Gorillaz emerged as the first "virtual band", mixing elements of hip hop, dub, britpop and electronics. Created in 1998 by Damon Albarn (Blur leader) and Jamie Hewlett (better known as co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl), the band was composed by animated members Stuart "2D" Pot (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass, electronic drums), Noodle (guitar, keyboards) and Russel Hobbs (drums).
With only Damon Albarn as a permanent musician, Gorillaz's music received the collaboration of several artists. On the first album (Gorillaz, 2001), the band featured Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto), Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club), Chris Frantz (Talking Heads) and Dan "The Automator" Nakamura (hip producer -hop), in addition to Damon Albarn himself. Before this debut album, which featured the single "Clint Eastwood" as a highlight, the group released the EP Tomorrow Comes Toda, in 2000.
With the collaboration of Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley) in production, Gorillaz's second album, Demon Days (2005), received contributions from Debbie Harry, De La Soul, Neneh Cherry, Ike Turner, Shaun Ryder, Dennis Hopper, among other artists . "Feel Good Inc.", "Dare", "Dirty Harry" and "Kids with Guns" are the main tracks of this work.
Damon Albarn returned with a new Gorillaz studio album only in 2010, when he released Plastic Beach. During the tour of this album, which featured musicians Paul Simonon and Mick Jones (both ex-The Clash), Albarn recorded a new Gorillaz album using his iPad, the Apple tablet. Titled The Fall, the album was digitally released on Christmas 2010 only for members of the band's fan club and officially (and physically) in April 2011.
In 2017, the band released Humanz, an album that has several collaborations, such as Vince Staples, Grace Jones, De La Soul, Pusha T and Jehnny Beth (Savages). The next year came The Now Now, his sixth album.
Gorillaz released ong Machine, Season One: Strange Timez in 2020, a collection of songs from a series of video clips released on the web as episodes, each featuring a different artist as a guest. Robert Smith (the Cure), Schoolboy Q, St. Vincent, Elton John and Beck were some of the contributors to this project. In 2023, the band returns with Cracker Island.
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