I’m gonna go off the deep end today and branch onto one of my favorite bands. Of all time. The strange animated troupe: Gorillaz.
I’m not really able to talk about other bands on a literature blog, it’d fall out of line pretty fast, but Gorillaz are a bit different.
Gorillaz is two men, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett (the musician and the animator), that have created an imaginary group of four.
Not only that: They’ve given all four band members a backstory, with each music video/short clip/radio broadcast/television spot advancing the insane story of their lives.
In short, the men created a band from scratch, and told their story.
So we can totally talk about them.
I think you should know the story.
Let’s talk about (and listen to!) Gorillaz.
This is gonna be a link heavy post, due to the fact that this band must be enjoyed visually and auditorily to be understood.
First, let me introduce our players:
Murdoc is the bass-player, lunatic, and man in charge. Born in 1966, he’s had his nose broken countless times… because he’s a massive dick. His mother abandoned him and his brother to their abusive drunken father, who took his shot at Jackson Five territory by forcing them to perform in musical talent shows for his drinking money. When he got older, he kept the abusive habits and formed many terrible bands (my favorite is Murdoc’s Burning Sensation).
2D (Stupot, birth-named Stuart Tusspot) was born in 1978 with black spiky hair. A series of brutal head injuries most likely incited his low IQ, along with the color draining from his hair and white eyes.
Russel Hobbs came into Brooklyn, NY in 1975. He was super well-mannered, but was kicked out of the Xavier School For Gifted Youngsters (Gorillaz exist in the Marvel multiverse apparently…) for attacking students while possessed. He fell into a coma, but four years later was exorcised. It didn’t last long, for a couple years later, all of his friends were killed in a drive by. They possessed him. You’ll recognize one of these spirits, but we’ll get to that later.
Everybody’s favorite, Noodle, was born in 1990. She was part of a classified Japanese super-soldier project (along with 22 others). The project was deemed to dangerous, and the head scientist began to kill each child. Couldn’t kill Noodle though. She’s too great. So he locked off her dangerous thoughts with a code phrase (Ocean Bacon), and mailed her to the UK.
Now that you know the players, let’s get into the story.
Do keep in mind that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett canonically exist in the Gorillaz lore, Albarn being a friend/composer with them, while Hewlett create their marketing materials.
Murdoc was tired of his lack of fame. As a bassist, he had a feeling he could make a better band, but he still needed instruments. He took his car and drove it into Uncle Norm’s Organ Emporium… where Stu Pot was working.
His car connected straight into 2D’s head, giving him an 8-ball fracture, spiralling him into a coma. Murdoc almost killed him, but was sentenced to 30,000 community service hours and to care for Stu Pot a minimum of 10 hours a day. While impressing some girls, Murdoc forgot Stu was in the back of his car, sending him flying out the windshield, fracturing his other eye. At least it woke him up from the coma. Too bad he was under the impression that Murdoc saved his life. He promised his life to him- big mistake.
2D was rather dazed, but when Murdoc found out that he was a passable singer, he had a breakthrough. A bassist and vocalist do not a band make. Murdoc went out of his way to capture the Brooklyn based rhythmist Russel.
The final player of the newly formed band was Paula Cracker, Stu’s girlfriend.
Murdoc laid onto her in a way unseen by humankind, with endless forceful nature… Exclusively because she and Stu were happy. When Murdoc found them in a bathroom at their studio, he broke Murdoc’s nose another six times. That’s why it looks like it does now. Because he’s a twat.
Paula left, but she can be heard on their first song, Ghost Train.
Murdoc put out an ad in NME and the next day, Noodle arrived in a Fed-Ex crate. She busted out and played a “badass guitar solo”. 2D described it as “two hundred demons screaming in Arabic. Brilliant!” She finished with a twenty foot high kick, a bow, and the word ‘noodle’. Thus formed Gorillaz.
I should take a moment to explain Kong Studios. It was a mansion for the Khong family, but its colorful history involves more bloodshed than a Tarantino film. The most recent massacre occurred when some local Hell’s Angels held a massive party in the basement, with around 2000 patrons. A fire began and somebody locked the door. So when Murdoc bought it, they almost paid him to take it. He didn’t mind. The basement is home to some demons and supernatural phenomena, but he didn’t care. He had a studio.
Murdoc announced a concert to end all concerts, to be performed at a shitty local bar, and demanded the attention of the entire UK. Some showed up, including Whiffy Smiffy. After they played their first song of the set, he fired a shotgun into the air, and demanded to sign them. Gorillaz had a manager.
