxes. Because of the nature of the site, an official fansite, fans.gorillaz.com, was created to hold the standard band website information, including news, a discography and the band's touring schedules. The band's first single, " Clint Eastwood ", was released on March 5, 2001. It became a smash hit and put Gorillaz into the global spotlight. Due to this, the fictional band members' Hotmail accounts were abandoned (and later hacked) and the inboxes on the site were never updated.

Later that same month, their first full-length album, the self-titled Gorillaz was released, producing four singles: "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Tomorrow Comes Today", and "Rock the House". Each of the singles' animated music videos contained surreal and often times very dark and bizzare storylines and imagery, though "Clint Eastwood" and "19-2000" were the only singles to break through the American music scene. "19-2000" became popular after being featured in both an Icebreakers commercial, as well as in EA Sports' FIFA 2001. Also the trumpets from the song "Rock the House" can be heard in various MTV shows. The video for "Tomorrow Comes Today" was only broadcast once in the US on Toonami as a "Midnight Run" special where they played animated music videos from Gorillaz, Daft Punk, and Kenna. Around this time, a half-hour TV mockumentary entitled "Charts Of Darkness" was released. It follows Channel 4 news reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy attempting to track down Albarn and Hewlett after they were placed in an insane asylum.

The special also interviews Rachel Stevens of S Club 7 fame and a few of the band's voice talents, who had been given roles to play. The end of the year brought the song "911", a collaboration between the Gorillaz and rap artists D12 (without Eminem) and Terry Hall about the September 11, 2001 attacks. Meanwhile "G-Sides", a compilation of the B-sides from the first three singles was released in Japan and quickly followed with international releases in early 2002. The new year also saw a complicated performance at the 2002 Brit Awards, featuring the band in 3D animation, weaving in and out of each other on four large screens along with rap accompaniment by Phi Life Cypher. Finally, "Laika Come Home", a dub remix album, containing most of the tracks from "Gorillaz" reworked by Spacemonkeyz, was released in June 2002. The single to follow, "Lil' Dub Chefin'", contained an original track by the Spacemonkeyz titled "Spacemonkeyz Theme".

In November 2002, a DVD titled Phase One: Celebrity Take Down was released. The DVD contains all five videos (including the abandoned video for "5/4"), the "Charts Of Darkness" documentary, the five Gorilla Bites (short vignettes), a tour of the website by the MEL 9000 server and much more. The DVD's menu was designed much like the band's website and depicts an abandoned Kong Studios . Along with the November 2002 release of the DVD Phase One: Celebrity Take Down, the band's website closed down almost completely. The fictional Kong Studios was no longer accessible. Instead, visitors could only enter a police portacabin, where the message board and chats were still accessible. From there, a small robot called G.R.3.G. could be used to explore the abandoned Kong Studios in a 3-D shockwave environment, though doing so would only grant access to a few games. The Abandoned Gorillaz Site Rumors were going around this time that the Gorillaz team were busy preparing a film, but an EMI interview later revealed that plans for the film were abandoned.

In an interview with Haruka Kuroda (the voice of Noodle), Kuroda stated that Jamie Hewlett rejected many scripts before giving up on the movie. Phase Two: Slowboat To Hades On December 8, 2004, the website reopened with an exclusive video entitled "Rock It" and the announcement of a new album on the way, which would be produced by Danger Mouse and contain a guest appearance by De La Soul. A talent contest entitled Search For A Star was also announced, allowing fans to send in a minute-long clip of video or audio or an image file. The prize included collaborating with the band by working with them to create the music and video for "El Mañana", the fourth single for the new album, although it has been announced that it will be a double-A side with 'Kids With Guns' as well as getting their own virtual room on the newly rebuilt Kong Studios website. A second promotional booklet was issued, recapping the previously issued booklet, as well as detailing the failed movie production in Hollywood and the breakup and reforming of Gorillaz. A culture jamming project named Reject False Icons was formed criticizing modern pop figures.

The new album was first reported to be released in March 2005, but was later changed to May of the same year. The name of the album was originally reported to be We Are Happy Landfill, but was later changed to Demon Days . The first release of the album was a white label 12" promotional single of the song "Dirty Harry" featuring Bootie Brown and the Children's Choir San Fernandez. "Dirty Harry" was ineligible for the charts due to its status as a promotional single. The first proper single from the album was "Feel Good Inc.", released as an EP in Japan and as a CD single in Europe and Australia. The single entered the UK Singles Chart at #22, several weeks before the CD single was released. This happened because the single was released as a 7" vinyl in April, and new charts regulations included sales at online music stores, where the song had been available since March 22. "Feel Good Inc." managed to reach #2 in the UK Singles Chart the week it was released, being the band's highest ever positioned single up to that point in time. The single stayed in the top ten for eight consecutive weeks. In the United States, it peaked at #14.

