Ghost rapper del. Gorillaz: the real story of a virtual group
The British group "Gorilaz" became the first world-famous virtual musical group. The peak of its popularity occurred in the early 2000s.
Virtual group
When the group "Gorilaz" first loudly announced itself with its single called "Clint Eastwood", no one yet knew who was hiding behind this sign. Both ordinary fans and dozens of music critics hopelessly shrugged their shoulders. Finding the real creators of the project was not so easy.
The group "Gorilaz" became famous not only for its music, but also for its animated videos on television. These videos featured fictitious members of the group - Stuart Pot, Murdoch Niccals, Noodle and Russell Hobbs. Until the creators of these characters revealed their identities to the public, fans believed that the cartoon musicians had real-life prototypes.
Versions were put forward that the music was written by four musicians from different parts of the world, and the means of communication between them was supposedly the Internet, which was gaining popularity at that time. The truth turned out to be different, but that didn’t make it any less interesting and intriguing.
Albarn and Hewlett
The virtual group "Gorilaz" has two founding fathers. One of them is Damon Albarn. He is best known as the frontman of another British band, Blur. She was at the peak of her popularity in the 90s, when the Britpop style was at its peak. Blur is one of the two pioneers of this genre. For many years, Albarn's team argued with Oasis for the title of leader of Britpop.
Blur's touring window opened up in the late '90s when Damon decided to pursue his own side project. In 1998, he met his fellow artist, Jamie Hewlett. In Europe, his comics were very popular. Therefore, we can say with confidence that the main composition of the Gorilaz group is two masters of their craft.
Albarn and Hewlett combined their talents (musical and artistic) to create something completely new at the intersection of these two arts. One was a designer who created images of a fictional group. Another wrote music. In addition, at the beginning of their joint career, the friends collaborated with producer Dan Automator, with whom Albarn had previously worked.
At first, the songs of the group "Gorilaz" were released under a sign with a similar name (Gorilla). Later, friends decided to change the name of the group. The first songs were released on physical media by independent labels in the form of B-sides with a small circulation.
Musical genre
Albarn was intensely looking for a new sound that would be noticeably different from what he performed in Blur. As a result, he gave the band's debut album a sound that was rare for that time. It was a modern and even innovative palette of genres. The songs were influenced by (from Blur), hip-hop and electronica. Collaboration with various producers and musicians (many performers were invited for duets, etc.) bore fruit.
Albarn managed to add a touch of other genres to some of the songs. It was the Britpop he was familiar with, as well as reggae, dub, psychedelic music and even punk rock. Representatives of major labels liked several bright demo recordings. Finally Parlophone and Virgin signed a contract with Gorilaz. The band members began a full-fledged studio recording of their numerous achievements.
"Clint Eastwood"
The debut album with the same name as the group - Gorillaz - was recorded over several months at the turn of 1999 and 2000. Albarn took charge of the mixer in several studios in West London and as far away as Jamaica.
On March 5, 2001, the debut single "Clint Eastwood" was released. He had to demonstrate to a wide audience what the Gorilaz group was all about. The biography of its participants and the unexpected genre attracted the attention of the whole world.
The title of the song was a linguistic play on the name of the famous actor Clint Eastwood, who became a legend of westerns in the second half of the 20th century. This reference was not accidental. One of the song's melodies is reminiscent of the main theme song of the movie "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Clint Eastwood played the main role in this film.
Elburn not only wrote the music, but also sang the chorus. The verses were recorded by a guest rapper. The song became the band's calling card, both in terms of music (a mixture of rock and hip-hop) and thanks to the video clip. Another founding father of Gorillaz, Jamie Hewlett, was responsible for its animation and direction.
Revolutionary clip
The song "Clint Eastwood" became a phenomenon even before the release of the first Gorilaz album. Photos of the group (virtual) constantly appeared in all the world charts on television, in newspapers, etc. The amazing success is also explained by the bright and interesting video. The video begins with the appearance of the group’s logo on a black background, as well as quotes from a popular horror film of the 70s "Dawn of the Dead"
The Eastwood reference is revealed through several artistic techniques in the song. First, the footage contains frequent close-up scenes. This is a favorite technique used by the directors of spaghetti westerns. Also at the beginning of the clip there is a scream that was already in the movie “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”
First record
Three weeks after the successful single, the debut album was released. Over the following weeks, the entire world music press only discussed the phenomenon that the Gorilaz group represented. The formation of the team, the fictitious biography of the virtual participants and other interesting details were revealed much later. In 2006, an official biography entitled “Rise of the Ogre” was published, in which the founding fathers of the project described the fictitious story of how the four musicians of the group met.
The album "Gorillaz" became a bestseller in 2000. It peaked at number three in the UK chart and number 14 in the US. To date, five million physical copies of the debut album have already been sold in America. This is a significant result, especially if you remember that in the early 2000s the music industry was experiencing a crisis caused by the advent of the Internet and the availability of illegal ways to download content.
