Sometimes the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts. In this case, literally, as the four virtual band members, 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle, and Russel Hobbs, collectively known as Gorillaz, are the creation of just two people: one musician, Damon Albarn, and one artist, Jamie Hewlett. Music + cartoons was a good way to catch my attention as a kid, and their quality of the work over the years has kept my interest ever since.
420 to 30: A Music Retrospective
Here's 7 of my favorites from Gorillaz.
Week 20: GORILLAZ
#134/420 - Gorillaz feat. Del the Funky Homosapien, “Rock the House”
The first Gorillaz album holds up well, preserving a distinctly grittier texture that is lost in later releases. This is one of its best and most memorable, which always succeeds in capturing my attention on any play-through of this album.
It’s fairly basic, but fairly basically good. It’s just that jubilee groove, like a nice game of hopscotch for your ears. Good stuff.
#135/420 - Gorillaz feat. Dennis Hopper, “Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head”
And just like that, Dennis Hopper sneaks onto the list before [insert your favorite artist here that I am snubbing].
This is a good one. Demon Days is a good album. Produced and largely co-written with Brian ‘Danger Mouse’ Burton, this is a Damon Albarn solo composition that features aforementioned Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper doing spoken word. It’s a really cool denouement to the album, the humming choir I enjoy quite a bit, and the story it tells is very interesting. It’s something to ponder, or simply a good beat if you choose to tune out thought.
A great lead-in to a great finale on this album as well.
#136/420 - Gorillaz, “On Melancholy Hill”
It seemed like an eternity between Gorillaz albums back in the day, whereas today I’ve barely had time to listen to all of the newer ones. Plastic Beach was definitely a shift in style from the first two, but over time I have probably listened to it just as often. If you’re going to take five years to make a new album, it might as well be good and there’s a lot of good songs on here. I enjoy it straight through, but this one in particular is my favorite of the bunch.
It’s actually quite hard for me to rank the first three Gorillaz albums because I think they are all so close to each other in quality, despite their differences. Maybe I’d pick Demon Days, but it’s a hard one.
As a calm person, I enjoy melancholy music like I enjoy a calm rain. It may be grey, but there is warmth in peace.
#137/420 - Gorillaz, “Last Living Souls”
My favorite from Demon Days. I like how it substantiates itself with more and more layers of sounds and effects as it goes and I’m just generally very fond of songs with big change-ups in the bridges that last more than a few seconds. Not only is it nice to slow things down for a moment, but it makes the return all the more impactful.
Oddly, considering how much of a Danger Mouse fan I consider myself to be, my two favorite tracks on Demon Days are two of the only ones he didn’t help write, but hey, good is good.
Really, the rest of this album is very awesome and I’m leaving off tons of great songs. I don’t think there’s a stinker on the whole thing. There’s also interesting and positive themes that develop throughout, don’t reach for the gun, treat the planet right, have self-control, overcome programming/adversity. And the gospel choir in the last two tracks is wonderful.
#138/420 - Gorillaz, “Hong Kong”
This was a slightly under-the-radar song by Gorillaz on a UK charity album commemorating the 40th anniversary of The Beatles’ Help! to help raise money for war aid. This song by the Gorillaz is a major highlight of not only that album, but of Gorillaz’s entire discography.
It’s one of their longest songs at over 7 minutes, maybe the longest, but it’s also one of their most relaxing, rainy day-type songs which makes the length very welcome as it really allows you to fall into it.
The strings and the keys both twinkle and the lyrics are striking, memorable, and full of strong imagery. “You swallow me. I’m a pill on your tongue. Here on the nineteenth floor, the neon lights make me come.”
And my favorite line, “The DJ was the last to leave. She had well conditioned hair; was beautiful but nothing really was there.”
The pauses are all well-integrated, letting the swirls of nighttime visuals sink in as you go. If you’re a Gorillaz fan and this one passed you by, relax, and let this be your discovery.