The song would also garner a Record of the Year nomination at the 2006 Grammy Awards. The album, Demon Days, was #1 in the Album Charts on its first week, but fell as low as #29 in just seven weeks. However, as the music video for the second single "DARE" started getting played on MTV and other music channels, Demon Days rose up to the top 10 again. "DARE" was released on August 29, 2005 in the UK, where it debuted at #1. A Japanese EP followed September 7. "DARE" eventually reached #87 in the United States, also becoming a Top 10 hit on the Modern Rock listings. The third single off Demon Days was "Dirty Harry", which had already been released as a promotional single earlier that year. It was released in the UK on November 21, 2005. On its first week, it charted at #6. The release of the single raised the album once again back up to the top 10.

On 6 November 2005, Gorillaz-Unofficial [1] announced Jamie Hewlett had revealed that the song "El Mañana" would be the fourth single from Demon Days, but it has been confirmed that it will be a double A-side with "Kids With Guns" , to have a UK release on 10 April 2006. link On December 18, Demon Days went triple platinum in the UK and would end up racking up over a million copies sold in the UK by the end of the year, making it the 5th best selling album of 2005 there. Demon Days has also gone double platinum in the US and has sold over 6 million copies worldwide. In 2007 and 2008, Gorillaz will go on a holographic world tour. The cartoon members will be shown as holograms on stage using Pepper's ghost technology, giving them a life-like appearance on stage. Damon Albarn will not be present for the tour, as they will be pre-recorded.

A prototype version of the holograms was used at the 2005 MTV EMA Awards and again at the 2006 Grammy Awards with Madonna, where the band played a pre-recorded version of "Feel Good Inc." Phase Three: Escape to Plastic Beach (2008–2012) In late 2007, Albarn and Hewlett began working on Carousel, a new Gorillaz project which eventually evolved into the band's third studio album Plastic Beach.[44][45] Albarn said "I'm making this the biggest and most pop record I've ever made in many ways, but with all my experience to try and at least present something that has got depth."[45] The album features guest performances by Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Mos Def, Bobby Womack, Gruff Rhys, Mark E.

Smith, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Kano, Bashy, De La Soul, Little Dragon, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, sinfonia ViVA, and The Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music.[45][46][47] On 18 January 2010, it was announced that Gorillaz would be headlining the final night of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on 18 April 2010.[48] The first single from the album, "Stylo", featuring Bobby Womack and Mos Def was made available for download 26 January 2010.[49] Further singles from the album include "On Melancholy Hill", "Superfast Jellyfish" and "Rhinestone Eyes", as well as "White Flag", which was released exclusively for Record Store Day 2010.[citation needed] Plastic Beach was first released on 3 March 2010 in Japan, followed by multiple other dates for other countries. The album received positive reviews from critics. To fit the Plastic Beach theme, the Gorillaz website was dramatically altered and changed.

A virtual tour of the Plastic Beach was added, including a new Gorillaz game titled Escape to the Plastic Beach. Several 'Shorts' of each band member was included in the follow-up to the album's release, to give fans an understanding of the fictional band members' story before their arrival to the island. A Windows 7 theme was also released. In early July 2010, they announced their first world tour, titled the "Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour". In October 2010, Damon Albarn announced to the media that he would not let the cast of Glee cover the band's songs, claiming that the music on the Fox network's TV show is a "very poor substitute for the real thing". This statement led most people to believe that Gorillaz had been asked by Glee producers to lend their music to the show, which they had not. Albarn responded to the confusion with a laugh and said "and now they definitely won't."[50] On 5 October 2010, Gorillaz announced their new single "Doncamatic" featuring Daley.[51] It premiered later that same day on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show.

The single was released on 22 November 2010. On 8 December 2010, Albarn confirmed via an interview that a Gorillaz album recorded on the American leg of the Escape to Plastic Beach tour will be released to download for free exclusively to paying fan club members from the Gorillaz website on Christmas Day, 25 December 2010.[52] On 15 December 2010, Albarn confirmed whilst interviewed on Triple J that the new album would be titled The Fall as it was recorded on their American tour in October.[citation needed] The official video for "Phoner to Arizona" was also released on Gorillaz' official website for free on 24 December 2010.[53] It was announced that Gorillaz would be performing on 16 March 2011 at the MTV Woodie awards.

They were also nominated for the Best Video Woodie for "Stylo" at the MTV woodie awards.[citation needed] Gorillaz released a digital single of the tracks "Revolving Doors" and "Amarillo" from their new album The Fall on 14 March 2011.[citation needed] Photos were released of frontman Damon Albarn and rapper Pharrell Williams recording with an iPad, Omnichord and a Korg Donca Matic when on Gorillaz' Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour, Albarn said in an interview that he does not know when the track will be released. On 18 April 2011, Gorillaz announced the release of their own version of the iPad app iElectribe, by Korg - which features loops and samples taken from The Fall as well as other samples. The new Gorillaz version features a Gorillaz designed and styled interface, and is customized to generate Gorillaz samples from their fourth album The Fall and includes 128 new sounds created by Gorillaz and 64 ready-to-use pre-programmed patterns from Gorillaz, Stephen Sedgwick (Gorillaz' engineer) and Korg.