Film project and tour
Neither the lead singer of the group "Gorilaz" nor the main designer expected the success that befell them. Over the course of several months after the release of the debut album, several more videos, documentaries, etc. appeared. Hollywood studios showed interest in the project. Jamie even met with several directors, but soon abandoned the idea of a feature film. He explained his decision by saying that his vision for the group and creative plans were very different from Hollywood plans.
Gorillaz was a studio project. Organizing live performances for the band was extremely difficult. This was due to the large number of guest vocalists, animation, etc. Nevertheless, Albarn held several large concerts in his homeland and in the United States. About once every five years, a small tour was organized to coincide with the release of the next album. During these tours, several shows took place.
Demon Days
In 2001, the group released a compilation containing the best tracks and remixes. After this, the Gorilaz group stopped its activities for a long time. The discography still consisted of only one studio album, and Albarn continued to remain silent about the further fate of the project.
And in May 2005, Demon Days was released. Albarn invited completely new musicians and vocalists. Only he and his friend the artist Hewlett remained from the composition of the first album. Subsequently, these two continued to release records, changing the guest contingent of musicians, remaining the unchanged heart and engine of the project.
History of creation
The “fathers” of Gorillaz were the frontman of the British group Blur Damon Albarn and the talented artist Jamie Hewlett. Their first meeting occurred in 1990 during an interview with Blur for Deadline magazine, in which Hewlett published his comics. The artist became friends with the musicians and even began dating the ex-girlfriend of the band's guitarist 
In 1997, Albarn and Hewlett rented an apartment together in London. The idea of creating a virtual music project was born among friends while watching the MTV channel. They were not satisfied with the proposed content and wanted to do something special. By that time, Albarn had accumulated a large amount of musical material that did not fall under the Blur format. Therefore, it was decided to come up with a virtual group with the help of which he could anonymously realize his creative ideas.
Hewlett enthusiastically took up this idea, and soon a team appeared, consisting of four drawn characters, each of whom had his own biography.
Biographies of virtual participants
The frontman of the group is Murdoc Nichols, who is also the main anti-hero. Arrogant, impudent, self-confident and with a habit of expressing to people’s faces everything he thinks about them. Previously, he was involved in robberies, car thefts, arson and other illegal activities, and also worked as a salesman, tinker and even was a Christmas Santa. At the same time, he was a passionate fan of Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne and dreamed of his own band all his life. 
Keyboardist 2D (aka Stuart Pot) before joining the team, worked as an ordinary salesman in a musical instrument store and dreamed of taking the position of regional manager. When the boy was eleven years old, he fell from a tree upside down and lost all his hair. True, after some time they grew back, but acquired a strange blue color.
But Stu's series of misfortunes did not end there. Thanks to Murdoc, who with a gang of accomplices decided to rob his store in order to get instruments for his group, the guy lost his left eye. The bandits' car drove into the window at great speed, and the fragments hit Stu right in the face. For this offence, Murdoch was sentenced to lengthy community service and was forced to stay with Stuart, who was in need of help.
Gorillaz – Clint Eastwood
But his tutelage only brought the guy new troubles. During an unsuccessful drift, the unbelted Stu Pot flew through the windshield of Murdoch's car and lost his remaining eye. In addition, he received a traumatic brain injury, as a result of which he discovered his talent as a keyboard player and the ability to think in extraterrestrial categories.
There was not enough drummer for a full-fledged group, and soon Russell Fobes appeared in the band. As a child, Russell was possessed by the devil, for which he was expelled from school. After spending four years in a coma, with the help of several exorcism sessions he finally got rid of the obsession and soon became interested in street hip-hop. But a few years later, all his musician friends were shot in a street brawl, and he was the only one left alive. The souls of his dead friends moved into his body, thanks to which he received unique musical abilities. True, since then his eyes have been covered with a white veil.
The first guitarist in the group was the girl 2D. Murdoc seduced her and then kicked her out of the group. Her place was taken by the Japanese Noodle (which translates as “noodles”), who was delivered to the studio in a food container following an advertisement for guitarists. The miniature girl, in addition to her unique musical talent, was fluent in karate techniques and suffered from amnesia. After some time, her memory was restored thanks to the phrase “Ocean Bacon” that she accidentally heard, in which a secret code was programmed.
There was even a rider prescribed for the group, which included 48 cans of strong beer, a huge plate of sandwiches, cannabis, spider liver, goat excrement and ground snake bones.
Having gathered all the participants into a single team, the creators thought about the name. Without much thought, Albarn and Hewlett named their creation Gorilla, since both were born in the year of the Monkey. Over time, the letter Z was added to the name - “for added coolness.”
Creative achievements and worldwide success
In 2001, the group released their debut album, Gorillaz, which created a sensation in the music world. The album by an unknown group sold seven million copies and immediately entered the pages of the Guinness Book of Records as the most successful virtual project. 
To record the disc, Hewitt gathered a variety of musicians, whose names remained unknown to the public for a long time. This further fueled the interest of fans who were eager to find out who was hiding behind the images of the cartoon characters.
