AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Gorillaz

Artist:Gorillaz f/Del the Funky Homosapien

Song:Clint Eastwood

Album:The Singles Collection 2001-2011

Blur frontman Damon Albarn created Gorillaz as a solo project to record music that he couldn't record with Blur. He decided to turn it into a virtual band with the help of Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett. The big surprise was when the 2001 single Clint Eastwood was a top five hit in England. Albarn met Hewlett in 1990 when Blur guitarist Graham Coxon asked Hewlett to interview Blur. Albarn and Hewlett became friends and started sharing a flat in 1997. The idea for Gorillaz came while the two were watching MTV and Hewlett thought that creating a virtual band could be commentary about MTV's emptiness. Albarn says this was when there were a lot of boy bands making contrived music. The idea was for Albarn to create the music and Hewlett to create the characters for Gorillaz. The EP Tomorrow Comes Today was released in 2000 followed by the 2001 album Gorillaz. The single Clint Eastwood reached #4 on the British Singles chart and it was a hit across Europe. It reached #57 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was certified Platinum worldwide. Albarn wrote and produced everything with the help of veteran producer Dan the Automator. The rapper is Del the Funky Homosapien. The song is called Clint Eastwood because it is based on the theme from the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Albarn decided to tour. He performed behind a screen with projected animation. He turned them into a real band led by Mike Smith of Blur on keyboards and Simon Katz of Jamiroqai on guitar. The 2005 album Demon Days did even better. It was certified 2XPlatinum in the US and the single Feel Good Inc. reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. You can get all of Gorillaz' hits on this comp. That was the peak of their success. Albarn continues to record and tour as Gorillaz but they don't sell as well as they used to. One indication that Albarn should end Gorillaz is he announced in 2021 that Netflix was going to produce an animated Gorillaz film. This was cancelled last year. Netflix must have been looking at his record sales figures. Here's the video for Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz featuring Del the Funky Homosapien.