There have been noted problems with the app's availability outside of the United Kingdom. The app was based on Korg's Electribe: R device app.[54][55][56] On 5 October 2011, Gorillaz announced their first "greatest hits" compilation, The Singles Collection 2001–2011,[57] which was released on 28 November 2011. On 9 February 2012, Gorillaz announced "DoYaThing", a single to promote the Gorillaz-branded Converse shoes that were soon to be released. The song would be part of Converse's "Three Artists, One Song" projects, with the two collaborators being James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and André 3000 of Outkast. The track was available for free download on Converse's website, and in Journeys stores by way of scanning a QR code. An explicit, 13 minute-long version of the song became available for listening shortly after on Gorillaz.com.

Jamie Hewlett returned to direct the single's music video, featuring animated versions of the two collaborators on the track.[58][59] The video, which premiered on 29 February 2012 shows the original four Gorillaz members reunited in a three bedroom flat at 212 Wobble Street, London. Also appearing are "The Boogeyman" and André 3000 (wearing a black mask with a white X on it), who surprises 2D in various places. Russel, still a giant, rests on the roof of the building. Noodle's windmill island which featured in "Feel Good Inc." and "El Mañana" is afloat again and anchored to the side of the building. Murdoc is shown to be recording new installments of his radio show from the apartment, while Noodle sleeps. The video ends with 2D receiving an eviction notice from a baboon in a postman's uniform (apparently Murphy's avatar in the project), putting the permanency of the band's residence into question once again.

"Indefinite hiatus" and other projects (2012–present) In April 2012, Albarn told The Guardian that he and Hewlett had fallen out and that future Gorillaz projects were "unlikely". Tension between the two had been building during phase 3, as Albarn had felt that "we were at cross purposes somewhat on [Plastic Beach]" and that the visuals were not matching the music very well. [1] However, in an interview with The Independent, Hewlett stated "I just want to do some of my own stuff, and Damon has many projects – he’s always doing 10 things at once – so it's all right to separate for a bit and try different things" and that while the concept of Gorillaz has "run its course for now, it doesn't mean it's packed away for good", although a future collaboration with Albarn would be something "completely different." He also revealed that he would like to revisit some of the unfinished projects that they worked on between albums.

[2] On 25 April, in an interview with Metro, Albarn later clarified that his previous statements were "from an article which was an interesting take on a very long conversation." When asked about the future of the Gorillaz, he went on to say that once he had worked out his differences with Jamie Hewlett, he was confident that they'd make another record. When asked if sorting his differences with Hewlett would be difficult, Albarn said: "I don't think so. We've been through too much together for it to be that big of a mountain to climb. We've just fallen out like mates do sometimes. I'm not the only person to fall out with mates and then make up again – everyone does it." [3] On March 27, 2013 Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's Opera "Monkey" was announced to be re-shown in New York from July 6-28.

Damon and Jamie are now confirmed to have settled their dispute and are back in good relations with each other.[ citation needed ] News on Damon Albarn's virtual band Gorillaz had been sparse and few as of 2013, but Jamie Hewlett has confirmed that there will be a new Gorillaz album out in the future, but only after Damon's main band Blur has put out their new record. Jamie revealed the new Gorillaz plans that he and Damon discussed for the future whilst speaking at a launch event for the pair's opera 'Monkey Journey To The West' in New York city recently. It has been claimed that Jamie Hewlett said: "There’s a five- year gap between the albums because they take a long time to do and and they’re very exhausting and when you’re finished you feel like you need to go do other stuff." The Gorillaz animator and comic artist also talked about how difficult it will be for a new Gorillaz record to be commercially successful. He is reported to have said that "the music industry’s changed so much since we started doing Gorillaz. There’s no money in the industry, and many popular bands now make songs and film it from their bedrooms.

It doesn’t cost anything, and so Gorillaz is kind of expensive. It’s expensive to do because it’s animated." External links Biography of Gorillaz bio, history, career, band evolution Gorillaz Biography Considered the first "virtual hip-hop group," Gorillaz blended the musical talents of Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, Blur's Damon Albarn, Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori, and Tom Tom Club's Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz with the arresting visuals of Jamie Hewlett, best known as the creator of the cult comic Tank Girl. The virtual band is formed by the four animated band members: 2D (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass), Noodle (guitars) and Russel Hobbs (drums, percussion). Gorillaz has a dark and humorous backstory. Murdoc inadvertently put 2D into and out of a coma while trying to steal keyboards and reckless driving.

Russel and his family re-rooted to England from New York due to Russel being possessed by a demon, put in a coma for 4 years until being saved by an exorcism, and being on the wrong end of a drive-by shooting, which contributed to his drumming and rapping skills, since his friends' spirits reside in him. Noodle arrived in a FedEx crate from Japan after an ad was posted for a guitarist. According to the storyline, character 2D's legal name is Stuart Tusspot. His original nickname was Stu-Pot. He Became 2D after the accidents caused by Murdoc, giving him 2 dents in his head (2D standing for two dents). No one knows what Noodle's real name is, but it is said she was named "Noodle" because that was the first word she said in English. The band lives in the also-fictitious Kong Studios, high upon a mountain in the centre of a cemetery in Essex. Gorillaz was created by Damon Albarn (of Blur) and Jamie Hewlett (of Tank Girl fame) and was based on their interests, dreams and fears.

