Gorillaz and Reinvention
Max De Castro
During the alternative rock years of the 90s, Damon Albarn was a little-known name. The frontman of the band “blur” the rock-based group was one of the many British bands that developed during the guitar pop rage — only with much louder guitars. At first, the band was known for its light experimentalism and was underground for many years. However, following a branding makeover and the rise of Brit Pop, the band exploded in popularity. Their new look was the right match at a right time for the right audience.. until Brit-pop died out.
Once again, the group looked inwards and reinvented itself for the second time. It was a new sound and look for Blur, focusing on indie low fi rock and art-pop. However, the band didn’t find much success throughout England with this new front. But it did find success in America, and Blur was once again successful.
Blur has always been a band of reinvention and change. It’s also famous for its biggest single, “Song 2”, a parody on American grunge like Nirvana, that ironically gave Blur its biggest international hit and what it’s known for today. Be that as it may, this storyline gets much more interesting as Damon Albarn moved away from his Brit Pop band into the first digital band ever: Gorillaz.
In 2000, Albarn walked away from Blur and focused on a new venture, one much more experimental and different from anything at the time in music. Along with the Dot.com boom in the early 2000s, Albarn was also exploring how music would fit into a digital era. Which lead him to create a digital band, fronted by 4 fictional cartoon characters that each had backstories, roles, and instruments. These fabricated figures were the faces of the band, with “2D” on vocals, “Murdoc” on bass, “Noodle” on guitar, and “Russell” on drums. These cartoon characters would then be fleshed out by Albarn with stories and distinctive traits — just like a real band would be.
Not only would Gorillaz be a reinvention of the concept of a band, it also reinvented Albarn’s sound once again. Gorillaz would now focus on hip hop, indie rock and pop-themed tones, once again becoming relevant with the early 00s era. The 2001 debut of Gorillaz, was a self-titled album that went triple platinum in the UK and double platinum in Europe. The sales were also driven by the first Gorillaz hit ever: Clint Eastwood. 4 years later, the band followed with their subsequent release, Demon Days. Once again the album was a hit throughout Europe, but the record also broke into a new scene, the US. This was once again driven by a single, that of “Feel Good Inc.” which is still Gorillaz biggest hit ever.
Alongside the development of their albums, Albarn also began working on backstories for the characters. Thus spawned the Gorillaz lore, where Albarn would create long and offbeat stories to define the bandmate’s lives. These stories would hinder on the absurd but still found a cult following online. Albarn also focused on reinventing and innovating how the band would play live. Technically, Albarn was not the face of the band. Ergo, he could not be the lead singer when they played live. The solution to this problem was to create animations when Gorillaz played live. Instead of Albarn singing behind a curtain, a projection of 2D would fill the stage, completing the reverie for the audience.
After the success of Demon Days, Gorillaz took a 5-year hiatus. When Albarn returned, Gorillaz had changed their sound once again. With Plastic Beach, the group’s tertiary album, Albarn ditched the idea of creating songs for Gorillaz — but rather just creating beautiful pop songs. At first, the concept of Gorillaz was meant to be a new experimental idea, but Plastic Beach was the record that solidified the group as a proper rock band. Once again, Albarn had reinvented himself and his work, and the world noticed. Plastic Beach received rave reviews and was hailed as the best Gorillaz album yet. Plastic Beach was also the first Gorillaz record to be packed with features, with big names such as Lou Reed and Snoop Dogg. The album cemented Gorillaz’s place in music and the digital space.
In the following years of the 2010s, Gorillaz released two more albums, “Humanz” and “The Now Now”. Both were lackluster in comparison to the band’s first three albums and lacked any hit singles or reviews to justify their existence. It was a stagnant decade for Gorillaz. Until Albarn reinvented himself again, for the latest time in 2020.
Gorillaz was never meant to be a huge success. However, in 2021, Albarn has created a side project that has eclipsed his success in Blur and now is a full-frontal pop sensation. The 2020s “Song Machine: Volume One” is the latest reinvention of Albarn. The record’s release was already a conceptual device, where songs were released in tid bits as soon as they were made. The album was also meant to compile all these songs together into a singles album — current with the era of playlist streaming and the move away from albums. This was once again Albarn being a visionary and creating an album that will push the pop boundaries once again.
Song Machine: Volume One was released on the 23rd of October and solidified Albarn as the brain of music that never stops reinventing itself.