Gorillaz – Dare
The composition changed from record to record, but this did not in any way affect the quality of the musical product. Hewitt only welcomed collaborations with other artists who were also interested in participating in such an original project. Each track of the album was accompanied by a video that described a specific story, drawn in detail and carrying a deep meaning.
Gorillaz – Kids With Guns
In 2005, the group’s second album, “Demon Days,” was released – and again a resounding success! In support of it, the group went on a world tour for the first time. At the first concerts, the musicians hid behind animated screens, showing the audience only their shadows. Later, hologram images began to be used, but this turned out to be an expensive pleasure and such expensive special effects were resorted to only at large-scale shows and award ceremonies.
Albarn and Hewitt are big fans of zombies and vampires, which could not but affect their work. They are also admirers of Chinese theater, and in 2006 they worked on an adaptation of the opera Monkey: Journey To The West. Hewitt was in charge of costumes and sets, Albarn was in charge of the musical part. Two years later, they were invited to prepare for the Beijing Olympics and created one of the most impressive advertisements in the history of the Games.
Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.
The group has several documentaries about the recording of the albums “Demon Days” and “Plastic Beach”, which are made with great professionalism and look like a breeze.
In 2017, after a long break, the group made itself known again by releasing the album “Humans”. Initially, it was decided to call it “Transformerz” in consonance with the track of the same name, but Albarn’s daughter rightly judged that in this case the record would be associated with films 
Discography
- Gorillaz (2001)
- Demon Days (2005)
- Plastic Beach (2010)
- The Fall (2011)
- Humanz (2017)
- The Now Now (2018)
Gorillaz now
In 2018, the group pleased fans with their next album, “The Now Now,” which is noticeably different from the previous ones. There were changes both in the musical style of the group (it became more “summer”) and in its composition. Still, Murdoc, who had been imprisoned, was replaced by the no less sinister Ace, the group members began giving interviews and participating in television shows, and state-of-the-art “motion capture” technologies began to be used at concerts. 
Rapper Snoop Dogg worked with the musicians on the recording of the track “Hollywood”. All this clearly indicates that the creators of the group are not going to give up their position and will repeatedly delight fans with their talent and creativity.
Trill has always listened with great interest to young musicians, and now we want to provide a platform for young journalists - those who will soon discover a new generation of talented artists for us. Today on our blog, sixteen-year-old Alisa Korneeva talks about how the virtual quartet Gorillaz was formed, blurring the line between the artist’s bold fantasy and reality.
In an era when computers replace live instruments, drum machines replace drums, and even synthesized vocals, it is not surprising that virtual performers are emerging. The first and brightest stars among them remain Gorillaz - the project of the British Jamie Hewlett and Blur lead singer Damon Albarn.
Gorillaz appeared in the late nineties, and released their first album in 2001. The members of the group, according to the creators of the project, are the same people as you and me, only they live in another reality - on the other side of the screen, and their world is something unimaginable. In the Gorillaz universe there are flying islands, demon rappers who possess people, cyborgs, phantoms, aliens and much, much more. And the group’s music is appropriate: it does not have a specific style, each song is a mix of elements of hip-hop, grunge, rap, alternative rock, electronics, dubstep - in other words, balanced chaos.
The band consists of three guys and a girl: bassist Murdoch Niccals, keyboardist and lead singer 2D or Stuart Pot, drummer Russell Hobbs and Noodle, backing vocalist and guitarist. They are not just computer models, but individuals: each has a unique biography, character, interests. And the name of the four, apparently, can be explained by the characteristic features of the heroes of the artist Hewlett: prominent lower jaws and arms reaching to the knees, which is especially noticeable on the posters.
The Gorillaz story begins when Murdoc Niccals crashes his car into a record store window, injuring one of the clerks, Stu Pott. The guy falls into a coma and loses one eye, and Nikkals is sentenced to correctional labor and caring for the victim. Shortly before the end of his sentence, Murdoch decides to make a sharp U-turn in the car on a dare, while an unbelted Stewart sits in the front seat. When performing the stunt, the poor guy flies through the windshield and loses his second eye and memory, and the bassist leaves the crime scene in a hurry.
After some time, Nikkals meets Russell, an aspiring rapper, and takes him into his group as a drummer. The band is missing a keyboard player, and then Murdoch remembers the guy from the music store, who, of course, has golden hands. Finds him and convinces him to join the team. Stuart gets a new nickname: 2D (since he has no eyes and is missing a pair of front teeth).
At the initial stage, the group was called Gorilla, and instead of Noodle, another girl named Paula Cracker played in it - a friend of 2D, with whom the team managed to record only one track - “Ghost Train”. Russell soon found out that she was secretly dating Murdoch, and she had to leave the team. A week later, a large FedEx package arrived at the studio, containing a little girl who knew only one word in English: noodle. She was destined to take the vacant position.
Through the videos and the band's official website, the Gorillaz story begins to be told and continues to this day. And although all the characters have noticeably matured, they still arouse great interest. Their albums do not linger on the shelves, the tracks are played on the radio, and in Instagram Drawings from the new, fourth “phase” are already beginning to be published. The band will return with a new album in 2017, and it will be something absolutely amazing...