Matter-of-fact references to horror films are everywhere, including samples from George A. Romero films and horror film locations stated on highway sign posts in the promotional video for "19-2000". There are also some rather obscure references made to people and things such as Tom Savini, Looney Tunes and the band Swell Maps, to name a few. Gorillaz have earned the Guinness World Record for being the Most Successful Virtual Band . The first single for the band was Tomorrow Comes Today, which was very well received in the UK underground music scene. The EP and video followed suit a few months afterward, generating a lot of word-of-mouth advertising, as well as a large shroud of mystery over who was behind Gorillaz and what they were to expect in the months to come. A promotional booklet was sold at record stores to promote the backstory behind the band. The band's website, an orgy of Macromedia Flash, was a representation of Kong Studios in the fullest sense of the word: inside, you could browse through each member's bedrooms, their recording environment and even the hallways and bathrooms.

Each room also had bonus surprises and games to play: for example, the lobby had a remix machine, the cafeteria contained the messageboard on the wall and Murdoc's Winnebago contained a voodoo doll of 2D. Each member also had their own computer which contained pictures, sound bits from various takes of songs and their e-mail inboxes. Because of the nature of the site, an official fansite was created to hold the standard band website information, including a discography, touring schedules and more. The Clint Eastwood single was released at the start of March, 2001. The blend of raw hip-hop, cheesy horror music and a haunting melodica solo struck chords around the world, thrusting Gorillaz into the global limelight. Due to this, the band's Hotmail accounts were abandoned (and later hacked) and the inboxes on the site were never updated. Later that same month, their first full-length album, the self-titled Gorillaz was released, producing four singles: "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Rock The House" and "Tomorrow Comes Today".

Each of the videos contained humorous and often ridiculous storylines and imagery, though "Clint Eastwood" and "19-2000" were the only singles to break through the American music scene. "19-2000" became popular after being featured in an Icebreakers commercial. The only time the video for "Tomorrow Comes Today" was played in the States was when Toonami broadcasted a "Midnight Run" special where they played animated music videos from Gorillaz, Daft Punk, and Kenna. Around this time, a half-hour TV mockumentary entitled Charts Of Darkness was released, which follows Channel 4 news reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy attempting to track down Damon and Jamie after they were placed in an insane asylum. The special also interviews Rachel of S Club 7 fame and a few of the band's voice talents, who had been given roles to play. The end of the year brought 911, a collaboration with rap artists D12 (sans Eminem) about the September 11, 2001 attacks, along with the announcement of G-Sides, a compilation of the b-sides from the first three singles.

The new year also saw a spectacular performance at the 2002 BRIT awards, featuring the band in 3D, weaving in and out of each other on four large screens along with rap accompaniment by Phi Life Cypher. The dub remix album Laika Come Home was released in June. The record was credited to Space Monkeyz Vs Gorillaz, containing most of the debut album Gorillaz reworked by Spacemonkeyz. The single to follow, Lil' Dub Chefin' (M1 A1), contained an original track by the Spacemonkeyz titled "Spacemonkeyz Theme". On October 30th, 2002, as the band was passing into global obscurity, Kong Studios was closed by police, stating that a domestic disturbance involving a running nude man was reported at the site. The building was in shambles and it turned out that the band had fled to Hollywood to escape whomever or whatever that was trying to attack them.

November saw the release of the DVD Phase One: Celebrity Take Down which features an abandoned 3D Kong Studios (only eight rooms, including the lobby, are accessible.) If someone waits in a room longer than a minute, zombie hands will appear and grab the viewer; in some instances, a nude man is seen laughing maniacally. The DVD contains all five videos (including the abandoned video "5/4"), the "Charts Of Darkness" documentary, the five Gorilla Bites (short vignettes), a tour of the website by the MEL 9000 server and much more. Rumours were circulating around this time that Gorillaz were busy preparing a film, but an EMI interview later revealed that plans for the film were abandoned. In an interview with Haruka Kuroda (the voice of Noodle) on fansite Gorillaz-Unofficial, Kuroda stated that Jamie Hewlett rejected many scripts before giving up on the movie. On December 8th, 2004, the website reopened with the announcement of a new album on the way, including production by DJ Danger Mouse and guest appearances by De La Soul.

A contest entitled Search For A Star was also announced, allowing fans to send in a minute-long clip of video or audio they had made; the prize included collaborating with the band in some way, shape or form, as well as getting their own room in the newly rebuilt Kong Studios. It has been revealed that a log in system will be added to the website in the near future. Since then, a second promotional booklet was issued, recapping the previously issued booklet, as well as detailing the failed movie production in Hollywood and the breakup and reforming of Gorillaz. A culture jamming project named Reject False Icons was formed to strike down at modern pop figures. A new album was first reported to be released in March 2005, but was later changed to May of the same year. The name of the album was reported to be "We Are Happy Landfill", but has been changed to its official title, Demon Days. The album was leaked onto the Internet in early April, 2005. The new video from the website, "Rock It", will not be featured on the album.