#139/420 - Gorillaz, “19-2000” (Soulchild Remix)
A very likable song from their first album, this remix was featured on the single version and is even more likable than the original in my opinion. I recall starting early mornings to this song a number of times while teaching English in Bogotá, and it is effective in waking you up and putting you in a reasonably good mood even if very tired and up too early; peps you up a bit.
I definitely question some of the song titles on their first album in terms of people being able to recognize the songs from them. I mean, don’t ask me what “19-2000” is supposed to mean. Is this is a song about shoes? Is 19-2000 a brand of sneakers or something?? I’m not aware of a 19th month if this is supposed to be a date. I really don’t know and a minimal effort internet search indicates the internet doesn’t know either.
But just try pondering the meaning of this song while listening to it, and pretty soon your head will start shaking your brain to the beat and disrupt such fruitless thoughts.
I think this is the rare kind of song that manages to appeal to lovers of many musical genres for its ability to mind the line and pull a little something from each without fully committing to any in particular. Not cheesy enough to be a guilty pleasure, but enough of a groove to perhaps incite some guilty toe-taps from even the sullenest father from Footloose. It’s that audibly inoffensive extra flair your playlist was missing.
#140/420 - Gorillaz feat. Del the Funky Homosapien, “Clint Eastwood”
A classic of my generation's music, I definitely/easily consider this one of the best songs of the 2000s and I don’t think that is a controversial take as it still gets radio and club play today above much newer songs. It’s got a great macabre circus beat with contrastingly positive yet sardonic expressions towards the future that seem appealing to the cynical and sarcastic in us all.
“I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad. I got sunshine in a bag. I’m useless but not for long. The future is coming on.” From “finally, someone let me out of my cage” to “remember that it’s all in your head” at the end, it's ingrained itself in pop culture.
This is also one of my most remembered music videos from when I was younger. (There was actually a time many of us remember when people would watch music videos on MTV and the early 2000s were really the end of that era.) This was of course an awesome song and an animated cartoon with cemetery gorillas dancing like "Thriller" so naturally 12 year-old me was very into it.
Notably, this song is somewhat oddly titled after Clint Eastwood, despite not mentioning him, because of its musical resemblance to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly theme, which Eastwood stars in. So it’s perfectly reasonable that, much like “19-2000”, you may have never known the actual title to this song. Now you do. At least unless/until you forget. Or maybe you actually associated it with Clint Eastwood already, like, hey that sounds like the music from that Clint Eastwood music but I can't remember the words and then you did an internet search for "Clint Eastwood song" and you actually found it that way. If so, great job.
That said, it should be familiar even if not.
One of the best groups of its era, I am glad Gorillaz has begun releasing more music in recent years, which I have enjoyed. Though as with most things, it’s harder to top the old favorites the older they and you get. "Clint Eastwood" stays king.
Speaking of Clint Eastwood and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, next week is an appropriate transition into a type of music I haven’t yet featured in this list, film scores. Although there are many, many film composers I admire (including composers on my own films who have made music I adore), there is one composer whose music I enjoy so much that I will sometimes listen to nothing but. He’s among the most prolific of all time, best known for his Spaghetti Western scores in the 1960s and 70s: Ennio Morricone.
420 to 30: A Music Retrospective
Week 2: The Jackson 5/The Jacksons
Week 3: A Tribe Called Quest
Week 4: Weezer
Week 5: Bob Dylan
Week 6: Led Zeppelin
Week 7: 2Pac/Makaveli
Week 8: Billy Joel
Week 9: Electric Light Orchestra
Week 10: Elvis Presley
Week 11: Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band
Week 12: The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Week 13: Nirvana
Week 14: The Doors
Week 15: The Rolling Stones
Week 16: Gnarls Barkley
Week 17: Gábor Szabó
Week 18: Galaxie 500
Week 19: Simon & Garfunkel
View the full list of "420 Songs" here: https://tinyurl.com/y8fboudu (Google spreadsheet link)