After releasing their first LP Tomorrow Comes Today to rave reviews, they pieced together their first album Gorillaz.
Now’s when all our videos begin to come in… The group filmed their first music videos abstractly in Essex, or in Kong Studios.
You may recognize Kong Studios from the background of their first success, Clint Eastwood. The video shows the resurrection of gorilla corpses in the mystique of the studio, and the appearance of one of Russel’s spirits… The greatest.
Enter Del the Funky Homosapien. One of Russel’s deceased friends, Del is a rapper/percussionist who holds the most sway over Russel’s beats. He’s featured prominently on their first album, and is the only way Russel can play drums at an excellent pace.
Here’s the list of important music videos from Phase One:
19-2000 (there’s also a cool game of this music video here)
At this time, Murdoc wanted the band to get more recognition. Primarily for his work. So he had people film the four of them goofing around, and released them online. The Gorillaz Bites gave fans an insight into their daily lives. I highly recommend watching them here.
None of this was enough for the rising band, in Murdoc’s eyes. He decided to revolutionize his studios and turn Kong into an online experience.
Kong Studios became a fully interactive online tour, where visitors could even interact and fiddle with items in the studios, or the band themselves. Much to 2D and Russel’s dismay, their privacy became a thing of the past as online visitors used supernatural ways (never explained by Murdoc, but various demons are suspects) to violate them.
The approach won various awards and netted acclaim, though.
In late 2002, the band went on their first tour.
They also appeared at the 2002 BRIT Awards, where they were nominated for six awards, but Murdoc’s interference prevented a win.
Gorillaz did a collaboration with D12 (yeah, My Band and all that) called 911.
This capped the first phase, titled ‘Celebrity Take Down’. If you can hunt down the DVD (released November of that year), you’ll be able to see the music videos (including 5/4), the Gorilla Bitez, the Charts of Darkness documentary, a tour of the Studio, etc. It’s quite entertaining.
When the tour concluded, the band temporarily moved to Los Angeles. Murdoc wanted a Gorillaz movie to be a thing (don’t we all?). They spent six months working on it before they had to return to Kong Studios.
Over in Essex, strange things had been happening. There was a mysterious naked man screaming and running near the marshes out back of Kong. The police could not find him.
Tensions were also building in the band. 2D would never start a physical confrontation, especially with Murdoc, but his passive aggressive violence was beginning. A series of arguments had sprouted between them, causing fights (which involved Murdoc attacking 2D, then Russel intervening by beating Murdoc).
To be honest, Russel was the father of the band back in Phase One. With Noodle unable to speak English, Russel was the only one who paid her any mind. And he kept 2D from getting killed.
Around this point, Murdoc had started his various radio broadcasts. He liked to hear himself talk, so he made a job out of it. He pirated various stations and held talk-shows, mostly with himself, but it is through these discussions that we’ve learned most of the band’s private life.
Well, in late 2002, 2D asked Murdoc if he could be in one of his radio broadcasts.
Murdoc almost killed him. Literally strangled him near to death.
After Russel stopped the murder, the band split. It was too much. A year and a half of separate journeys kicked off.
Murdoc went down to Mexico and drank himself silly. He was arrested for paying hookers with bad checks. A mysterious raven (the bird) named Cortez, two Mexican mobsters, and luck broke him out and back to the states.
2D went home and started sleeping with groupies. All his children have blue hair, and there are lots of them. Stu took it upon himself to reconnect with his dad, but further, himself. He started working at his father’s amusement park. He literally forgot that he was ever part of the band.
Russel went back to Brooklyn, where the Grim Reaper hunted him down and killed Del. This drove him mad (what Murdoc titled ‘his Big Bad Breakdown’). He lived in Ike Turner’s basement, constantly bombarded by supernatural events. Guy’s got no luck… EXCEPT for the fact that his muscles had learned from Del’s possession, and he could now slay drums.
Noodle went back to Japan. She had to know what her childhood was (still suffering from amnesia and all). While despairing at a sushi bar, a chef called out for more ‘Ocean Bacon’ and it all returned to her. Including her ability to pick up any foreign tongue.
Noodle rushed back to Kong Studios in 2004. Kong was in a legendary state of disrepair, absolutely overrun by zombies and monstrosities. Noodle took it upon herself to clean house.
Then she started calling. 2D, Russel, and Murdoc assembled.
It was time for Phase 2.
To be continued 🙂
My primary sources are growing up with the lore, Rise of the Ogre, Murdoc’s broadcasts, the music videos, the ancient Kong Studios website, and interviews. I’ll continue to source later on.
~T.
LITBITSNSHIT 
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