On the chart week ending April 23rd 2005, the official UK Singles Chart (which originally had counted physical sales only) combined with download sales. However, the new single from Gorillaz managed to spark up a little "flaw," as with this new chart there is a rule that download sales can only be counted and can only chart if there is a physical equivalent sold at shops at the time. On this very first combined chart, when Gorillaz released their single "Feel Good Inc." to the shops, only a limited edition 300 copies in 7" format and was available online (with sales of about 3000 that week) before its official release as a physical CD single in May. The result was that it charted as high as #22. It climbed to #21 the next week, and up to #20 two weeks later. In the week of its official release (May 10, 2005) it finally reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart, giving them their highest charting single to date. At all performances, the physical band plays behind a specially designed screen which covers the stage area.

Videos, animatics and image collages are projected onto the audience side of the screen, while choreographed lights behind the screen light up silhouettes of the physical band, creating a meld of the physical and animated. For their first tour of the United States, two screens were used; one was simply the animatics, while the second, lower screen displayed the band's silhouettes along with various quotes from interviews. There have been waves of controversy surrounding who is actually behind Gorillaz ever since the first single was released. In the half-hour TV mockumentary entitled Charts Of Darkness, it was explicitly stated that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett were behind the project; quoting Albarn, "There could be fifty [people] here, but there's two." Many fans have simply assumed that the guest artists in the liner notes (including Cibo Matto vocalist Miho Hatori and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien) complete the band. In fact, the only permanent member behind the music happens to be Damon Albarn. During the "hidden" credits to the DVD Phase One: Celebrity Take Down, it states the names of the creators, the voice talents and those responsible for performing live.

The list of integral performers in the group changed drastically for the second album, with the exception of Damon Albarn himself. All artwork and promotional videos are created by Zombie Flesh Eaters (Hewlett's own company) and Passion Pictures. Gorillaz is not a traditional band with band members. The only permanent contributors to the project are the creators, Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn. The pair enlist collaborators as they see fit, and to date the project has involved a bewildering array of artists. The pair have always been equally influential in the direction of the project and continue to be so with the promotion for the second album. Visit these other interesting sites! Backstory | Gorillaz Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Share Ad blocker interference detected! Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers Wikia is not accessible if you’ve made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected. The Gorillaz logo. The official backstory of the virtual band members of Gorillaz , as established by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett.

Contents Phase 1: 1998-2002 The Gorillaz in Phase 1. The story of Gorillaz begins on August 15th, 1997. Stu-Pot was a mentally deficient keyboard enthusiast and part-time employee at Uncle Norm's Organ Emporium. Satanist hoodlum Murdoc Niccals decided to ram-raid Uncle Norm's Organ Emporium to procure synthesizer equipment in order to establish a "chart topping" musical group. However, Murdoc ended driving his Vauxhall Astra through the building and directly into Stu-Pot's head, permanently damaging ("fracturing") Stu-Pot's left eye and putting him into a catatonic state. Murdoc was sentenced to "30,000 hours of community service, plus 10 hours every week of caring for the vegetabilized Stu-Pot". Not long after, Murdoc again injured Stu-Pot in a car accident in Nottingham's Tesco parking lot when attempting a 360° in order to impress some women. During the initial rotation, he was thrown through the windshield and landed face first on a curb.

This permanently damaged Stu-Pot's right eye, but revived him from his coma. Murdoc then recruited the newly recovered (albeit still mentally defective) Stu-Pot as the keyboardist and vocalist for his group, re-dubbing him 2-D for the matching pair of dents in his head from the accidents. In September of 1998, Murdoc acquired the property of Kong Studios , a sprawling haunted studio with a rather shady history, situated atop a hill in the midst of a run-down cemetery and landfill in Districtshire, Essex. Murdoc then found a drummer for the group in a Soho record store: African-American expatriate Russel Hobbs . Russel was a middle-class New York native and was deeply troubled as a youth. He was expelled from an expensive private school for suffering from demonic possession. The trauma of said possession resulted in a four-year coma from which Russel was roused only by an elaborately executed exorcism. After his recovery, Russel began attending Brooklyn High School, where he quickly cultivated friendships with a group of rappers, DJs, MCs and street musicians.

He has said that "hip-hop saved [his] soul." This was a short-lived respite, however, as all of Russel's newfound friends were suddenly gunned-down one night in a drive-by shooting. Russel, the sole survivor, became the unwilling receptacle for the spirits of all of his slain compatriots, most notable of whom was the rhyme dropping blue phantom, Del . With their latent possession of his body, Russel gained incredible musical prowess in percussion, rap, and hip-hop as well as a disturbing side-effect: his eyes glowed an eerie white. With this new and violent turn of events, Russel's family shipped him off to England in hopes of helping him recover from his traumas quietly - not realizing they'd put him directly into the path of Murdoc's aspirations to superstardom, and the excesses that came along with it. At that point, all the fledgling group needed was a guitarist. Their first guitarist was 2-D's girlfriend, Paula Cracker , but she was shortly fired from the band after Russel caught her and Murdoc making love in the studio toilets. Disgusted by this, Russel broke Murdoc's nose five more times.

Like so many British bands before them, the trio placed an advertisement in NME. The very day the ad ran, a FedEx freight container from Japan was delivered to their doorstep and out jumped a mysterious amnesiac 8-year-old wielding a Gibson Les Paul. The tiny girl made an incomprehensible introduction in Japanese and tore into a "riff to end all riffs" which ended with an impressive karate kick to the air. She then spoke a single word in English to the stunned boys, which became her moniker: " Noodle ". After the band was finally assembled, they changed their name to Gorillaz. Their first song was called " Ghost Train " and was recorded at Kong Studios. Murdoc posted a copy of the song, some photos of the band and a manifesto over to Mr. Whiffy Smithy at EMI. On November 5th, 1998, Gorillaz played their first show at the Camden Brownhouse which ended prematurely due to a riot during their song "Punk". EMI A&R man Whiffy Smiffy discharged several rounds from shotgun to disperse the crowd enough to make his way to the stage and quickly signed them to the label.

Gorillaz released their first collection of music on the " Tomorrow Comes Today " EP in November 2000. Their first full-length debut album, "Gorillaz" was released on March 26th, 2001. During its release, the album spawned four singles; " Clint Eastwood ," " 19-2000 ," " Rock the House " and "Tomorrow Comes Today." During 2001, Gorillaz began touring through various countries including England, France, Ireland and Japan. On February 20th, 2002, Gorillaz performed at the Brit Awards where they were nominated for 6 Brit Awards but won nothing. Also in 2002, Gorillaz collaborated with rappers, D12 and Terry Hall to create the downloadable single, " 911 ." From February 23rd - March 11th, 2002, Gorillaz embarked on an 11-month tour of North America. At the end of the American Tour, of that year, the Gorillaz took a six-month break in L.A on March 13th.

There they attempted to get a movie project off the ground. The band played their last gig together at the Isle of MTV Festival in Portugal on July 20th. Meanwhile, that Halloween, Kong Studios had been shut down tight in its owner's absence by local law enforcement after an unknown man was seen running, naked and in hysterics, in the marshes near the studio. The police proceeded to keep the area secured while they investigated the strange paranormal events surrounding Kong. The Gorillaz spent the interim period working on their movie while living in a large rented home in the Hollywood Hills. Alas, the film was not meant to be, due in part to extensive over-partying, in-fighting, and disagreements with producers, directors, and a notable incident of Murdoc getting himself banned from the Playboy Mansion for stealing ashtrays. Gorillaz tried to create a movie, but everyone was too concentrated on doing drugs and hanging out with celebrities. Murdoc almost got a TV show, but they replaced him at the last minute. When Murdoc almost killed 2-D it became too much and they went their separate ways on a year and a half hiatus.

Post-Phase 1 to Pre-Phase 2: 2003-2004 2D went back to Eastbourne and worked at his father's fun fair, where his ego got a significant boost and re-established his grip on reality, and come to terms with his newfound pop icon status with the ladies. He also began a friendship with Shane Lynch from Boyzone. Russell remained in LA, but became increasingly haunted by the Grim Reaper, who eventually banished Del from his body. Luckily, Russel was approached by Ike Turner who offered him sanctuary in his basement to recover. Murdoc headed to Mexico to booze it up in Tijuana brothels, getting himself arrested for passing bad checks in the process. He enjoyed little company in his Mexican jail cell aside from his raven, Cortez, and two Mexican mobsters who would later help break him out. Noodle went back to Japan in a fruitful attempt to uncover the secrets of her own past after suffering from nightmares and visions on the Gorillaz Tour. In Japan, she was reuntied with her mentor, Mr. Kyuzo and learned that she was part of a secret government super soldier project and could speak English fluently.

Noodle was the only survivor after the project was scrapped. Mr. Kyuzo earsed Noodle's memory using the words, "Ocean Bacon" and sent her off to England in the FedEx crate. Noodle's return to Kong Studios. Armed with her newfound knowledge and iron resolve, Noodle was the first to return to Kong Studios. There she went to task battling the zombie and monster-infested darkness of the building, set up the "Search For A Star" contest, and began the process of pulling the band back together to record their new album, Demon Days . Phase 2: 2004-2007 The Gorillaz in Phase 2. With the band reunited, the process of recording Demon Days began with the help of music producer, Dangermouse. Demon Days was released on May 23rd 2005. The first single off the album was "Feel Good Inc." featuring De La Soul and it entered the UK Charts at No.2. The album's second single, "Dare" featuring Shaun Ryder, became their first single to go to No.1.

The third single was "Dirty Harry" featuring Bootie Brown and the last single was a double-sided single containing the songs, "Kids With Guns," featuring Neneh Cherry and "El Manana." Noodle decided to write her own album, "Demon Days" The first song she wrote was "DARE", and recorded the first video which she starred in. She felt that Murdoc spent the whole time showing off in the video for "Feel Good Inc." This is why she decided to make the video herself. Noodle also felt that the boys were being too silly. 2D and Russel heard her from upstairs and in the bathroom because the music was turned up so loud. At the end of the video, Noodle plays a little prank on Murdoc and takes the camera into the Winnebago while he is sleeping. On March 27th 2005, Gorillaz performed at the Manchester Opera House where they were joined with most of the collaborators from the Demon Days album. From June 6th - June 22nd, Gorillaz enbarked on The Deman Detour; a series of live radio shows throughout America.

On February 15th 2006, Gorillaz perfomed "Dirty Harry" at the Brit Awards featuring a huge chour of children and guest star, Bootie Brown. Around 2006, Noodle wanted to leave Gorillaz for a break. She planned to leave straight after the filming of the "El Manana" video shoot. On March 7th 2006, Gorillaz started the shoot for "El Manana" which starred Noodle on windmill island. Halfway through the video, the island gets shot down by the Boogieman's minions. The island goes down with Noodle on it, but she grabs a parachute and escapes. Russel and 2-D search for her but cannot find her anywhere. The music video aired on Channel 4 on March 11th, 2006. Gorillaz ended Phase 2 after performing a series of five shows at New York's Harlem Apollo and then went their separete ways. In 2006, Noodle's voice was heard from a radio in the Brain Room at the ruins of Kong Studios.

Murdoc attempted to travel through the bowels of hell in order to bring her back, but failed. This "rescue attempt" was then revealed to be a drunken stupor. Phase 3: 2008-2012 The Gorillaz in Phase 3. Note: Russel is depicted in normal size for the group picture. Murdoc went on the spend the new few years on a bender around the world. In 2008, Murdoc began to run low on money, so he burned down the ruins of Kong Studios, cashed in on the insurence money, blamed the fire on some kids and fled the country. He also mentioned that part of the reason for the move was to flee from a deadly underground network of pirates simply referred to as the "Black Clouds." The Black Clouds, who were out to kill him after their business deal went south. While searching the world for a new hideout, Murdoc discovered an island in the middle of the ocean made entirly out of landfull stuck together.

He sprayed the island bright pink and used the insurence money to build a new Gorillaz HQ on top, renaming the island, "Plastic Beach." According to the pelican at the entrance of the building on the band's website, Plastic Beach is the farthest point from any other land mass in the world, dubbed "Point Nemo".After finding the island, he shipped a great deal of the band's belongings to Plastic Beach, their new home. While residing on the island, Murdoc began production for the third Gorillaz ablum, but he had to reassemble his band mates. Murdoc said he tried to recover clues to Noodle's whereabouts from the wreckage of the windmill from El Manana, but the most he could obtain was a DNA sample. He later used her DNA to create a violent cyborg version of Noodle, who acts as his bodyguard. In the Stylo video, Cyborg Noodle is shown to be adept at the use of firearms, nearly blowing away a police officer that was in pursuit of 2D and Murdoc as they fled toward Plastic Beach.

However, Noodle is confirmed to be alive due to her appearance in the "On Melancholy Hill" and "Rhinestone Eyes" videos. Part of the album artwork for Plastic Beach also included a picture of a battered and bruised Noodle with jet-black eyes. Since a robot can't bruise, it makes sense that this picture would be of the real noodle rather than the cyborg version. (Of course, that brings up the question of how she got those eyes and what exactly they mean, but time will tell.) Noodle is being hunted by pirates in a manner similar to Murdoc for unknown reasons, (more on that later) and the cruise ship she was sailing on was sunk by attacking bombers, leaving her drifting at sea in a life raft. 2D was gassed, kidnapped in his Beruit retreat, and taken to Plastic Beach in a suitcase (as shown in 2D's Plastic Beach Ident video clip). He believes Murdoc was the one who kidnapped him; however, it appears that a new character, a demon wearing a gas mask known as the Boogie Man, was his kidnapper.

The Boogie Man is the embodiment of all wordly evil and appears in several artworks, as well as 2D's Ident, the Stylo video, and the storyboard for Rhinestone Eyes. Currently, he is being held at Plastic Beach against his will by Murdoc, who forces him to assist in the making of his music tracks. Little was known about the fate of Russell initially, as Murdoc mentioned he had essentially dropped off the face of the earth. Murdoc mentions that he used a drum machine built from all of Russel's equipment to provide percussion for his album. Finally, Russel's Plastic Beach Ident clip hit the website, showing him stomping down a fishing dock in a barely suppressed rage and jumping off the end into the ocean. When the album dropped and the artwork for the record debuted, it depicted Russel as a giant; he is now as tall as all of Plastic Beach. In the "Making of Plastic Beach" documentary, included in the deluxe edition of the album, Jamie Hewlett shows Mos Def the artwork for the album and explains the back story for each character.

He says that in swimming the ENTIRE way to Plastic Beach, Russell ingested so much pollution, trash and toxic waste that he was transformed into a giant, making a reference to Gulliver's Travels. Russell's situation reinforces the idea of human excess destroying nature already present on the album. On the way to Plastic Beach, Russel finds the sea-stranded Noodle and rescues her, and together they continue on to be reunited with the rest of the band. Murdoc and 2D proceed to make their way to Plastic Beach via a road trip to the ocean in a 1969 Camaro SS (dubbed "Stylo'). Murdoc and 2D are attacked by Bruce Willis, driving a 1968 El Camino. Cyborg Noodle is rendered useless due to a bullet through her head, and Willis opens fire on the two, resulting in a car chase that makes up the Stylo video. Murdoc drives them off a cliff into the ocean, and the car transforms into a shark shaped submarine. The car chase was recorded on film by Murdoc's personal camera crew and was edited the make the music video for the "Stylo" single.

The Plasic Beach album was released on March 3rd 2010. The Boogieman moments before taking several bullets through his cape from Cyborg Noodle's rifle. Murdoc, 2D, and the newly recovered Cyborg Noodle, along with all the collaborators for the Plastic Beach album, make their way to Point Nemo together, traveling side by side in an armada of underwater vehicles. Upon arriving in a thick fog, Murdoc sights the Boogie Man and orders his Cyborg bodyguard to open fire. The Boogie Man escapes, leaving the fog to dissipate and reveal Plastic Beach. On November 21st, Gorillaz released a new single called "Doncamatic" featuring Daley. The music video for the single featured Daley piloting a one man submarine through the depths of the ocean on his way to Plastic Beach. The song went to No.37 in the UK Singles Charts.

From October 3rd - December 21st, Gorillaz set off on their first world tour; "The Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour." Unfortunatly Murdoc, 2-D and Cyborg Noodle spent the entire tour locked in the dressing room while the Gorillaz "live band" took over the stage. Murdoc suspected that when he refused to give his soul to Satan for making Gorillaz successful, he kept the real Gorillaz out of the shows and gave the glory to the Gorillaz Live band. The live band consisted on Daman Albarn and half of The Clash. It was also Satan who sent the Boogieman to track Murdoc down to claim his soul. During the American leg of the tour, 2-D had been working on a new collection of Gorillaz music on his iPad. He had been experimenting with new sounds and apps in various locations during the tour, including his hotel room, backstage in the dressing rooms, and in the back of the tour bus. This collection of new music was become, "The Fall." It was released on Christmas Day in 2010 for free download from their website to the members of their Sub-Division fan club.

The album was physically released on CD on April 18th, 2011. The first single off the album was a double sided single featuring the tracks, "Revolving Doors" / "Amarillo." The band in Phase 3, along with Cyborg Noodle. The storyboard of the now cancelled music video for "Rhinestone Eyes" reveals that the gas mask demon known as the Boogie Man has a grudge against Murdoc due to a deal they made. This could mean that the Boogie Man represents the Black Cloud in this video, as he is also seen summoning pirates, as well as planes similar to the ones that attacked Noodle, to raid Plastic Beach in an attempt at Murdoc's life. The album's collaborators, along with Cyborg Noodle, arm themselves with guns and retaliate, while Murdoc hides for fear of his own safety. 2D, who is shown to be deathly afraid of whales, is frightened senseless when a whale nearly rams the underside of the island during the battle. However, just as it closes it's jaws around the underwater window of 2D's room, Russel appears and hurls the whale into an enemy plane, destroying it.

Russel then leans onto the Beach and opens his mouth, revealing the real Noodle. Noodle then takes off her mask, revealing scars around her eye. Soon after that, the Black Clouds bombarded the island, now going for an all-out attack on the island. In the chaos, the whale managed to break through the wall where 2D was and the singer shared the fate of Jonah: being swallowed whole by the whale. While this was going on, Cyborg Noodle suffered a severe malfunction and tried to kill Murdoc, but was put offline permanently by Noodle. Russel managed to rescue Noodle and 2D managed to escape the whale. The Boogieman was "destroyed" by the Evangelist, a polar opposite of the Boogieman. Murdoc was killed in the bombarding of the garbage island. Or so the Black Clouds thought. In truth, Murdoc had a badly disguised decoy take his place and make it look like he committed suicide. The Boogieman collected the decoy's soul but was "wiped out" by the Evangelist. Meanwhile, the real Murdoc escaped the island in a rowboat, but was caught up in a typhoon and eventually landed in Hawaii.

There, he began to record a radio show to celebrate Gorillaz' Ten Year anniversary. Turns out he wasn't in Hawaii, but a ransacked house in London, where the other three members managed to reach him. It's unknown what happened then. Notice of Eviction. As of October 16, 2011, the four remaining band members were seen living at 212 Wobble Street, London(as seen in the DoYaThing music video). 2D is seen checking on Noodle as she sleeps. Most of her facial injuries appear to have healed. The Boogieman was also revealed to still be alive and lived in with the band, reading a newspaper. Russel is later seen sleeping on the roof of the row house as 2D receives a letter stating that the band was being evicted from the residence. The floating windmill island can be seen in a state of disrepair and anchored to the roof of the building.

Question: The group 'Gorillaz' made a record which got to number 4 in the pop charts in 2001. The title of the record was the name of which film star?
Answer: CLINT EASTWOOD